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Net Nanny 5 is one of the more widely used blocking
programs; but Peacefire members have a fairly dim view
of it along with most of the bloatware overkill packages.
A survey of 24 libraries using blocking software did
not include any that were using Net Nanny. However,
in 1997, a student at Central Texas Community College
repoted that the software was being used on campus computer
terminals. Then, in February 1998, Friends University
installed net nanny on their campus computer system.
In the latter case, staff at Friends University reported
that the software blocked information on sexually transmitted
diseases, the politics of prostitution, and even a site
about Adam and Eve.
Net Nanny was one of the four blocking software programs
criticized in the 1996 article "Keys to the Kingdom",
which listed some of the sites blocked by Net Nanny,
CYBERSitter and Cyber Patrol Although the authors wrote
that the list of blocked sites used by each program
was encrypted and could not be read by the user, Net
Nanny comes with an unencrypted list of about 3,500
blocked sites -- making it the only program so far that
allows the administrator to see the list. It also blocks
much less than any of the competing programs (which
usually come with "blocked site lists" of
about 100,000 Web sites). Net Nanny has claimed that
they give more control to the administrator (i.e. parent,
teacher or librarian) by not encrypting their list;
however, Peacefire members whose schools are using the
software have reported that the default sites selected
by Net Nanny are blocked in the overwhelming majority
of cases. Because filtering software companies usually
encrypt their blocked site lists to protect them from
being used by competitors, Net Nanny has less motivation
to encrypt their list, since it represents an investment
of much less time and money.
Although the blocked site list is short, Net Nanny
employes a more severe word filtering mechanism than
most other programs. It is often reported that blocking
software will block an entire page based on the occurrence
of a single word. This is not usually true; Cyber Patrol
and SurfWatch will block pages only if a banned word
appears in the URL, and CYBERsitter will simply remove
the word from the page. Net Nanny, however, blocks all
pages by default that contain the words "sex",
"drugs" or "pornography", and can
even be configured to hang up the modem or lock up the
computer if a banned word appears on the screen. This
was the default configuration reported to be in use
at the Central Texas Community College. For example,
the Net Nanny FAQ (which has since been removed from
the Web) states:
"So if your kids do a lot of e-mailing or go
into chat rooms within IRC you can still take action.
Say your kid's friend e-mails him a pipe bomb recipe.
If 'bomb' is in your dictionary Net Nanny goes to
work."
Although Net Nanny blocks fewer Web sites than any
competitors, it does block access to about the same
number of newsgroups, including:
bit.listserv.aidsnews
clari.tw.health.aids
misc.health.aids
sci.med.aids
alt.feminism
soc.feminism
as well as the Banned Books page at Carnegie Mellon
and Femina.com, which describes itself as a "comprehensive,
searchable directory of links to female friendly sites
and information on the World Wide Web".
While the Banned Books page and Femina.com are blocked
because the URL's exist as entries on Net Nanny's blocked
site list, more Web sites are blocked because they contain
keywords which activate Net Nanny's word filter. TIME
journalists reported in an August 1997 article that
Net Nanny blocked the National Organization for Women
Web site (which was the source of much more controversy
when the same Web site was blocked by CYBERsitter).
A Friends University professor also described being
denied access to information the Episcopal Church's
position on homosexuality, at an unspecified Web site.
Net Nanny is the only program which includes the names
of mailing lists on its list of banned keywords, including:
aids-stat-request@wubios.wustl.edu -- according to a
description at http://www.utmb.edu/mrl/ch4.html, this
is the "discussion list is for the distribution
of AIDS statistics from various agencies", mainly
the Center for Disease Control's monthly AIDS Surveillance
Report act-up-request@world.std.com -- the mailing list
of AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power eagles-request@flash.usc.edu
-- described as a "discussion list for scouts,
scout-masters, and former scouts who identify as gay,
lesbian, or bisexual" noglstp-request@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov
-- the mailing list of the "National Organization
of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals",
whose web site describes the group as an organization
opposing discrimination and stereotyping in the sciences
"Keys to the Kingdom" also reported that
Net Nanny blocked all mailing lists run by the Department
of Computer Science at the University of Colorado
at Boulder. Said the authors of the article, "Guess
those computer geeks talk blue when they're not pumping
out C code."
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