PHILADELPHIA, March 29, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Children's Internet Protection Act, set to go into effect in April, will limit tens of thousands of women's access to potentially life-saving medical information via the Internet, said breast cancer expert and patient advocate Marisa Weiss, M.D.
Dr. Weiss, a breast oncologist, is also the founder and president of the breast cancer information site, www.ibreast.org, which she started a year ago after finding her patients were overwhelmed trying to make complex medical decisions.
Under the law, libraries and schools that don't implement filters on all publicly accessible computers -- not just those used by children -- will lose access to federal technology funds.
"The question is, how do you preserve women's access to life-saving and life-enhancing information through the libraries and school community computers, but also limit kids' access to porno sites?" asked Dr. Weiss. It's a critical question, because many low-income and minority women -- who suffer breast cancer in disproportionately high figures -- rely on these public computers for their Internet access.
"These are the women who get the nastiest form of the cancer, feel less entitled to their doctor's time and attention, feel more ashamed by the diagnosis, and have the greatest need for access to information in a private non-hospital setting," said Dr. Weiss.
Low-income people are also the fastest growing group of Internet users, and studies show they are eager to use the Internet when given a chance.
"That's why the Internet is so indispensable for these women: the information is free, they can access it privately when they want, without feeling rushed, and they can print it out and take it with them," Dr. Weiss said. "Blocking women's access to such information risks a wider digital divide between rich and poor, African Americans and Caucasians."
Access to other health information Web sites, such as those dealing with sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV and AIDS, and impotence, is also at risk. One possible solution, said Dr. Weiss, is to ensure that the most sophisticated filters available are put on these computers, so they can distinguish between porn sites and health-related sites. There are two approaches to filtering, she noted:
* Automated filters. The cheapest "solution," these filters block access to all "bad" pages on the Web as soon as they're created. Unfortunately, they're also likely to withhold access to any Web page containing words like "breast."
* Human filters. These are much more expensive, but do a better job of differentiating porn sites from health-related sites. They're usually combined with some automation, which suggests which sites the human filters should look at. But because new porn sites spring up daily, there will be a lapse between the time when such a site is created and the time it gets added to the "bad list." During this window, kids can access the porn site.
Another option is to have some public computers without the filtering software off-limits to children under 18, but accessible to adults, or providing adults with passwords that bypass the filters.
"There is no perfect solution," admitted Dr. Weiss, herself the mother of three children. She strongly believes that children should be protected from unsavory Internet sites and the type of people who often frequent them. "But if you value protection from pornography above the First Amendment, then you risk blocking access to life-saving health information, particularly from new organizations like ibreast.org(tm), which may not have been shifted from the "bad" to the "good" filter list yet."
Dr. Weiss is in active practice in Philadelphia's Jefferson Health System and the Fox Chase Cancer Center Network, the author of Living Beyond Breast Cancer (Random House, 1997 and 1998), and president and founder of the Living Beyond Breast Cancer(r) non-profit organization. She has made repeat appearances on NBC's The Today Show and has been a guest on NPR's Fresh Air.
For an interview with Dr. Weiss, contact Debra Gordon, ibreast.org managing editor; (610) 614-1658; cell: (610) 751-3786; dgordon1@ptdprolog.net.
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CONTACT: ibreast.org
Debra Gordon, managing editor
(610) 614-1658
dgordon1@ptdprolog.net