Trying Not to Filter: Internet Filtering Technologies in Libraries

Trying Not to Filter: Internet Filtering Technologies Update
Sarah Houghton-Jan
Digital Futures Manager for San Jose Public Library
author of LibrarianInBlack.net
This presentation will be at LibrarianInBlack.net

San Jose Public Library's Filtering Challenge
1 City Council member + the Values Advocacy Council (& their $)‏
Proposed a new Internet Use Policy that would require filtering on all public computers
Purpose stated: “to block websites that contain child pornography or material that is obscene”

What is child pornography?
What is harmful and obscene?
There is no legal definition of pornography

Federal Code & Case Law
Applicable Court Cases
Reno v. ACLU (1998), Miller v. California (1973), Smith v. United States (1977), Pope v. Illinois (1987)‏
Applicable Federal Law
18 U.S.C. Section 1470; 47 U.S.C. section 223(d) –Communications Decency Act of 1996, as amended by the PROTECT Act of 2003; 47 U.S.C. section 231 –Child Online Protection Act of 1998

California State Code
State Penal Code 311 defines obscene matter as “matter, taken as a whole, that to the average person, applying contemporary statewide standards, appeals to the prurient interest, that, taken as a whole, depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and that, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

California State Code
State Penal Code 313 defines harmful matter as “matter, taken as a whole, which to the average person, applying contemporary statewide standards, appeals to the prurient interest, and is matter which, taken as a whole, depicts or describes in a patently offensive way sexual conduct and which, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.”

“ No filter, however, actually limits its categories to obscene material and child pornography because the current definition of obscenity doesn’t work on the internet.”
~ Lori Bowen Ayre, “Filtering and Filter Software”

The Library’s Plan
Work with the community to determine their position
Assess cost and impact of filter implementation
Internal policy review
Review of other libraries’ practices
Testing filters to see if they have improved

Working with the Community
Academic Senate from SJSU wrote a formal resolution against filtering
Youth Commission – against
Library Commission – against
Public Feedback – against (about 3/4)‏

Assessing Cost & Staffing Impact
The money we'd get from government paled in comparison to the cost of implementation & maintenance.
ERATE isn't worth it!

Internal Policy & Other Libraries
Existing computer use policy
Talking with local libraries & libraries mentioned specifically by the city council member

Testing Filters

How Filters Work with URL
List of trigger webpages
Searches for trigger words in a popular search engine to form list (the black list!)‏
Some companies spot-check, some don't

How Filters Work with Content
List of trigger words
Manually generated lists of words, based on thesauruses, combined with other factors (banner ads, numbers of images and/or links, etc.).
Automated search process looks for a formula of the above then lists pages.
Small # of filters filter based on file type

Local Control
Some filters let you form a white list of “allowed but normally blocked” content (URLs or keywords)‏
Some filters let you add to the blacklist
Some filters let you temporarily unblock something for a customer.

Major Filters on the Market
602LAN SUITE Content Filter
8e6
Barracuda
Bess SmartFilter
ContentProtect Professional Suite
CyberPatrol
CyberSentinel
CyberSetting
CyberSitter

DP Inspector
Dan’s Guardian
DynaComm i:filter
eSoft Web ThreatPak
FastTracker
FilterGate
FilterPak
FortiGate Series
Image-Filter

INternet Filter IF-2K
iPrism
Netmop
MaxProtect
NetNanny
NetSentron
NetSpective Webfilter
NetSweeper
Network Guardian

Poesia
SafeEyes
Squidgard
SurfControl Web Filter
SurfPass
WebSense
Website-Echo
WiseChoice

What is being filtered, exactly?
Filtering software companies do not tell their customers, in detail, the types of things they block in each category.
Customers cannot obtain a complete list of words or URLs that are being blocked

Choosing Filters to Test
Working with IT
Test computers on a test network
Reviewing filter product information
Reviewing filters being used in libraries
Reviewing filter research and literature

Filters We Tested
WebSense Enterprise
CyberPatrol
Filtergate
Barracuda

What We Tested
135 questions/scenarios
general keyword searches
direct URL access
image searches
email text and photo attachments
RSS feed content access
searches in the online library catalog and databases

How We Tested
2 librarians assigned to work together to run through the test questions for each filter
Digital Futures Manager ran through the test questions for each filter too

The Results Accuracy = the success rate of two things: 1) blocking what the filter is set to block 2) not blocking what the filter is set to allow through How good is the filter at doing its job?

