The Inter-Nyet : SCIENCE FILE: An exploration of issues and trends affecting science, medicine and the environment. : With His Surfwatch Program, Software Developer Bill Duvall Has Jumped Into the Fray Over Who Should Police Children’s Access to Sexually Explicit Material

When software developer Bill Duvall gazes into the future of cyberspace, he sees a world where the technology you use is inexorably tied to the ideology you follow. That’s one reason he has jumped into the rising national debate over who should police the Internet for pornography and other explicit material. The other reason is his 14-year-old daughter, Jessica.

“It was very difficult for me, having raised children, to envision a situation where the Internet could exist with this material on it,” said Duvall, 50. “It seemed clear that something had to be done.”

Enter Surfwatch, a start-up firm conceived to help parents, teachers and other would-be Net-watchers prevent children from gaining access to--or stumbling upon--sexually explicit messages, images and conversations on the infobahn. Duvall and his wife, Ann, launched the company in January to market his latest creation: Surfwatch 1.0, a program that prevents individual computers from connecting to news groups, chat rooms and World Wide Web pages rife with with cyber-porn.

By introducing the first in what is likely to be a string of similar blocking programs, Duvall has thrust himself into the hottest high-tech debate in Washington. Recently, the Senate passed a bill that would impose heavy fines and prison terms on computer users who distribute “filthy” material on-line. Supporters of the measure, sponsored by Sen. James J. Exon (D-Nebraska), say it is merely an extension of existing laws against telephone harassment to on-line communications.

*

Some software industry leaders, however, view the bill as a ham-handed attempt by the federal government to regulate--even censor--the Internet. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, shocking some members of his own party, blasted the bill as “a violation of the right of adults to communicate with each other.” And just when the debate seemed to reach a fever pitch, two congressmen, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) and Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), introduced a bill that would bar the Federal Communications Commission from policing the Internet. The House overwhelmingly passed the bill, setting up a showdown in a House-Senate conference committee in the next few weeks.

To Duvall, who sides with other software makers in opposing a centralized government approach, the debate has less to do with freedom of speech than it does with individual rights and responsible parenting. While the Senate measure is correct in principle, he says, the computer industry can regulate itself just fine.

“We are making available, in the private sector, tools that can be used to solve the problem in advance of having the government act,” said Duvall, a UC Berkeley dropout who was one of the first people to send data across the Arpanet--the network that evolved into today’s Internet--in the late 1960s. “As we sit down and explain what our product is about--individual choice--people are comfortable with it.”

In fact, the program has prompted inquiries from parents, teachers and Fortune 500 employers who provide access to the Internet but don’t want their children, students and employees to stray too far. Corporate computer administrators at pharmaceutical companies, airlines and other firms also are trying out the software in hopes of preventing employees from abusing their on-line access privileges while at work.

In a Grand Rapids, Mich., high school where 10 students with Internet access began bringing in computer-generated pornographic photographs, network administrators shut down the school’s on-line system for a month--until they heard about the new program in April. They began permitting limited access to students on Surfwatch-equipped computers.

“It’s not foolproof, but it’s going to stop the average kid from looking too far,” said Mary Durkee, who trains students at Caledonia High School in Grand Rapids.

In Kansas City, teacher Paul Weber said he installed the program on computers at his school and did not notice any effect at first. Then, the day after the airing of a television special explaining how to find Internet sites dealing with bondage, bestiality and other subjects, he witnessed Surfwatch in action.

*

“Some students had made crib sheets. They walked into the room with grins on their faces. Pretty soon the grins turned to puzzled looks. The hands went up, and they asked, ‘Mr. Weber, what’s “Blocked by Surfwatch” mean?’ ”

It’s Duvall’s way of saying stay out of the Internet’s red-light district, you can’t come in. No way, no how.

To block Net-surfers from entering those news groups, chat rooms and Web sites, Duvall compiled a list of more than 1,000 locations and files featuring explicit material. When computer users try to communicate with those areas, the program locks them out. Parents or supervisors can enter a password to “open” the lock. Surfwatch, which chose the red and white “Do Not Enter” symbol for its corporate logo, claims the program prevents access to 90% to 95% of available sites that have explicit material.

One of the problems with trying to root out cyber-porn, however, is that it tends to be elusive. Files can be moved. New chat rooms can open. Duvall says he has seen sites blocked by the program moved from one Net server to another within 24 hours. To keep up, the company employs a team of Net-surfers (all over 18) to cruise for smut. When they find new sites, Duvall adds them to the list of places to be locked. Users who buy the program can purchase periodic updates to make sure they are stopping access to the complete list.

Of course, Duvall’s list may not square with every parent’s or every company’s. He acknowledges that he may lock users out of sites that might be acceptable to some and leave untouched sites that might be too racy for more conservative users. For example, the standard Surfwatch program blocks some sites containing information on homosexuality, and a number of gay activists have complained to the company.

“We’re not trying to put ourselves in a position of being censors for the country,” he said. “We just want to give people the tools to make decisions.”

*

A future version of the program will permit customers to create and edit their own lists, adding or removing sites one at a time. That function will be the key selling point for computer industry advocates trying to fend off Exon’s bill on Capitol Hill.

“Just the fact that this product exists has dramatically changed the discussion of this issue,” said Danny Weitzner, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington interest group that supports industry self-regulation.

Another key political advantage to Duvall’s program is its ability to block sites anywhere in the world. About a third of the areas Surfwatch locks are overseas. If Congress passes a ban on sexually explicit material on the Internet, the measure could apply to only U.S. sites.

In spite of Washington’s interest in the program as a political tool, Duvall, with his libertarian ideology, said he plans to keep out of the partisan squabbling.

But as Duvall watches his creation turn into a political hockey puck, he insists that his intent in designing Surfwatch was to be a good dad. Despite his protective instincts, however, he is quick to point out that the Internet offers a good deal of positive fare.

“People should know that most of the Internet is good,” he said. However, “When you poke around a little bit, it’s pretty black and white. It becomes obvious very quickly that there’s a problem.”