Filtering's Inherent Flaws
Filtering technologies, however, are prone to two simple inherent flaws: underblocking and overblocking. While technologies can be effective at blocking specific content such as high profile web sites, current technology is not able to accurately identify and target specific categorizes of content found on the billions of webpages and other Internet media including news groups, email lists, chat rooms and instant messaging. Underblocking refers to the failure of filtering to block access to all the content targeted for censorship. On the other hand, filtering technologies often block content they do not intend to block, also known as overblocking. Many blacklists are generated through a combination of manually designated web sites as well as automated searches and, thus, often contain websites that have been incorrectly classified. In addition, blunt filtering methods such as IP blocking can knock out large swaths of acceptable websites simply because they are hosted on the same IP address as a site with restricted content.
The profusion of Internet content means that Internet filtering regimes that hope to comprehensively block access to certain types of content must rely on software providers with automated content identification methods. This effectively puts control over access in the hands of private corporations that are not subject to the standards of review common in government mandates. In addition, because the filters are often proprietary, there is often no transparency in terms of the labeling and restricting of sites. The danger is most explicit when the corporations that produce content filtering technology work alongside undemocratic regimes in order to set-up nationwide content filtering schemes. Most states that implement content filtering and blocking augment commercially generated blocklists with customized lists that focus on topics and organizations that are nation or language-specific.
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Example 1. You are a teacher looking for content that can be used in the study of the Spanish conquest. You find a Web site that has excellent biographies of the cultural leaders, profiles of the different native cultures, and even some patterns for ceremonial masks that can be reproduced for a class activity. You e-mail several of your friends about your ideas to incorporate some of the site's materials into your curriculum plan. The important aspect of your communication, as opposed to information provided by a simple web search, is that you shared your ideas as a teaching professional as well as a link to the Web site. If, instead, you post your finds with your ideas for implementation to a Web log equipped with RSS generation capability, you provide a unique information source that can be accessed by thousands of teachers like you that are looking for ways to improve their learning environments. In essence, you have helped to establish an online community of practice specific to teachers of social studies. We all have unique experiences and solutions that can benefit others. There are no rules that say only professional textbook publishers should be allowed to create or suggest how to use curriculum materials. Example 2. You are teaching a class in science fiction and its parallels to developing technology. You teach this class each term and want to use timely examples. Like most instructors, the time you have available for searching out new technologies on the Web is limited. So, you subscribe to a free news feed from Sci-Fi Today that brings the latest news in science and science fiction to your desktop news reader. Example 3. You are the superintendent of a school district with 49 schools. Each school maintains a Web site but it is very time consuming to visit each Web site periodically to review each schools news and events. The schools begin to post their news to a Web log that is incorporated into each school's Web site, much like Bryant Elementary School in Seattle, Washington. The weblog tool also produces an RSS news feed. You install a news reader and subscribe to each news feed. Each day you can quickly review all the news and events at each school in one place without having to visit all 49 Web sites. Example 4. You are a researcher working on an archaeological dig on a Greek island. You have uncovered an artifact that puzzles you. You post your progress each day to a weblog. You include a picture of the puzzling artifact. The next day you are contacted by a German archaeologist that you have never met. He subscribes to your project news feed along with news feeds from other similar digs. He was on his way to a conference in Cairo and was browsing his news headlines on his PDA. He tells you the object is a physician's instrument. Now, with a potential context, you are better able to interpret some epigraphic fragments you have collected.
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