Internet Filter

Internet filtering is the process by which some websites or applications that use the internet are allowed to work, whereas others are not. For example, many organizations tend to block access to a variety of websites, such that anyone attempting to go to these websites will not be able to do so. Other organizations may block services they feel are inappropriate or waste resources, such as online gaming, peer 2 peer file sharing, voice over ip, or other protocols.

A large and growing number of organizations choose to filter their user’s access to the internet. In the united states, this is especially prevalent in schools and libraries, as there is a federal mandate that requires schools and libraries to filter their user’s internet. If a school or library chooses not to filter, they risk lose federal finding, Although filtering is required by schools, there are no specific standards as to what must be filtered. Some schools don’t really want to filter, whereas others take charge and filter more than is required by law.

Many workplaces choose to filter internet access to shield themselves from liability, to reduce non-productive personal internet usage, or to reduce the usage of expensive internet bandwidth. Sometimes internet service providers (isp’s) choose to filter internet access. This usually happens for one of two reasons. First, it could be at the request of the customer, who does not want their children viewing inappropriate material on the internet. AOL’s parental controls are an example of this kind of filtering. The second common kind of ISP filtering is known as packet shaping. What this does is slow down or block access to certain protocols on the internet, rather than blocking particular websites. This is especially common in colleges and some cable modem networks, where peer 2 peer file sharing can consume large amounts of expensive internet capacity.