During the month of September comes the time to recognize the hard work people put into publishing books as well as websites. The week long event that is known as Banned Books Week also has a little surprise event day. Banned Websites Awareness Day is celebrated on September 27th.
The law about CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act) only filters for images. The images must not be obscene, show child pronography, or show anything harmful to minors. The third type of image deemed bannable are images that are sexually explicit. These images should be marked as viewing for adult only. Technically nothing in CIPA makes schools block social media, safe image sites, or online word processors, especially if the website can be used to further a child’s education.
You might be wondering what someone should do to help promote this day. Well in schools, many librarians hand out surveys to the students to see what they think about the restrictions. Students have even written to the board of education in their hometown telling them of the importance of not restricting websites that are educational. There are many other ways to help spread awareness so think of some of your own ideas and share them with the schools in your area to help promote Banned Websites Awareness Day.
More information can be found here:
Banned Websites Awareness Day official website: http://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/bwad
Ballard, Susan. "The Challenged the Banned & the Filtered." Knowledge Quest, vol. 43, no. 5, May/Jun2015, p. 32. EBSCOhost.
Luhtala, Michelle. "Banned Websites Awareness Day." Knowledge Quest, no. 1, 2015, p. 65. EBSCOhost.
Anderson, Wayne L. "Children's Internet Protection Act: Balancing Compliance with Access." Global Education Journal, no. 4, Dec. 2010, pp. 117-123. EBSCOhost.
Crawford, John V. Internet Surfing Safely : Protection Issues for Children and Young Adults. Nova Science Publishers, Inc, 2009. Internet Policies and Issues Series. EBSCOhost.