Questions

Q1 Why are web pages filtered?
Q2 Why is my email filtered?
Q3 How do I change the web filters?

Answers

Q1: Why are web pages filtered?

A federal law named "Childrens' Internet Protection Act," a.k.a. CIPA, was passed. It requires public schools to filter their access to Internet resources in order to receive federal funding.

Due to this law, we have a web filtering system. It will check any web pages for possibly objectionable content. If any is found, it will be blocked.

Q2: Why is my email filtered?

Email accounts provided over the web, such as Hotmail, Yahoo!, AOL, and others, are just fancy web pages. The web filters will judge these sites just as if they were regular web sites. Thanks to junk email, a.k.a. spam, it is possible that any such email account will eventually be blocked by the filters.

The system is not designed to block email services. They will only be blocked if you receive junk email that it is required to filter.

Due to CIPA, we can not make exceptions for email services.

Students are strongly encouraged to use their school provided email accounts for any homework, emailing teachers, and college applications.

Q3 How do I change the web filters?

When you come to a site which has been blocked, copy the URL (in the "Address", "Go To", etc. line at the top of your web browser) into an email to help@cairodurham.org. Include a description of what you expected and remember to explain that you are emailing us about a web filter blocked site. If it is a legitimate request, someone should get back to you. Keep in mind that it may take days or even weeks. Therefore, you should not expect your request to be processed in time to work on an assignment. You should look for other web sites with the information that you need and/or use different search words on Google, Yahoo, etc. to find what you need.