 DansGuardian blocking whitehouse.com, a risqué political site. Censorware is a term for content-filtering software, especially when it is used to filter content delivered over the Web. Censorware determines what content will be available on a particular machine or network; the motive is often to protect children. Pornography, gambling, alternative lifestyles, sexuality, political content, and religious web sites may be filtered. Censorware can also be used to block Internet access entirely. Download high resolution version (754x751, 50 KB)whitehouse. ...
Download high resolution version (754x751, 50 KB)whitehouse. ...
An example of the default DansGuardian blocking message. ...
A screenshot of computer software in action. ...
The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is a global information space which people can read-from and write-to via a large number of different Internet-connected devices (e. ...
Pornographic movies Pornography (from Greek ποÏνη prostitute and γÏαφία written material) (also informally referred to as porn or porno) is the representation of the human body or sexual activity with the goal of sexual arousal. ...
Gambler redirects here, for other meanings see The Gambler // Gambling has had many different meanings depending on the cultural and historical context in which it is used. ...
The following is a partial list of lifestyles that can be found in the 21st century. ...
Look up Sex on Wiktionary, the free dictionary A sex is one of two specimen categories of species that recombine their genetic material in order to reproduce, a process called genetic recombination. ...
Terminology
In a fashion similar to the term "spyware", "censorware", a portmanteau of censor and software, is a valuative term. Companies who make products that selectively block websites do not refer to these products as censorware, and prefer terms such as "'internet filter"; in the specialized case of software explicitly designed for parents to monitor and restrict the access of their children, "parental control software" is also used. Antispyware redirects here. ...
It has been suggested that blend (linguistics) be merged into this article or section. ...
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ...
Those critical of such software, however, use the term "censorware" freely: consider the Censorware Project, for example. The use of the term "censorware" in editorials criticizing makers of such software is widespread and covers many different varieties and applications: Xeni Jardin used the term in a 9 March 2006 editorial in the New York Times when discussing the use of American-made filtering software to suppress content in China; in the same month a high school student used the term to discuss the deployment of such software in his school district [1]. Xeni Jardin Xeni Jardin (IPA: ) (born August 5, 1972 [1]) is an American weblogger and journalist. ...
The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...
Seth Finkelstein, an anti-censorware advocate, described what he saw as a terminology battle, in a hearing at the Library of Congress in 2003: Seth Finkelstein, computer programmer and activist, was one of the founders of the Censorware Project (CWP), and worked to raise public awareness of the dangers he perceived as being posed by popular content blocking software (censorware) to unhampered communication. ...
The Great Hall interior. ...
- ...I think the best public relations that the censorware companies ever did was to get the word "filter" attached to their products. When you think of a spam filter, for example, you think of something that you do not want to see. ... But, again, as I said earlier, censorware is not like a spam filter. What censorware is, is an authority wants to prevent a subject under their control from viewing material that the authority has forbidden to them. This description is general. [2]
In general, outside of editorial pages as described above, traditional newspapers do not use the term "censorware" in their reporting, preferring instead to use terms such as "content filter"; the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal both appear to follow this practice. On the other hand, web-based newspapers such as CNET use the term in both editorial and journalistic contexts, e.g., [3]. The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with an average daily circulation of 1,800,607 (2002). ...
CNET Networks Inc. ...
Issues Filters can be implemented in many different ways: by a software program on a personal computer or by servers providing internet access. Choosing an internet service provider (ISP) that blocks objectionable material before it enters the home over software run on their own computer can help parents who worry about their children viewing objectionable content. An Internet service provider (ISP, also called Internet access provider or IAP) is a business or organization that offers users access to the Internet and related services. ...
Those who believe censorware is useful may still not agree with certain ways it is used, or with mandatory general regulation of information. For example, many would disapprove of filtering viewpoints on moral or political issues, agreeing that this could become support for propaganda. Many would also find it unacceptable that an ISP, whether by law or by the ISP's own choice, should deploy such software without allowing the users to disable the filtering for their own connections. In addition, some argue that using censorware may violate sections 13 and 17 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It has been suggested that Propaganda in the United States be merged into this article or section. ...
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international convention setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children. ...
History As the World Wide Web rose to prominence, parents, led by a series of stories in the mass media, began to worry that allowing their children to use the Web might expose them to indecent material. The US Congress responded by passing the Communications Decency Act, banning indecency on the Internet. Civil liberties groups challenged the law under the First Amendment and the Supreme Court ruled in their favor. Part of the civil liberties argument, especially from groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, was that parents who wanted to block sites could use their own content-filtering software, making government involvement unnecessary. The Communications Decency Act (CDA) was Title V of the United States Telecommunications Act of 1996. ...
The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ...
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the U.S. and leads the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. ...
The EFF uses the blue ribbon as symbolism for their Free Speech defense. ...
Critics then argued that while content-filtering software might make government censorship less likely, it would do so only by allowing unaccountable private companies to censor as they pleased. They further argued that government encouragement of content filtering, or legal requirements for content-labeling software, would be equivalent to censorship. Groups such as The Censorware Project began reverse-engineering the censorware software and decrypting the blacklists to determine what kind of sites the software blocked. They discovered that such tools routinely blocked unobjectionable sites while also failing to block intended targets. An example of this tendency was the filtering of all sites containing the word "breast", on the assumption that this word could only be mentioned in a sexual context. This approach had the consequence of blocking sites that discuss breast cancer, women's clothing, and even chicken recipes. Similarly, over-zealous attempts to block the word "sex" would block words such as "Essex" and "Sussex". The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
Look up breasts, WikiSaurus:breasts in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Breast cancer is cancer of breast tissue. ...
