School Districts Must Filter School-Supplied iPads; Internet Safety Law Now Extends Filtering Beyond School Grounds, Thanks to Parents in Manitou Springs, Colorado

The American educational experience is transforming at a fast pace.  Parents from shore to shore are being outpaced by technology and school districts sending students home with portable computers that are not only cutting edge for technology but prepackaged with unrestricted Wi-Fi Internet access.  Rapid deployment of such devices comes with temptations and dangers.

Now there is a model for a more effective means to protect children, thanks to concerned parents in Manitou Springs, Colorado.  They worked with the Colorado legislature to tighten school technology laws to require schools to address technology concerns everywhere, not just on school grounds.  Similar changes can be made in the laws of other states so more children are better protected from harm.

Children’s Internet Protection Act

The vast majority of public schools have complied with the federal Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA, enacted 2000, found constitutional 2003) that requires “protection measures [that] must block or filter Internet access to pictures that are … obscene … or … harmful to minors (for computers that are accessed by minors).”  (N1)

School Grounds Only Expedient Position and Resultant Harm

Among districts that provide students with portable devices, a small minority have taken the expedient but imprudent position that school owned portable computers are exempt from CIPA requirements once the children leave school grounds, and that parents must accept exclusive responsibility for the monitoring of children using such unfiltered devices doing school work away from school grounds.

Kids around the nation have already suffered in districts that fail to provide CIPA protections on portable computers away from school:

• Parents in South Carolina report students with unfiltered school portables experiencing “a veritable streaming torrent of illicit flesh….“ using school supplied iPads.  (N2)
• Four Michigan students were arrested on felony charges for exchanging pornographic materials on iPads and leaving parents to ask “Why wasn’t the school district filtering Internet to student’s iPads?”  (N3)
• Parents in Indiana are suing their district for allowing students “unfettered access to pornographic videos… downloaded on school computers and iPads and then 'acted out' on [an] alleged victim.”  (N4)

Manitou Springs Parents Fight Back

In Manitou Springs, Colorado, parents facing similar circumstances fought against a district policy that failed to provide CIPA protections on portable school computers used away from school.  (N5)

Despite a petition from the parents and written opinions from two attorneys validating parental objections, the Manitou Springs school administration held firm, insisting that the school had no responsibility for protecting student use of portable devices away from school grounds.  (N6)

Colorado Legislature Intervenes; Requires Filtering Everywhere, Not Just School Grounds

These determined parents then sought the intervention of the Colorado legislature.  As a result, Colorado Senator Keith King sponsored new legislation that was signed into law by Colorado Governor Hickenlooper that explicitly requires portable content filtering protections for all students in Colorado, specifically adding the key language, “from any location,” among other things:

"No later than December 31, 2012, the governing body of each district shall adopt and implement a policy of internet safety for minors that includes a technology protection measure for each technology device provided by the district that allows for access to the internet by a minor from any location.”  (N7)

With this 2012 legislation, Colorado became the first state to create law that explicitly requires that the protections required by CIPA must also protect students using school issued computers that are now increasingly portable and capable of accessing Internet networks from any location, not just at school.  And the parents love it:  “No law will completely shield our kids from all the bad stuff, but I was glad to see Colorado lawmakers side with parents and make it clear that if a school sends kids home with computers, they must make them reasonably safe for the kids to use,” says Manitou Springs parent/guardian Jim Sayner.  (N8)

Legislators and Schools Everywhere May Protect Children Using the Colorado Model

Now aware of the documented damage that unrestricted Internet access has already visited upon school children, state legislators, school boards, and administrators across the nation will perhaps adopt and implement similar common sense law to enhance the prospect of the safe and beneficial use of the vast resources technology brings to students.

At least now, the parents of Colorado children who experience such illicit mayhem on inadequately protected portables will have substantial new recourse under this new and timely law.

ENDNOTES:

(N1)  “Children’s Internet Protection Act,” by Consumer & Governmental Affairs, Federal Communications Commission, 19 May 2011.

          http://www.fcc.gov/guides/childrens-internet-protection-act

See also:
United States v. American Library Association, 539 US 194 (2003).
          http://laws.findlaw.com/us/539/194.html

(N2)  “SC Public School Students Accessing Porn On iPads,” by fitsnews, FITSNews, 7 February 2012.
          http://tinyurl.com/StudentsAccessingPornOnIPads

Note:  NSFW pornographic image is included in original version.

