December 28, 1999 Web posted at: 10:27 a.m. EST (1527 GMT) by Dan Caterinicchia

From...

(IDG) -- Madison, Wis., is the largest school district in the nation to sign up for free Internet filtering through Phoenix, Ariz.-based Dotsafe Inc., in a move that will save the district more than $25,000 per year.

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Dotsafe, which has offered free Internet filtering to any school in the United States with no strings attached, selected Madison for the pilot because of its size, reputation for technology and close proximity to company headquarters, said the company's chief executive officer Robert Maynard.

The Madison school district's 5,000 children already are benefiting from Dotsafe's filtering technology, said Bob Burwood, the district's chief technology officer.

"This was one of the smoothest new technology initiatives that I have ever worked on, and the value to the students and the district will only increase every year," he said. "We shut down our Internet service on one day and brought it back up the next school day after implementing the Dotsafe filter."

More than 50 school districts nationwide already have signed up for the Dotsafe service. School administrators interested in more information can find it online.