Internet porn-blocking software neednt block health information, s...( Department of Family Medicine at the U-...),Health

Adds co-author Paul J. Resnick, Ph.D., an associate professor at the U-M School of Information, "Much of the policy debate until now has been about whether filters should be installed at all. Our study suggests that careful thought and debate should also precede decisions about what settings to choose."

Richardson, Resnick and others from the U-M Health Media Research Laboratory and the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted the study with an eye toward teens, who are likely to turn to the Internet for health and sexuality information.

"Filters can strike a good balance between protecting kids from pornography while still giving them access to online health information, but only if they're configured carefully," said KFF vice president and senior author Vicky Rideout, M.A.. "Otherwise, filters can be a serious obstacle, especially on issues such as pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and birth control."

Previous Kaiser Foundation studies have shown that many teens have used the Internet to look for information on health and sexuality, including topics they may not feel comfortable talking about with parents, teachers or health care providers from depression to sexual orientation.

Three-quarters of schools and nearly half of libraries have installed filtering software on Internet-connected computers, to prevent access to certain kinds of information. Only some schools and libraries disclose the restriction-level that they choose for their software.

In the mid-1990s, there were some reports that such software had blocked access to information on health topics like breast cancer. Since then, filter manufacturers have worked to improve their products' ability to distinguish between pornography and legitimate health information. But until now, no p
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Contact: Kara Gavin
kegavin@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System
10-Dec-2002