Persistent problems of porn: offensive online content assaults school users though multiple channels.When students in Livonia, Mich., were prompted by a local radio station to visit a unique Web site with the name of their school district in the address, they were assaulted by adult-oriented content touting "75 live cams, 12 girls and no rules." The site was initiated and named by a Livonia high school Livonia High School is a public school located in Livonia, Louisiana. It was founded in 1936, and is one of two public high schools located in Pointe Coupee Parish. Athletics graduate--who later demanded a cash settlement to end the harassment--and the district tried everything it could legally to shut the site down. "We don't want to give this guy any more notoriety," says district spokesman Jay Young. Purveyors of sexually explicit materials Sexually explicit material (video, photography, creative writing) presents sexual content without deliberately obscuring or censoring it. The term sexually explicit media is often used as euphemism for pornography. on the Web often use such infringing site names to build traffic, and now even schools are targeted. Related schemes include using site names that are misspelled versions of legitimate online locations--such as kidsheath.com mimics kidshealth.com--and purchasing ads on sites that cash-strapped developers may be happy to accept, but ill-equipped to monitor. Some developers also insert unrelated "metatag See meta tag. " words on their Web pages, such as the phrase "physical education," so their sites appear in online searches on those topics. However, a more insidious and growing online seam is the purchase of site addresses that have expired, and relaunching them with different and often offensive content. This was first brought to my attention a few years ago when the popular 21st Century Teacher Network Web address was suddenly bought and transformed into a pornographic site. Many lapsed Web sites have been "porn-napped" this way, including school sites. For example, the site broker Domaincargo.com presently lists more than 240 sites containing the word "kid" and more than 50 sites of school districts that are up for sale. E-mail Links The most commonly used vehicle for enticing users to objectionable sites comes through the barrage of spam e-mail that infiltrates Infiltrates Cells or body fluids that have passed into a tissue or body cavity. Mentioned in: Eosinophilic Pneumonia schools with sexually explicit messages linked to the Web. Furthermore, the links open the doors to related assaults from viruses, spyware, identity theft and pop-up ads
For pop-up headlamps, see . Pop-up ads or popups . Message-Labs estimates that spam comprises more than 65 percent of e-mail sent and purging unwanted messages is a daily ritual for most users. The biggest online problem facing K-12 educators, therefore, is keeping adult-oriented materials out of school e-mail accounts e-mail account n → cuenta de correo . Pornography on the Internet has become a booming multibillion-dollar industry, and avoiding or blocking the onslaught by any simple measure is impossible. New delivery schemes are developed continuously, foreign sites are beyond the reach of U.S. law, and the proposal to relegate rel·e·gate tr.v. rel·e·gat·ed, rel·e·gat·ing, rel·e·gates 1. To assign to an obscure place, position, or condition. 2. To assign to a particular class or category; classify. See Synonyms at commit. such content to an "xxx" domain that can be filtered out will never work. Stemming the Tide It is an unfortunate reality that Internet users Internet user n → internauta m/f Internet user Internet n → internaute m/f will continue to encounter obscene text and images through a variety of channels, and most educators agree that children should be protected. Although the Federal "Can Spam" Act has been helpful in prosecuting offenders, the Supreme Court ruled that the law meant to punish pornographers is probably an unconstitutional muzzle muzzle 1. the part of the face supported by the maxillae and nasal bones; the part of a dog's head anterior to the stop and cheeks, containing the nasal passages and bearing the nosepad. Longer in dolichocephalics and practically nonexistent in brachycephalics. on free speech. Still, it is a federal offense to use a misleading domain name to deceive TO DECEIVE. To induce another either by words or actions, to take that for true which is not so. Wolff, Inst. Nat. Sec. 356. minors into viewing harmful material, and incidents need to be reported to be spoken of; to be mentioned, whether favorably or unfavorably. See also: Report through sites such as CyberTipline and ObscenityCrimes.org. States are also taking up the charge, and Michigan and Utah are the first to enact statewide "child-protection e-mail registries," where districts use services such as Unspam.com to designate school domains as "do not e-mail" systems. But the bottom line is that each local district must be the first line of defense with a clearly stated Acceptable Use Policy, up-to-date screening technology, continuing supervision and a commitment to keeping staff, students and parents informed. RESOURCES The CyberTipline www.cybertipline.org Fight Spam on the Internet spam.abuse.net GetNetWise www.getnetwise.org i-SAFE America www.isafe.org Odvard Egil Dyrli, dyrli@uconn.edu, is senior editor and emeritus professor of education at the University of Conn. |
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