[Lias] Content filtering: how we do it.

[Paul Shirren]

Paul Gear wrote:
> Paul Shirren wrote:
>> That is a great toolset. I use shorewall a lot.
>>
>> I used to use squid, squidguard and dansguardian when I was putting
>> together filtering solutions. These days I would probably look at
>> OpenDNS as well.
> I would argue that if you don't use Dan's Guardian (with virus filtering
> enabled), you're not filtering well enough.

Absolutely. If your aim is to protect children from nasty material on
the Internet, then on the technological side of things, page inspection
is a big win.

I have not setup filters for a few years. When I did I found the DG
phrase filters blocked content that the DECS proprietary departmental
filters did not. The DECS N2H2 URL filter had a fair delay between the
suppliers robot spidering content and the update of the URL block lists.
Dansguardian meanwhile would block any porn site with a sect 2257 age
verification statement by page inspection and a lot more.

I remain skeptical and disturbed by the way filtering is applied in
schools.

The technology is the easy part. As technical people we know that
filtering has costs as well as benefits. We know that it underblocks and
overblocks and ads latency and is circumventable. We know we can spend a
lifetime tweaking it and it will still be a bandaid best effort
solution. It is a technically interesting game but it will become an
increasingly pointless one when it can be circumvented by mobile
wireless devices.

Unfortunately we have provided a way for the whole system: parents,
teachers, administrators and politicians to wash their hands of the
matter. I wish there was more open discussion without people crying out
with fears of bullying and child molesters that just don't stack up when
you review the statistics.

I think the time is right for people to start hacking the education
system to make it more relevant in the modern world. To renew it before
it alienates more than it educates. I think the miss-application of
filtering is a threat to people pursuing that agenda.