Web filtering - don't do it!

When considering access to the internet for staff (or children for that matter) , there is often a strong inclination to filter "inappropriate content", which most often means pornography in its various forms. This is entirely understandable - for businesses the challenge is exacerbated; is it reasonable to allow employees access to job listing sites? sports results? games? stock markets?

Leaving aside the valid and ongoing debate about censorship on the web, current web filtering technologies are not the answer. Not only are the "Cybersitters" and corporate web filters - generically called "censorware" - badly designed and implemented, as a rule, but they can lead to some very embarassing results.

The way that web filtering software works is to create a gateway for all requests for internet pages to go through a filter, that then disallows requests that contain any of a list of banned words. This kind of implementation allows computers to do what they do best - exactly what they are told - with devastating results - here are some of the best:

• A student could not access his own school's website, from its library, as the name of the school contained the banned word "high".
• A user could not register a hotmail account because her name and intitial came out as aryan.
• Research on cucumbers was disallowed in a local school, because some of the letters within the word upset the filter software.
• The classic though remains that of US Rep Richard Armey, an advocate of internet regulation and filtering; it is difficult to get to his website via a connection with filter software as his friends and electors know him as Dick.

The answer? The most likely outcome is a filter that blocks sites, via a predefined list supplied by any one of a number of third parties and implemented not in the home or office, but at the ISP and available by subscription. This removes the requirement and overhead of scanning requests and sites for banned words. However, the best solution in a corporate environment remains the old fashioned one; a clear and well communicated policy on appropriate internet use. Or perhaps just pin-up the proxy server list from time to time allowing everyone to see exactly who's been cruising what!

References:
www.dfn.org
www.business2.com
www.wired.com