The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer
Protection, September 11, 1998 

Introduction 

My name is Peter Nickerson. I am CEO and President of N2H2, Inc. in
Seattle, Washington. Since 1995 N2H2 has provided server-based
(network) Internet filtering services to schools, libraries,
businesses and ISPs in the United States, Canada, the UK and
Australia. In the U.S. over 8,000 schools use BessSM, its school
filtering service, in order to allow students access to the Internet
with minimal supervision. By the end of September, as many as 50
percent or more of K-12 students using the Internet in schools in
Texas, Ohio, Washington, Maine, Oklahoma and Tennessee will be going
through N2H2’s filters. Within a month, 50 schools in the Department
of Defense’s European school system will also being using N2H2’s Bess
filtering. In addition to these school services, N2H2 provides
filtering to dozens of public libraries, businesses and almost 200
Internet Service Providers who provide the service to their dial-up
customers. While N2H2 services have historically been provided on a
network-wide basis, these relationships with ISPs and recent
partnerships with companies like Netwave, Fortress, and Winstar now
allow individual computer users to utilize N2H2 services even when
they are not connected to a network with an installed N2H2 server. 

In addition to filtering services, N2H2, in partnership with Inktomi,
will soon be providing the Internet community free access to a search
engine designed specifically for schools. It is free of references and
links to adult sites yet still provides access to a catalogue of over
100 million web pages. Later this fall, N2H2 will also provide e-mail
services to schools which will allow school administrators to control
how and with whom students communicate over the Internet using e-mail.
N2H2’s objective is to provide schools with a suite of Internet
services that allow them to fully utilize the educational opportunity
of the Internet, without fear of exposing students to inappropriate
material. 

A general perception exists that Internet filtering is seriously
flawed and in many situations unusable. It is also perceived that
schools and libraries don’t want filtering. These notions are naïve
and based largely on problems associated with early versions of
client-based software that were admittedly crude and ineffective.
Though some poor filtering products now exist, filtering has gone
through an extensive evolution and is not only good at protecting
children but also well-received and in high demand. This evolution has
been caused by normal market forces. Customers have requested and
demanded changes to filtering products and asked for new features.
Most filtering firms have responded by improving their offerings and
adding new products. More firms have entered the industry. As N2H2’s
record can attest, demand for these newer and improved filtering
systems is strong. Customer satisfaction, at least for N2H2’s
products, is very high with N2H2’s school customer attrition at
virtually zero. 

Though N2H2 provides filtering to businesses, ISPs, and libraries, its
principal market focus has been the K-12 school environment. Our
experience there provides some unique insights. 

Changes in the Demand for Internet Filtering: 

When N2H2 started marketing Internet filtering to schools in 1995 it
met with, at best, a lukewarm reception. For the most part
administrators did not want filtering and did not see the need. Many
told us that they thought Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) would suffice.
That perception has changed. Schools now, with rare exceptions,
understand the need for filtering and actively seek solutions to the
problems associated with open Internet access. Exceptions to this are
rare. This change seems due to the publicity about pornography on the
Internet, public pressure, and a good understanding of how simple it
is for children to be exposed to adult Internet material when
filtering is not in place. 

It appears that school officials have also found that AUPs, by
themselves, do not work. They are long, often written in legalese, not
read (nor necessarily understandable) by students, and often too easy
to ignore. In reviewing one school district’s Internet use, where the
district had a well-conceived and well-written AUP, N2H2 found that
almost five percent of the Internet requests were for sites that
contained adult content, mostly pornography. It would not surprise us
to find similar results anywhere you had normal, curious children. (In
contrast, we have found that in schools with filtering, students soon
stop looking for this material and the number of sites being blocked
is approximately one and one-half percent. These include blocks of
chat, free-email, sites that request personal information, and sites
that contain adult-oriented advertising.) 

