Filtering companies, religious connection.(Brief Article)

For those who've been following the Internet filtering debate, here's another doozie: filtering software companies that cater to the conservative religious right are also selling their wares to school districts, said Nancy Willard, director of the Responsible Netizen program at the University of Oregon, which aims to help young people use the Internet safely. Why is that a problem? Because schools cannot "enforce a wide range of individual family values when students are using the Internet in schools," Willard said.

Willard, who frequently writes and lectures about policies and practices to help young people use the Internet responsibly, has never shied away from …