(N3)  “Zeeland Schools Learn From iPad Miscues; Administrators Have More Plans in Place,” by Dani Carlson, WOOD TV8, 22 August 2012.
          http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/education/Zeeland-schools-learn-from-iPad-miscues

(N4)  “Three Second-Grade Boys Accused of ‘Horrific Sexual Abuse’ of Eight-Year-Old Classmate ‘After Acting Out Scene They Saw in Porn Movie,’” by Daily Mail Reporter, Daily Mail, 2 October 2012.
          http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2211964/Three-second-grade-boys-accused-horrific-sexual-abuse-year-old-classmate-school-blamed-giving-students-unfettered-access-porn.html

(N5)  “Digital Dilemma:  Why Can’t All Districts Filter Internet Device Access from Home?,” by Eddie, Ed Is Watching, 20 February 2012.
          http://www.ediswatching.org/2012/02/digital-dilemma-why-cant-all-districts-filter-internet-device-access-from-home/

Note:
Colorado also has its own CIPA law (CCIPA) (see N7 below)—it was CCIPA that was amended as a result of parental action.

(N6)  “School Issued Apple iPads Allow Porn in Manitou Springs School District 14, Memorandum by Morality in Media General Counsel Robert Peters on Unfiltered Internet Access,” by Robert W. Peters, Esq., SafeLibraries, 27 April 2012.
          http://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2012/04/school-issued-apple-ipads-allow-porn-in.html

(N7)  “An Act; House Bill 12-1240, Concerning Statutory Changes to K-12 Education,” by various Representatives and Senators, Colorado Legislature, signed into law 4 June 2012; section 54, pp36-38.
http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2012a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/A386D89EDA600136872579820026D8D7?open&file=1240_enr.pdf

Note:
For comparison, here is the older 2003 version of the Colorado Children’s Internet Protection Act the was amended as described above:
“Colorado Children’s Internet Protection Act,” Colorado Revised Statutes, Article 87, 22-87-101 through 22-87-107; Approved by Governor June 5, 2003; effective August 15, 2003.
http://www2.bvsd.org/iteach/IAC%20Documents/Colorado%20Internet%20Protection%20Act.pdf

See also:
“State Filtering/Blocking Laws” section of “Children and the Internet; Laws Relating to Filtering, Blocking and Usage Policies in Schools and Libraries,” by Pam Greenberg, National Conference of State Legislatures, 13 February 2012 (updated occasionally).
          http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/telecom/state-internet-filtering-laws.aspx#states

Note:  Colorado’s information has not yet been updated at that site.

(N8)  Personal communication with Jim Sayner.

URL OF THIS PAGE:

http://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2012/12/SchoolsMustFilter.html

For convenience, here are easy-to-remember URLs for this page:

tinyurl.com/SchoolsMustFilter

tinyurl.com/SchoolCIPA

CITE AS:

“School Districts Must Filter School-Supplied iPads; Internet Safety Law Now Extends Filtering Beyond School Grounds, Thanks to Parents in Manitou Springs, Colorado,” by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 20 December 2012.

Follow @SafeLibraries

School Issued Apple iPads Allow Porn in Manitou Springs School District 14, Memorandum by Morality in Media General Counsel Robert Peters on Unfiltered Internet Access

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Libraries Allowing Porn Are Wrong; Donna Rice Hughes of Enough Is Enough Explains Why

Donna Rice Hughes

Donna Rices Hughes of Enough Is Enough has been deeply involved with the Internet safety issues vis-à-vis children for a very long time.   She has worked with the Department of Justice on such issues, appeared on national television on shows such as 20/20 and Oprah, been appointed by Senator Trent Lott to serve on the Child Online Protection Act Commission, co-wrote a season finale for Touched By An Angel that brought Internet dangers to the public's attention in a big way, and has many other significant achievements.  Lately, she has produced Internet Safety 101: Empowering Parents Program.

What Donna Rice Hughes has to say about the libraries allowing unfettered pornography, such as in the Brooklyn Public Library, is highly instructive.  New York City public libraries have been successful in propagandizing the public that anything goes in public libraries.

The truth is the opposite—libraries have successfully removed legal porn and exposed American Library Association dogma.  Let's hear what Donna Rice Hughes has to say that sets the library propaganda about the law straight:

"FIRST PERSON (Donna Rice Hughes):  Porn—In Your Public Library?," by Donna Rice Hughes, Baptist Press, 27 May 2011.

RESTON, VA -- An April fistfight between an impatient person and a porn-viewing patron at the Brooklyn Public Library has reignited an old debate regarding whether adults should have free and easy access to hardcore pornography or illegal adult pornography, known under the law as obscenity, at their local public library.  A spokesperson for the library has explained that the library is complying with patrons' First Amendment rights, and thus provides Internet access to pornography to adult patrons.

While libraries do not stock obscene hard core videos, patrons at the New York Public Library have easy access to this hardcore content through taxpayer-funded Internet access.  Why?  Because this particular library doesn't understand the laws pertaining to this issue.

The library spokesperson stated:  "We comply with CIPA [Children's Internet Protection Act] and our policy forbids users to access materials that are legally defined as obscene, as child pornography, or, in the case of persons under 17, as harmful to minors.  The library is committed to creating a positive experience for everyone, and we expect those who use the library to do so with respect to our policies and to others."

