ere are two main reasons why this approach is at most inadequate. The first drawback relates to technological imperfections and was well highlighted in a study titled “Faulty filters”, released by the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) in November 1997. The study involved the conducting of up to 100 searches using a normal search engine and then the conducting of the same searches via one of the new search engine that claim to return only “family-friendly” links. It was found that the search engine “typically blocked access to 95-99 percent of the material available on the Internet that might be of interest to young people”. The study also noted that even when strict “blocking criteria were used links to “objectionable” material still showed up. The conclusion of the study seriously questioned the filtering software approach to Internet censorship on the basis of its potential to “ultimately diminish the educational value of the Internet”. The study is not optimistic about any improved performance of filtering software with the passage of time. The second drawback is concerned with a much more sinister aspect of censor software. In the February 1998 edition of “.net.” magazine; an article about filtering software presented some disturbing facts. The article revealed that that Solid Oaks’ CYBERsitter, a popular filtering program, actually blocked sites of groups such as “The National Organisation for Women” and “The Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation”. An even more worrying revelation was that among the list of words and phrases that were to be blocked by the program were the phrases “dontbuycybercitter” and “bennethasleton” the name of an 18 year old anti-censorship activist. This implies that there are serious political and commercial agendas behind the faade of “censorship”....
