[FYI] (Fwd) Bess: Mandated Mediocrity

["Axel H Horns" <horns@ipjur.com>]

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Date sent:      	Tue, 24 Oct 2000 14:38:54 -0700
Send reply to:  	Law & Policy of Computer Communications
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From:           	"James S. Tyre" <jstyre@JSTYRE.COM>
Subject:        	Bess: Mandated Mediocrity
To:             	CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM

        Mandated Mediocrity:
        Blocking Software Gets a Failing Grade

        A Joint Report of Peacefire and EPIC

        October 2000

        SUMMARY

        This report examines a software filtering product called
        "Bess,"
manufactured by N2H2, Inc. The purpose of this report is to determine
whether the software, as used in a typical school setting, blocks
access to political and educational webpages that are appropriate for
schoolchildren. Our conclusion is that many such pages are indeed
blocked. This report makes no effort to establish whether this pattern
is widespread, the result of flaws in the software, or other factors.
It simply demonstrates that many web pages that would otherwise be
available to students in schools are blocked when the software filter
is in use.

http://peacefire.org/censorware/BESS/MM/
http://www.epic.org/censorware/mandated_mediocrity.html
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/10/24/131226
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