WebSense
From LIS 460 Summer 2007
WebSense
WebSense is a filtering software that can be purchased for use in libraries and schools in order to block and limit access to various websites.
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What is a Filter?
A filter is a piece of software which allows or disallows access to given websites or services based on a set of programed criteria. The means by which a given filter determines whether a given website meets that criteria depends on the filter itself. Some filters are content-based and will block sites based on a list of terms specified either by the user or by the parent company. Other filters are based on a list of sites provided by the parents company which have been sorted into various categories. The latter are often determined by employees of the parent company according to definitions which are rarely shared outside of the companies themselves.
How Does WebSense Filter?
WebSense filters based on website categories as determined by the company. The user can specify which categories to filter and request specific sites be allowed on their machines but the general sorting is done by WebSense.
WebSense has three basic filter settings: Blocked, limited access and allowed. Blocked categories cannot be accessed at all without removing the filter or disabling it. Allowed categories can always be accessed with no limitations. Limited access categories allow access under specified conditions. A school could, for example, allow access to the 'Games and Entertainment' category for a given amount of time per day, per computer. When that time is used up the category reverts to blocked status.
Examples of categories include[1]:
- Adult Content
- Business and Economy
- Dating and Personals
- Drugs
- Education
- Entertainment
- Freeware and Software Download
- Gambling
- Government
- Gay or Lesbian or Bisexual Interest
- Health
- Information Technology
- Instant Messaging
- Internet Radio and TV
- Message Boards and Clubs
- Militancy and Extremist
- Miscellaneous
- Peer-to-peer File Sharing
- Personal Network Storage and Backup
- Racism and Hate
- Sex
- Shopping
- Society and Lifestyles
- Uncategorized
- Web-based Email
This is not a complete list. A more complete one can be found at the Wikipedia entry on Websense. It should be noted that WebSense itself does not tell users which categories to block. Instead it sorts sites into those categories and allows them to decide which to block.
It is also important to note the "uncategorized" category. Any site which WebSense as a company has not seen, reviewed and categorized is filed under "Uncategorized" automatically and can be allowed or blocked as organizations choose. As sites are reviewed by WebSense their statuses are subject to change.
Users can also define their own custom categories and add sites to them in order to either allow or block sites otherwise covered by other categories or in the uncategorized heading[2].
Benefits and Flaws
While using a filter to block content does go against the ideals of ALA it is often does in libraries, both public and school, for legal reasons. According to the Child Internet Protection Act (or CIPA) schools and libraries are required to install blocking software to limit children's access to anything obscene or "harmful to minors". The blocking software must be installed on any computer that could be used by a child though it is allowed for it to be disabled for legitimate use by an adult. Failure to do so can result in a loss of funding for non-compliant institutions.
In the face of the above, many schools and libraries must choose software to filter children's internet access with.
Benefits of using WebSense
Because WebSense is so robust in its categories and sorting it makes it easy to pick and choose categories so as to minimize (or, on the other hand, maximize) blocked material.
The application of limited access to some categories allows for more flexibility if a school wants to limit use to educational sites only during school hours and access to other sites during recess, lunch periods or after school.
The software is available in different packages, allowing flexibility for different budgets.
Flaws of using Websense
While some category titles are self-explanatory, such as Sex, Shopping, Sports, etc. others define somewhat nebulous concepts such as "Society and Lifestyles" which once blocked the Thomas Crane Public Library site in Quincy Public Schools for a full weekend before it was redefined. It is easy to accidentally block a category by misunderstanding what its content is. This problem also comes up when those responsible for choosing what categories to block do not understand the needs of the users, such as when QPS teachers found themselves unable to check their work email accounts at work when the Web-based Email category was blocked for two days.
Likewise, the criteria by which websites are judged and categorized are not transparent. In part this is to keep potential abusers, such as pornographic sites which would be illegal for minors to view anyhow, from finding ways around said criteria. The added effect of this is that situations like the above, concerning the TCPL site in Quincy, happen more often than they probably should.
Sites are blocked based on one time or very periodic review. If a site's domain expires and is bought and the site replaced by content which the filter would otherwise block the site itself will not be blocked until WebSense is alerted or the user blocks it specifically. The reverse is also true though, with previously blocked sites changing content but is perhaps less common.
While WebSense is a robust filter and does a solid job blocking what it has been assigned to block, there are ways around it which a savvy student will discover. One such possibility is proxy avoidance, which is not so coincidentally also a blockable category on WebSense itself. Websites such as proxify allow computers to bypass the filter itself until the WebSense blocks the site where the proxy is based.
Aside from all of the above flaws, there is also the issues of censorship and free speech. Blocking sites, while legally required for minors, potentially blocks useful content along with supposedly harmful material. Personal storage sites are currently blocked in the Quincy Public Schools meaning that sites like Google Docs, which is an amazing utility for students and schools, are impossible to access.