As indicated by her statement, the Brooklyn library spokesperson has apparently confused both the definition of CIPA and the legal definitions of obscenity and child pornography covered by CIPA.  Hence, the library's feeble attempt to comply with CIPA has left adult and child library patrons unprotected.

At this point, three lessons are in order, which will hopefully benefit this particular library and others operating under the same misguided misunderstanding of these laws.

— First, a history lesson:  This is déjà vu for Enough Is Enough (EIE).  In the mid-1990s, EIE realized that schools and libraries were not protecting students and library patrons from the deluge of obscenity and child pornography available online.  As an early pioneer of Internet safety efforts since 1994, EIE sprang into action.  I personally prepared a briefing book, containing news stories and pictures of the types of pornography available in both schools and libraries, for Sen. John McCain, then head of the Senate Commerce Committee, and other senators and asked:  Should taxpayers pay for our schools and libraries to be pornography outlets?  Congress didn't think so.  CIPA passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both the House and Senate and was signed into law by President Clinton.  The American Library Association (ALA), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups immediately launched a legal challenge, questioning the constitutionality of CIPA.  Fortunately for the sake of children and families, with the leadership of EIE and other groups, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of CIPA.  As a result, schools and libraries that implement CIPA as intended by Congress are better able to ensure the Internet is safely accessed.

— Second, a CIPA law lesson:  CIPA requires schools and libraries using federal "e-rate" subsidies to dedicate some of those funds to install software that filters out pornography.  Specifically, child pornography, obscenity and softcore content, legally defined as "harmful to minors," must be filtered for those ages 17 or under.  For adult library users, both child pornography and online obscenity should be filtered, since neither of these is constitutionally protected under current federal statutes.  There exists a common misconception that the only type of illegal pornography for adults is child pornography.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In layman's terms, the First Amendment does not protect obscenity for adults period, whether in the library or anywhere else.  Although CIPA was written to be idiot proof, common misunderstandings emerge from confusion over the legal definitions of pornography, specifically obscenity.

— Hence, the third and final lesson:  Pornography Law 101:  There are three types of pornography legally defined by the Supreme Court, and CIPA refers to all three:

1.  Child pornography -- Child pornography is material that visually depicts children under the age of 18 engaged in actual or simulated sexual activity, including lewd exhibition of the genitals.

2.  Obscenity -- Obscenity is graphic material that focuses on sex and/or sexual violence.  It includes close-ups of graphic sex acts, lewd exhibition of the genitals and deviant activities such as group sex, bestiality, incest and excretory functions.  For clarification, obscenity is not to be confused with softcore pornography, known under the law as harmful to minors/indecent content.

3.  Harmful to Minors (HTM) material -- Harmful to minors material represents nudity or sex that has prurient appeal for minors, is offensive and unsuitable for minors, and lacks serious value for minors.  There are "harmful to minors" laws in every state.

For libraries attempting to correctly implement CIPA, they must not confuse the laws above, which distinctly refer to different types of content.  Obscenity is not protected under the First Amendment for children or adults; however, it is available in abundance, both online and offline.

People often ask:  If it's illegal, why is it everywhere?  Simply put, obscenity laws have not been aggressively enforced, even though the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld federal obscenity laws.

Additionally, individuals should not equate the widespread availability of illegal adult material with community acceptance of hardcore content.  In October, 2009, a national poll by Harris Interactive found that 76 percent of individuals surveyed "totally disagreed" that viewing hardcore adult pornography on the Internet was morally acceptable.  Likewise, 74 percent "totally disagreed" that viewing hardcore adult pornography on the Internet was generally harmless entertainment.

The New York Public Library seems to have been shaped by the misguided (and radical) position of the ACLU, which we successfully battled in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.  While they may be claiming to uphold CIPA in principle, they are failing to uphold CIPA in practice.  Several patrons have testified that they regularly witness individuals viewing hardcore content.  While computer terminals include privacy extensions, many individuals are not using these screens, and even when individuals do use the screens, patrons have complained they can still hear the audio from the hardcore content.  It is clear that the New York Public Library is not in full compliance with CIPA and, as a result, is not fulfilling its responsibility to protect children and adult library patrons.

As the overwhelming majority of Americans understand, the problem with pornography, as with many things, is that it affects more than those who just look at it.  For some individuals, pornography is progressively addictive in nature.  Research shows that pornography affects attitudes, values and behaviors, and pornography has been linked to sex crimes against women and children, innocent victims who did not view pornography.  A number of federal legal precedents have also found that pornography was used as a tool in sexual harassment, and the New York Library should do more to implement responsible policies to protect themselves and taxpayers from legal liability.

.