[thelist] Content filtering for kids site (slightly OT)

Javier Muniz jmuniz at granicus.com
Thu Oct 16 18:47:57 CDT 2003


You should also seriously discuss this issue with your lawyers and your
clients lawyers.  Once you begin moderating or filtering content, there are
some cases where this moderation can lead to liability.  In other words, if
you moderate or filter a chat room, and something Truly Horrible(tm) is
trasmitted via your system, your filter may actually open you up to
liability for re-trasmitting that Horrible Thing(tm) since you are in
control of the content on your system via the filter and you can no longer
claim that the re-transmission was beyond your control.

I'm not a lawyer, nor have I studied law, but I have encountered this issue
at a very large company where I worked, and we ended up chosing not to
filter content for this reason.  The laws may have since changed, or there
may be ways around it, but you need to be extremely careful when it comes to
content filtering and definitely contact an attorney. 

Btw, I believe monitoring by humans opens you up to the largest amount of
liability, but again you'd need to check with your lawyer.

-Javier

-----Original Message-----
From: Iva Koberg [mailto:iva at livestoryboard.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 12:43 PM
To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
Subject: RE: [thelist] Content filtering for kids site (slightly OT)




Thanks, Colleen - our thoughts are along the same lines. Appreciate the
feedback,

Iva.


>-----Original Message-----
>From: thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org
>[mailto:thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org] On Behalf Of Method, Colleen M
>Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 8:26 AM
>To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
>Subject: RE: [thelist] Content filtering for kids site (slightly OT)
>
>
>Hi
>
>I know what you mean.  You might want to take this up as part
>of the TOS agreement or an FAQ section topic.
>
>To get around filtering - consider saying something about not
>using slang or phrases that may have different meanings. 
>
>Promote it as a place where kids of all ages can come together
>to share knowledge and that these phrases may cause problems 
>in getting ones views across.
>
>Colleen Method
>
>Chivalry...Not just a code but a lifestyle!
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