Introduction-

Devin Davis, Chief Information Officer at Clayton, is entrusted with a special job. He protects students from the dangers of the internet. His job includes managing the school filter, keeping students off of blocked pages and hunting down proxies.

The Cat-

Filtering student Internet starts with the federal government. Laws such as COPA [Child Online Protection Act] aim to limit the harmful effects of the Internet on minors. Part of Clayton’s federal funding relies that they meet filtering standards set by the government.

“I have to sign a document every year where I swear that I’m performing due diligence,” Davis said. “So my name is on that sheet and I’m required to [filter] by law.”

Despite the huge role the Internet plays in our lives, it’s still relatively new. State and federal legislation has been struggling to catch up with the advances the web has made. In many instances the law still hasn’t caught up.

“I think it takes a while for the public to adjust sometimes,” Davis said. “The government tends to be restrictive at times, especially when you’re dealing with school districts.”

In Missouri, local issues have added to the pressure on government to protect students from the web. In 2006, Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl from St. Charles, committed suicide over a Myspace post. Later investigation found the post to be part of a large chain of cyber-bullying. Meier’s parents actively campaigned to tighten cyberbullying laws. School districts as well as governments fear getting involved with these online feuds.

Myspace may be outdated, but social networking still looms large as a threat in schools. Recently, Missouri passed the Amy Hestir Protection Act, more commonly known as the “Facebook Law”. The Act prohibits student-teacher interaction on social media sites. These new laws provide even more reason for schools to keep students away from the potentially dangerous parts of the web.

While it’s clear these laws are made to benefit the students, not all high schoolers agree with the filter. This leads to hackers, which are a daily part of Davis’ job.

“A lot of our students are smart enough to set up their own proxy server at their home,” Davis said. “How many? I don’t have an idea and I probably don’t want to know.”

Proxy servers allow computers to forward their tasks to other computers. For instance, a school computer could send a request to open Facebook, and then the proxy computer would open it. Proxies provide an easy way around filters, and are a common way students circumvent security measures.

Although it is Davis’ job to block hackers, he describes himself as a reluctant enforcer. He works to keep as many web pages open as possible.

“I would say that throughout the district of Clayton the general wish is that it [the Internet] be free and open, and that it not be restricted,” Davis said. “We try to be right up against the edge of those rules and try to make sure that we can keep it [the Internet] as open as possible.”

Davis said that compared to many other districts, Clayton has an open policy.

“In Clayton we try to have the most liberal view of what is acceptable, and I think if you check certain districts like St. Charles, you’d be amazed at how open we really are,” Davis said.

David believes that as the public becomes more accustomed with the web, policies will become more open.

“I think as time goes on, some of these things may be deemed less of an issue,” Davis said. “Facebook and those types of sites are still relatively new, and so I really can’t see things like that being blocked ten years down the road.”

Until then, Davis will continue hunting down proxies, and doing his best to uphold what is for now seen as justice online.

The Mouse-

For every wall that’s put up, there will always be people who try to get around it. This rule makes no exception for the Clayton web filter. Students daily find ways around the “Lightspeed Systems.” One such student volunteered to share his story. For the sake of hiding his identity, he will be referred to as “Jerry.”

“I’ve broken through the filter countless times, and usually I do it as often as I can because there are many essential sites that I see as being wrongly blocked by the administration,” Jerry said.

Jerry has been breaking through the filter since his freshman year. He says that breaking the filter takes very little skill. According to him, anyone with a rudimentary sense of computers can get around it.

“In terms of hacking through [the web filter], there’s not much actual hacking involved like in the movies where you’re typing and manipulating the network,” Jerry said. “My inspiration [to hack] wasn’t one that came through a want for rebellious action or to go against authority, but more one out of need.”

Jerry says his friends play a large role in hacking the server. Through them, he gets the back-doors into the web, as well as updates on working proxies.

“I needed to log on to a webpage that I couldn’t get on because it was blocked, even though it was just a news site,” Jerry said. “I texted a friend, and by the next period I had a working proxy.”

The main challenge to hackers like Jerry is that the administration is always learning. For every new proxy that’s found, another old one is blocked.

“It’s sort of like the Red Queen’s Hypothesis,” Jerry said. “If you keep on running as fast as you can, then that’s just fast enough to stay on par with the other party.”

Despite Jerry’s objections to the filter, he believes it’s good for the school.

“I think that the usage of the filter is something that the school should employ and is good for the educational system of the school,” Jerry said. “Nevertheless, I think they’ve superseded the limitations of how it should be used.”

One such site Jerry thinks should be open is the Huffington Post. News sites are commonly targeted by the filter, even though they may be highly reputable. Another area where the filter struggles to sort good from bad are foreign language sites. When faced with multiple languages, the filter has trouble deciding if content is school-worthy, and as a result, many useful foreign language sites are blocked.

“I think the district is overstepping its boundaries when they employ a safety filter set at a level for kindergarteners and then impose that on high school,” Jerry said. “So yes, there should be some limitations, but when it gets to the point of limiting the Huffington Post, then they’ve gone too far.”

While the web filter will remain controversial, Jerry believes as long as it’s up, students will continue attempts to get around it.

“I can’t predict [the future of the filter], but what I can predict is that there will always be those who are trying to get around the filter.