Education

Colorado School District Cancels Database Contract After Discovering Easy Access To Hardcore Porn

Reuters

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Grace Carr Reporter
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One of Colorado’s largest school districts canceled its contract with EBSCO research database after discovering the research tool provides students with easy access to soft and hardcore porn.

Cherry Creek school district canceled its contract with EBSCO Friday, answering years of clamoring by parents who discovered the database was imbedding porn on its site, which children were using for research in school.

Beginning in September 2016, Colorado parents and students discovered substantial amounts of hardcore pornography while using the research tool to search for benign topics.

Parent, Dr. Robin Paterson, accidentally accessed pornographic content while using her daughter’s school account from their house in Aurora, according to CBS Denver. “There is obscene material, soft porn, links to hardcore porn, there’s links to movies,” she told CBS in June 2017 after she’d stumbled across the material. (RELATED: Child Porn Sting Hits Disney World, Legoland And Local Boy Scout Parent)

Following parents’ calls in 2017 to clean up or cancel the data service, the school district sought to shield students from inappropriate material. It canceled its contract with EBSCO Friday after porn discoveries and parental pressure increased. “Without parental pressure, it’s highly unlikely Cherry Creek would have discontinued buying EBSCO products,” Paterson said.

“We are just happy the school district finally is doing the right thing,” said Paterson, who was a leading force in the effort to clean up the research tool. “It’s taken two years, but better late than never, Paterson added according to a Tuesday Thomas More Society press release.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation named EBSCO to its “Dirty Dozen List” in 2017 and 2018, marking it as a mainstream facilitator of sexual exploitation.

“EBSCO still is supplying its pornographic databases to school children in school districts across Colorado. So we’re not done yet,” Paterson said according to the press release, affirming that Cherry Creek parents will remain vigilant and seek to clean up research tools in other districts across the state.

Cherry Creek school district has more than 54,000 students, according to its Facebook page. The district previously paid $31,000 each year for access to the database, CBS reported.

EBSCO did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment in time for publication.

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