Navar Waton, Chronicle-Tribune

Be careful what you’re looking up online. Someone might see it.

Indiana Wesleyan University activated a new firewall and content filtering system last month. Though the Information Technology department is not personally monitoring everything students do, it is keeping a record of all Internet activity on IWU WiFi and the computer and person attached to it.

“The firewall does provide the capability to block things,” Brandon Hill said, “and it provides the opportunity to track certain categories [of websites].”

The new firewall by Alto Palo Networks only blocks three of 60 categories of websites-all of which are known malware websites that could attack a person’s computer. Ten other categories are being tracked.

“Some of the websites that students could be choosing to go to are things that we believe would be detrimental to their emotional, spiritual, sexual health,” Hill said, “We don’t want to miss the opportunity to walk alongside students as they’re trying to sort that out.”

The following 10 types of websites are being tracked:

  • sites that promote the abuse of illegal drugs
  • adult websites (pornography)
  • online dating sites
  • sites that sell alcohol or tobacco
  • online gambling sites
  • hacking sites (sites on how to hack)
  • sites containing nudity
  • questionable (sites containing offensive content, criminal activity)
  • swimsuits and intimate apparel
  • sites that sell weapons

“Just because we’re tracking it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad or against our rules,” Hill said. “We’re not interested in catching and punishing students as much as we are maximizing our opportunity ... to work with students who are struggling.”

IT provides Hill a weekly report on the top 10 to 20 users that are accessing websites Hill believes to be harmful to students’ well being.

Not everyone on the top 10 or 20 list will be confronted either, Hill said. The process will work on a case-by-case basis.

If a user spends hours looking at websites on female swimsuits and is not a woman, that could be a case of pornography. The activity is less concerning if the user is female, for she is probably shopping, Hill said.

The same goes for ROTC students looking up weapons.

If Hill does find a particular case to be concerning, he then works with the student’s Resident Director or Resident Assistant to figure out the best way to approach him or her.

Hill said IT does have the ability to just block all 10 potentially dangerous websites, but he had a specific philosophy for allowing access and tracking them instead.

“We could block access to weapons and swimsuits and porn, but if we do that, students can figure out how to get around it anyway, and we don’t create a community in which they learn how to manage that in their lives,” Hill said.

During New Student Orientation week, there were thousands of hits to websites in the ten categories, probably hundreds of which were to porn sites, Hill said. He said this is not a surprise, as pornography addiction is a problem on many campuses.

He said he hopes that just knowing a firewall and tracking system is in place might deter students from looking at pornography.

For those students who might be pulled aside, Hill said it will more of a “peer-to-peer” conversation rather than a disciplinary one.

“We view it as a growth conversation,” Hill said, “not a conduct situation.”

As of now, there are no plans to block or track any other categories of websites.