The History of CIPA

Protecting minors online is one of the most important goals of a developed society. Children are at risk from various threats when they use online content. These threats manifest as serious harms, including access to inappropriate or illegal content and exploitation by cybercriminals and other criminals. Children should feel safe at home and school, but a youngster's online life places them at risk. The statistics are sobering reading. In the UK, for example, the NSPCC recorded an 82% increase over the last five years in online grooming crimes against children. The safeguarding organization "Enough is Enough" recorded incidences of access to explicit adult content in 58% of tweens (under 13 years) and 75% of teens (13-18 years).

Regulations help counter the dangers to children in the online world. The US Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is one such regulation. TitanHQ explores CIPA and how to ensure your school or library complies with this vital act.

CIPA, Through the Years

The need for a law that protects children from online harms became apparent during the 1990s as the availability of the Internet increased.  However, in the 1990s, the Internet was not typically available to citizens in their homes, and smart mobile devices were still many years away. Instead, people would use libraries to access the Internet. However, it did not take long for the law of unintended consequences to emerge. While the Internet provided a near-unlimited store of valuable information, it also contained an expansive collection of pornography as well. Sexually explicit material became ubiquitous and posed serious problems for libraries, which serve as patrons within the community for all ages, including minors and small children. As a result, internet access within libraries became a place where kids could access pornography. Besides direct access to pornographic material on a website, some library adult users would fail to close out of their browser sessions, leaving sexually explicit images on the screen; the images were exposed to any staff members or children if they happened to use that computer. 

Congress recognized the need to address this issue, and in 2000, the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was enacted by the US Congress. On April 20, 2001, President Clinton signed CIPA into law.

The enactment of CIPA was not initially plain sailing. Free speech advocates regarded CIPA as a threat, and the legislation was immediately challenged in the District Federal Court by the American Library Association, which contended that it infringed on patrons' First Amendment rights.  The case over CIPA and free speech went to the US Supreme Court in 2003, where the initial ruling was overturned.  The high court held that Internet filtering does not violate the First Amendment rights of a library's patrons.  It also does not induce libraries to violate the Constitution and is a valid exercise of Congressional spending power. They held that Congress has wide latitudes to attach conditions to receiving federal assistance to further its policy objectives.  Following that ruling, CIPA compliance went into effect on July 1, 2004.

Web filtering is a technology that can prevent access to harmful or inappropriate online content. However, Congress did not have the authority to request outright web filtering of all library computers. Instead, Congress tied CIPA to the following, and in doing so, a mandate for web filtering was achieved:

• The Library Services and Technology Act
• Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
• E-Rate (the Universal Service Fund)

CIPA and its sister legislation, the Neighborhood Internet Protection Act NCIPA, required schools and libraries receiving federal funding for Internet services to adopt an Internet Safety Policy. The policy incorporates web filtering technology, used to block all images and videos deemed to be child pornography or obscene. This covers all organizational computers, including those used only by staff. CIPA also requires that all multimedia deemed "harmful to minors" be blocked. This includes sexually explicit images that lack any serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. CIPA, however, makes provisions for adults to be able to request that filtering be bypassed under specific circumstances.

Today, CIPA applies to schools as well as libraries. For many parents and administrators, CIPA is a series of requirements that schools and libraries accept and implement to receive federal funding.  For others, the deliberation concerning filtering initiatives is still a hot topic. They argue that what may be categorized as sexually obscene content to some may hold literary, educational, or artistic value to others.  Many insist that CIPA has encouraged schools and libraries to over-block content and that patrons and students are restricted from accessing constitutionally protected websites.

What is CIPA Compliance?

CIPA applies to any K-12 school or library that wishes to receive discounts offered by the E-Rate funding program or the LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act). E-Rate discounts between 20% and 90% on telecommunications, telecommunications services, Internet access and associated services. To apply for E-Rate funding, a library or school must produce evidence that it has an Internet Safety Policy that utilizes appropriate technology protection measures, such as a web filter.

The Internet Safety Policy is expected to handle the following:

• Block or filter access by minors to inappropriate images.
• Ensure the safety and security of minors when using email, chat rooms, or other direct electronic communications.
• Prevent minors from 'hacking' or engagement in other unlawful activities.
• Prevent unauthorized disclosure of personal information about themselves or their peers.
• Prevent access to any content deemed harmful to minors.

The content that MUST be filtered is:

• Obscene content (Miller v. California (1973)
• Child pornography (18 U.S.C. 2256)
• Any content that may be harmful to minors

Certification is required to demonstrate compliance with CIPA.

