Focus On Children was held on December 1st - 3rd 1997. More than 650 participants representing over 300 organizations came together to assure that steps were taken to make the Internet online experience safe, educational and entertaining for children. The industry and public interest community continues to develop educational and safety programs designed to help parents, schools, and libraries keep children's experiences on the Internet fun, educational, and safe. Schools, libraries, and other educational and cultural community centers are actively seeking ways to provide children with enriching and safe online experiences. A central component of these efforts is protecting children from inappropriate information.
Approaches range broadly.
The policies are buttressed by contracts signed by students, parents and teachers. For example, Freemont Public Schools in Freemont, Nebraska, like many other public institutions, uses Acceptable Use Policies that educate students on how to access appropriate information and emphasize classroom supervision. School districts such as the New Haven Unified School District in Union City, California offer schools the ability to choose from filters that help limit access to content and access logs that help teachers monitor classroom use to ensure children's safety. Others such as Macomb County, Michigan, have established a countywide Internet filtering solution but allow individual schools to decide whether to employ it. However, we believe that this is not the time to rush forward with further action.