Final Report of the Child Online Protection Commission (COPA), presented to Congress, October 20, 2000, found that the most effective and least intrusive way to protect our children from objectionable material on the Internet is through online information resources and family education programs.
Cure Worse Than Disease Will Be Costly Failure. "Federal filtering mandates disregard local policymaking prerogatives. Instead they require local decisionmakers to select among a few marketable national norms developed as business plans by filtering software companies."
Internet Filters: A Public Policy Report FEPP's first policy report summarizes more than 70 tests and studies documenting massive over- and under-blocking by major filtering products. Artistic sites, public health information, and sexuality education are among the subjects blocked by filtering software such as BESS and Cyber Patrol.
Internet Filters and Public Libraries [pdf file] (November 12, 2003). "The Court assumed that librarians would automatically and unconditionally disable filters upon request by adult patrons and permanently unblock erroneously blocked sites. This assumption puts the burden of ensuring access to constitutionally protected speech upon librarians through a process that is complex and uncertain at best. Furthermore, the Court failed to confront the privacy implications and practical difficulties of such a disabling scheme."
