Internet content is categorized into many descriptive
categories. A checklist determines which are blocked and
under which Profile they are to be blocked. The Internet
Content Categories and Sub-categories are:
Adult:
o Alcohol: Information related to alcohol,
including wine, spirits, beer, cocktail recipes, homemade
alcohol, or any other alcoholic drink, bars, pubs,
nightclubs, bartending, liquor sales, and side effects of
alcohol.
o Alternative LifeStyles: Habits or
behaviors related to social relations, dress, or recreation,
typically important enough to significantly influence the
lives of a sector of the population and used as a basis of
social classification. Not pornographic but may deal with
lifestyle choices that are sexual in nature
oCriminal Skills: Instructions or methods
that promote, encourage, or provide the skills to do
anything that is generally considered to be illegal,
criminal, harmful to the general public, and/or that are
forbidden by laws. Does not necessarily reflect the laws of
any particular region or country. Sites that promote
academic cheating or software hacking/key breaking.
Typically excludes sites that deal with the prevention of
criminal activity.
o Gambling (or Betting): Wagering or risk
of money or valuables on the outcome of a game, contest, or
other event in which the outcome is partially or completely
dependent upon chance or on one's abilities. Sites that
directly provide that ability to place a bet or to determine
the outcome of a bet as well as sites that promote or
facilitate gambling. