Joan Wagner

In a protest held just outside the Illinois Capitol Building in Springfield, Ill., students and teachers of all ages decried the use of Internet filters as forms of Internet and academic censorship.

Professors from high schools and universities say the filtering software prevents students from looking up in-depth materials on some serious subjects, such as political stances on drug regulation, criminal assaults, and many other socially relevant issues.

"In some classes, such as sociology, there needs to be unlimited access to Web resources, as there is a lot of current news," said 18 year old Joe Scott. "We're mature enough to handle it, and we don't need to be lead around blindfolded. The real world is happening on the Web and we can't be shielded from it forever. It's a violation of my civil rights and right to an education."