Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) Compliancy with WiFi
Overview
The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was enacted by Congress in 2000 to address concerns about children’s access to obscene or harmful content over the internet. In 2001, the FCC created rules to implement CIPA, which were updated in 2011.
Some of these rules include:
- Preventing minors from accessing inappropriate materials on the internet
- Protecting minors when using email, chat rooms, and other forms of electronic communication
- Preventing hacking and other unlawful activities by minors
- Preventing discloser or dissemination of personal information regarding minors
- Measures preventing minors from accessing harmful materials
More information can be found on the FCC's Children's Internet Protection Act website.
Content Filtering Using Meraki MR Access Points
Meraki MR wireless access points have the ability to filter adult content from being viewed when using NAT mode for client IP assignments. If enabled on the Wireless > Configure > Access control page, users will be blocked from viewing adult content when browsing the internet, thus abiding by CIPA. More information regarding content filtering on MR access points can be found in the Adult Content Filtering Overview article.
Content Filtering Using Meraki MX Security Appliance
Adult content can also be blocked by adding a Meraki MX firewall with an Advanced Security license. With this in place, administrators have the ability to utilize content filtering on the MX, which allows more control. Administrators can select different categories of URLs to block users from visiting, and any URLs outside the preconfigured categories can be manually added using the URL blacklist. More information on content filtering on the MX can be found in the Content Filtering and Threat Protection article.