Survey: Americans Prefer
Students’ Internet Filtered
In a survey of some 1,900 people throughout the U.S., 60% support the government’s role in wiring schools to the Internet and 65% say they would back the use of tax dollars to fund Internet access in libraries, the Benton Foundation announced October 16. However, the survey also reveals that 92% favor the installation of blocking software on school computers to keep students from viewing pornography, while 79% want hate speech filtered.
The survey was funded by the Benton Foundation along with the five other members of the Digital Media Forum, an informal coalition established by the Ford Foundation. It was conducted by Dhavan V. Shah, assistant professor of the University of Wisconsin/Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“It’s a worrisome dilemma,” Benton senior associate Andy Carvin reacted, noting that although the public is seeming to “embrace” the Internet as an educational tool, many are willing to “shrug off First Amendment considerations.” Carvin predicted that “in the end, adults will have to recognize their role as the ultimate mediators of their children’s online experiences.”
Posted October 23, 2000.
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