Filtering Software Exposes Public Schools Across the Country To Liability For Viewpoint-Based Censorship
ST. LOUIS -- – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Eastern Missouri contacted Camdenton R-III School District today to alert the district that its Internet filtering software has been improperly configured to block access to web content geared toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. The organization has sent demand letters to school districts across the country as part of the organization’s national “Don’t Filter Me” initiative, which seeks to combat illegal censorship of LGBT educational information on public school computer systems.
“Schools in Missouri need to make sure that their filtering software is properly configured to provide viewpoint-neutral access to important educational resources,” said Tony Rothert, Legal Director for the ACLU of Eastern Missouri. “Some schools may have activated anti-LGBT filters without even realizing it.”
Although Camdenton R-III School District uses its own software program to regulate students’ access to the Internet, the software appears to rely on a database of websites compiled by URL Blacklist. URL Blacklist has a viewpoint-neutral category that allows schools to block all sexually explicit content. But it also has a viewpoint-discriminatory category called “sexuality,” which blocks all LGBT-related information, including thousands of materials that are not sexually explicit in any way. In response to a public records request, Camdenton R-III School District confirmed that it blocks websites categorized by URL Blacklist as “sexuality,” including the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, the Trevor Project and the official website for the annual Day of Silence against anti-LGBT bullying.
Last week, a major filtering company, Lightspeed Systems, announced that it would remove a similar filter from its software, which blocked access to educational LGBT websites. URL Blacklist is one of five filtering companies identified by the ACLU that continue to use a specialized filter designed to target LGBT content that is not pornographic or sexually explicit.
“Schools have many different options to choose from when selecting filtering software, and there is no excuse for using software that discriminates against LGBT viewpoints,” said Joshua Block, staff attorney with the ACLU LGBT Project. “Camdenton R-III School District should either stop blocking materials categorized as ‘sexuality,’ or reprogram its software to use a database that does not violate students’ constitutional rights.”
When used by a public school, programs that block all LGBT educational content violate First Amendment rights to free speech, as well as the Equal Access Act, which requires equal access to school resources for all extracurricular clubs. This means that gay-straight alliances and LGBT support groups must have the same access to national organizational websites that help them to function, just as other groups such as the Key Club and the chess club are able to access their national websites. By blocking access to LGBT educational websites, schools deny helpful information to gay-straight alliances and other support groups that could be vital for troubled LGBT youth who either don’t have access to the Internet at home or do not feel safe accessing such information on their home computers.
Students who want to report unconstitutional web filtering at their schools can fill out a form at: https://www.aclu.org/issues/lgbt-rights/lgbt-youth/dont-filter-me-web-content-filtering-schools
More information on the ACLU’s work on LGBT school issues can be found here: www.aclu.org/safeschools
READ THE LETTER SENT TO SCHOOL DISTRICT TODAY: