It also filters obscene speech that has been defined by the courts. And we filter other online material that many people deem inappropriate for children, such as gambling, violence, hate speech, cults, alcohol and tobacco. Using the custom list capability, any user could also create their own restrictive list, for example, of sites determined by a local court to be obscene. The ACLU and the ALA have an interesting constitutional case regarding mandated filtering in public libraries. We had hoped they'd stick to the legal arguments, and not turn to the erroneous argument that filters don't work.
Filters do work, and they work well.
But they have not stuck to the legal case and the result has been some confusion. Some schools mistakenly believe the ACLU and ALA lawsuits apply to them. Many schools are waiting for the FCC ruling regarding certification on April 20. We believe that a simple self-certification is the best solution. We think that a message needs to be sent to schools to let them know the lawsuit is not about schools.