Accuracy Across All Filters Average Filter Accuracy (margin of error +/- 5%)‏

Average Accuracy Ratings (Content) Average Filter Accuracy (margin of error +/- 5%)‏

Filtering Accuracy Summary
Text-based web pages - 81% accuracy
Images - 38%
Email attachments - 25%
RSS feeds - 53%
Catalog searches - 67%
Database searches - 83%

Overblocking on the Web
WebMD
the American Urological Association site
VictimsOfPornography.org
Univision.com
DirtyPicturesBand.com
Amazon and Google Book Search item pages
TheSmokingGun.com
Lesbian.org (a gay/lesbian support site)‏

More Overblocking on the Web
the Wikipedia entry for Hustler Magazine
a World War II history web site
a UK breast cancer information site
National Geographic images of beavers
entire blogs are blocked because one of the many posts discussed something “adult”
search results pages for a search for “Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays”

Overblocking in Library Resources
a search for “orgasm” in the Health and Wellness Resource Center database
a search for “vagina” in the World Book Encyclopedia online
Searches for the following terms in our catalog: lesbianism, how to build a pipe bomb, sexual positions

Underblocking
Getting through to images by clicking on the “full size” links
Some adult search terms consistently allowed through (women’s asses, big penises)‏
Images of an adult sexual nature displayed on the search results page (some blocked, others not)‏

Workarounds
Portal sites
Clicking on “cached” version of webpage or image in search results
Clicking on “full size” image link, even when thumbnail is blocked out
Pages with images of an adult sexual nature but non-sexual text
Plural word forms
Pr0n instead of porn

Other findings
Inconsistencies in the filtering of different text and image search engines
The filtering programs do not handle non-English language words well
Inconsistency in what’s blocked: “parents and lesbians” is blocked while “parents and gays” is allowed

Other Filtering Studies
Review of studies from 2001-2008
Average accuracy of all studies of text-filtering = 78.56%
Our accuracy average for text = 76.29%
One image study accuracy = 48%
Our accuracy average for imgages = 44%

We know what we're talking about!

What would we do differently?
Test more non-English content
Test video (popular sites, embedded players)‏
Test audio (popular sites, embedded players)‏
Test social sites (Facebook, LinkedIn)‏
Test Twitter
Test pages using Ajax & other dynamic technologies

Conclusions
All filters block a wide range of constitutionally protected content in an attempt to block other content.

More Conclusions
Filters falsely block many valuable web pages and other online resources, on subjects ranging from war and genocide to safer sex and public health.
No filter is reliably able to distinguish text or image content including obscenity, child pornography, or “harmful to minors” material from other, legal content.

What can we do with filters?
We can block all images of all types on all web sites
We can filter by keyword and URL in many categories, including categories with varying references to sexual content of an adult nature, etc., realizing there will be overblocking and underblocking

What can't we do with filters?
We can not filter only images that are classified as obscene and harmful to minors.

How do I combat a proposal for filters?
Use statistics from other studies
Use good research techniques
Use stories from your experiences

What if I have to filter?
What are you trying to block out?
Find out how various filters work
Review ERATE funds impact
Review cost & staff impact
Review user impact
Review past studies
Decide how active you'll be unblocking

Questions? Sarah Houghton-Jan web: www.LibrarianInBlack.net IM: LibrarianInBlack Skype: LibrairanInBlack Facebook: facebook.com/librarianinblack Twitter: twitter.com/TheLiB email: [email_address]

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Trying Not to Filter: Internet Filtering Technologies in Libraries

by Sarah Houghton on Oct 28, 2009

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Trying Not to Filter: Internet Filtering Technologies in Libraries — Presentation Transcript