Internet filter effectiveness (student paper panel): testing over and underinclusive blocking decisions of four popular filters

Since the Internet came to the fore of public attention around 1994, Americans have been obsessed with the scourge of easily accessed online pornography, violence, and hate speech. Newspaper and magazine articles have fed this fear with titillating stories about pornographic web sites, hate groups, and online sexual predators (Turow, 1999). This perceived abundance of harmful Internet content, has led Congress to pass two laws, the Communications Decency Act (CDA), and the Child On-line Protection Act (COPA) aimed at criminalizing Internet content deemed harmful to minors. In conjunction with these legislative solutions, the software industry has developed its own technological solution, namely content filtering software.