CIPA Exceptions

According to the FCA, there are some notable exceptions to the requirement for CIPA compliance:

• If your school or library applies discounts for telecommunications service only, then you do not need to demonstrate CIPA compliance.
• Authorized personnel can turn off the blocking or filtering technology to allow an adult to access content for bona fide research or other lawful purposes.
• CIPA does not require Internet use by minors or adults to be tracked.

CIPA and its Ties to the E-Rate Program

Some libraries across the US refuse federal funds to continue their stated exemption from CIPA. On the other hand, many parents in schools that implement one-to-one laptop initiatives openly insist that these devices be filtered to protect their children from content that they deem threatening or harmful to their children.  While the debate over what and how much to filter will probably persist, CIPA and its ties to the E-Rate program is, at least for now, a compliance that most organizations are willing to accept in exchange for federal dollars. 

Risks of Non-Compliance with CIPA

Non-compliance with CIPA can lead to issues with federal funding from E-Rate or LSTA. However, by allowing minors to see explicit and inappropriate content and images, management could be at risk of legal repercussions.

Penalties and funding issues are one thing, but the moral obligation to protect children is a pressing need. CIPA is there to protect children, and the regulation offers a framework to prevent harmful content from showing up in young people's emails and screens. CIPA also protects the privacy of youngsters, an essential imperative in a world where cybercriminals would utilize young people's data to commit fraud and carry out extortion.

CIPA Technology Requirements

CIPA protection policies are enforced using specific technology measures. CIPA-compliant technologies block or filter internet access. Filtering must be performed on a covered entity's computers. Web filters must be able to be disabled as required when an adult user needs access to otherwise inaccessible content if they require access for a legitimate reason. Technologies that provide web filtering must be able to follow the Internet Safety Policy as developed to reflect CIPA requirements. Any web filter deployed by a K 12 school or library must-have features that make it easy to deploy, configure, and manage. Ease of adjustment for the different audiences using the computers is a vital requisite of any web filtering technology used for CIPA compliance.

In the UK, the NSPCC recorded an 82% increase over the last five years in online grooming crimes against children.

How Does TitanHQ Help with CIPA Compliance?

CIPA requirements are enforced using a DNS filtering solution, like WebTitan. DNS filters block malicious websites and filter harmful and inappropriate content, like that recognized by CIPA. DNS filters provide essential functionality that ensures a school or library complies with CIPA. This functionality includes the following:

• Blocklists: Block or filter internet access to certain blocked websites.
• AI-Driven Website Blocking: WebTitan enhances conventional blocklisting using AI-driven URL filters. URL filters perform filtering at a more granular level than blocklists and can be configured to prevent access at the web page level.
• Block Pornography and Obscene Content. WebTitan provides Google integration to enforce safe search; adult content is filtered out of the search results.
• Monitor Online Activity: Children's online activity in schools or libraries can be monitored to provide information on student internet usage patterns. Monitoring is performed in a privacy-respectful manner.
• Remote Protection: Cyberbullying and access to illegal and inappropriate content by preventing access to specific social sites if a school-owned device is taken home. This is achieved using a roaming BYOD policy.

WebTitan is a powerful solution for education environments, allowing admins to configure policies to protect students and ensure that educational compliance standards are met.

Expert Insights, Top Web Security Solutions.

Features of WebTitan DNS Filtering Solution

"WebTitan is a powerful solution for education environments, allowing admins to configure policies to protect students and ensure that educational compliance standards are met." - Expert Insights, Top Web Security Solutions.

WebTitan is an advanced, AI-driven DNS filter that provides features above and beyond those offered by conventional, blocklist-based web filters. Using sophisticated AI-driven features, WebTitan ensures schools and libraries are CIPA compliant. It is also easy to deploy and configure and can be outsourced to a managed service provider.

Key Features of WebTitan

Schools and libraries need a DNS Filtering solution that is sophisticated in functionality and is worth the money. WebTitan is designed to work with K-12 schools and libraries that must service a complex environment. Some of the core features of WebTitan that ensure CIPA compliance and that make DNS filtering achievable and effective include the following:

• Real-time response to malicious content using a URL Classification database. This database is augmented with an AI-driven threat corpus with data from over 650 million end users.
• Out-of-school protection (24/7 network protection) for BYOD policies.
• Low Management Overhead as School / Campus IT staff can centrally manage WebTitan through a centralized cloud-based management console.
• Excellent reporting capabilities to demonstrate CIPA compliance.
• Scalable to accommodate changing student and staff numbers and patterns of work.
• Solutions that fit the smallest school to the largest school district.
• Direct integration into Google to stop searches for inappropriate content.
• Fantastic customer support from TitanHQ
• Tried and tested and used daily by 100s of schools

Take a closer look at the power and versatility of TitanHQ’s web filtering solution.