Essex is a county in the East of England. ...
Sussex is a traditional county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. ...
Censorware has been cited as one of the reasons Beaver College had to change the name to Arcadia, since censorware had been blocking access to the college web site.
Some censorware companies responded by claiming that their filtering criteria were backed by intensive manual checking. The companies' opponents argued, on the other hand, that performing the necessary checking would require resources greater than the companies possessed and that therefore their claims were not valid.
Use in public libraries Censorware such as SonicWALL is used in many public libraries in the United States to block content classed as objectionable because of pornography or advocacy of violence. Some libraries that employ censorware allow the software to be deactivated on a case-by-case basis on application to a librarian. SonicWALL is a company which provides software and hardware for internet security, including such things as the SonicWALL firewall software and content filtering service. ...
Many legal scholars believe that a number of legal cases [4], in particular Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union [5], establish that the use of censorware in libraries is a violation of the First Amendment. The American Library Association has taken a stance opposing internet filtering. In Reno v. ...
The American Library Association (ALA) promotes libraries and library education in the United States and internationally. ...
Bypassing filters Some software may be bypassed successfully by using alternative protocols such as FTP, conducting searches in a different language, or using a proxy server. FTP or file transfer protocol is a commonly used protocol for exchanging files over any network that supports the TCP/IP protocol (such as the Internet or an intranet). ...
A proxy server is a computer that offers a computer network service to allow clients to make indirect network connections to other network services. ...
Some of the more poorly-designed filters can be shut down by killing their processes; for example, in Microsoft Windows through the Windows Task Manager, or in Mac OS X using Activity Monitor. As of 2006, Microsoft Windows is the worlds most popular operating system for use on personal computers. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Activity Monitor is the name of a utility for performing different tasks to a computer process in the Mac OS X operating system. ...
Another option for bypassing blocking software locally can be achieved by using a Linux Live CD, such as, the Ubuntu Live CD which will run an entire operating system "on-the-fly" using the RAM memory as the only medium, having the advantage of not leaving any traces of the visited sites and leaving the hard disk unmodified once the Live CD is removed. For detailed instructions, see: Using Ubuntu Live CD to bypass blocking software. Linux (also known as GNU/Linux) is a computer operating system. ...
Gnoppix 0. ...
Ubuntu, pronounced , is a predominantly desktop oriented Linux distribution, based on Debian GNU/Linux. ...
Note that just as these bypass options are available, so are options to stop the bypasses. The Live CD only works if the CD/DVD-drive is available as a bootable device, bootable USB keys only work if USB booting is enabled, and using floppies to kickstart the boot process only works if the booting off floppies is enabled. A workstation can be secured against all these by selecting the hard drive as the first and only bootable device. Further security involves applying a random BIOS password unique to each computer, and finally padlocking the case shut to prevent access to the inside of the computer. Fortunately, for every blocking option, someone will always come out with a bypass solution. As for example, this will not stop someone from using a distribution such as "Damn Small Linux" which is only 50 MB in size, can be easily downloaded and runs with an emulator on Windows XP, thus making any client-based censorware irrelevant and ineffective.
Content-filtering software products As described above, many censorware products as well as the concept of censorware in general, especially in government-funded services or those not age-restricted, can be controversial. Many ISPs offer parental control options, among them Earthlink, Yahoo!, and AOL; and more general software such as Norton Internet Security includes "parental controls". Mac OS v10.4 offers parental controls for several applications (Mail, Finder, iChat, Safari & Dictionary). The upcoming Windows Vista operating system may also include "parental controls." See the Censorware category for a number of articles on censorware products. Parental controls are options, typically included in digital television services, violent computer and video games, or computer software used to access the Internet, that allows a parent to limit what a child can see or do. ...
It has been suggested that Aluria Software be merged into this article or section. ...
Yahoo! Inc. ...
AOL LLC (formerly America Online, Inc) is an American-based online service provider, Internet service provider, and media company operated by Time Warner. ...
Norton Internet Security 2005 without AntiSpyware. ...
Mac OS X version 10. ...
Mail (aka Mail. ...
The Finder is the default application program used on the Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems that is responsible for the overall user-management of files, disks, network volumes and the launching of other applications. ...
iChat is an AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), ICQ and Jabber client for Mac OS X. Using a Jabber-like protocol and Bonjour for user discovery, it also allows for LAN communication. ...
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Computer, Inc. ...
Dictionary is an application introduced with Mac OS X v10. ...
Windows Vista is the next major version of Microsoft Windows, the proprietary operating system developed by Microsoft. ...
See also Censorship in cyberspace is often treated as a separate issue from censorship of offline material, but the legal issues are similar. ...
Internet pornography is pornography that is distributed via the Internet, primarily via websites, peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups. ...
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
An image retrieval system is a computer system for browsing, searching and retrieving images from a large database of digital images. ...
Geolocation is the science of determining the real-world geographic location of a website visitor by tracking his Internet Protocol address and other factors. ...
In computing, geolocation software is used to deduce the geographic location of the other party in a message exchange, for example on the Internet. ...
Computer surveillance is the act of surveiling peoples computer activity without their knowledge, by accessing the computer itself. ...
External links - PEACEFIRE: Open Access for the Net Generation. HOWTO disable internet blocking software.
- http://censorware.net Censorware Project: Exposing the secrets of censorware since 1997
- Seth Finkelstein's Anticensorware Investigation
- Protecting Judges against Liza Minelli
Opinions for and against censorware - DMoz category: Pro-censorware opinions
- DMoz category: Anti-censorware opinions
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