While the K-12 environment is readily adopting Internet filtering
without the added pressure of a legislative mandate, the same is not
true of libraries. Some libraries do have various forms of Internet
filtering on their computers. Our observation is that most do not.
Filtering in the library environment is more complicated and much
more tied to legitimate free-speech issues than in schools. Some
librarians are adamantly opposed to filtering on First Amendment
grounds. Those who are not are worried about litigation or the threat
of litigation and have resisted the urge to filter. The demand for
filtering in libraries is relatively low and will probably remain so
until the courts resolve the extent to which librarians can filter. 

Filtering Attributes, Characteristics and Flexibility: 

The demand for N2H2’s filtering in the schools has been stimulated by
an array of features that are part of the service. N2H2 sells Internet
filtering in the K-12 environment under the trade name of Bess. It is
a service rather than a software product. N2H2 provides its schools a
filtering and caching server (or for small schools, access to one) and
completely maintains and services the filtering functions for the
customer. This approach has proved invaluable to many schools who are
short-handed in the technical area and may not have the resources to
learn and maintain new hardware and software systems. 

The services are adaptable to the customer’s needs and community
standards regarding filtering. The following is a partial list of the
features and options that schools receive when they decide to use
filtering. It is important to note that this is the array of options
that schools have asked to see and which make the filtering service
attractive and functional for them. 

The service is turnkey -- All hardware, software, maintenance, and
updates are included. 

Filtering is fully customizable -- Customers choose the categories of
sites they want blocked on their system. Choices include pornography,
drug use, graphic violence, and bomb-making. (See the attached list
for a complete description ofthe categories). Customers can also
invoke exceptions for educational sites and choose whether or not to
block free e-mail, chat or simply allow moderated chat. Customers can
further customize the filters by adding or subtracting sites from the
block lists. Different filtering schemes can be set up for different
times of day. Over 4.5 million web pages are contained in the
block-site categories. All sites that are blocked are reviewed by N2H2
staff before being added to the block lists. When users think that a
site should not be blocked (or should be blocked), they can easily
notify N2H2 staff and a review usually takes place within a day.
Updates to the block lists occur daily, automatically. Technical
support and system monitoring is available 24 hours a day. Adults can
override the filters using passwords. Administrators get complete
statistics on their network’s Internet use on demand. Upgrades to the
software are automatic. 

These features allow communities to customize their filtering to fit
their needs. It is probable that none of our customers configure their
systems the same. It is notable for the legislation being considered
that some schools choose not to install the filter override option.
Adults who want to access filtered sites need to do so off of the
school’s network. 

"Obscene" versus "Adult" 

The legislation before Congress deals with the filtering of sites that
are "obscene". The vast majority of sites that are adult-oriented or
may otherwise not be appropriate for children do not fit the legal
definition of obscene. They are legal. While laws will not cover the
filtering of these sites, most filtering systems will block these
legal, adult sites. While some anti-filtering advocates argue that
this is improper, we think it is more appropriate to treat the
filtering of these sites the same way as adult entertainment.
Communities have long held, and the courts have agreed, that adult
entertainment can be "zoned" out of certain parts of the community in
order to protect other legitimate (but competing) interests. Internet
filtering seems to fit this standard. It essentially sets up Internet
zones where adult material is not allowed (schools and public
libraries) in the interest of protecting children. Access to adult
sites is still allowed on those public and private computers on which
the risk to children is negligible, and where the community has no
obligation to protect them. 

Attached to this written testimony is a copy of the system N2H2 uses
to categorize sites. It gives some flavor of the types of perfectly
legal sites which might be inappropriate for children. 

Legislative Effects 

Lastly, Congress needs to be aware that the different forms of
legislation appearing before them may not have a significant impact on
promoting filtering. Most school and library administrators understand
the need for some protection for children and are trying to deal with
the problem, even without legislation. Because filtering is not free
(list prices can range from $0.50 to $3.00 per workstation per month)
this legislation could slowdown the adoption of Internet use in
schools. If Congress wants to accelerate adoption of filtering, the
e-rate funding program might be changed to include filtering.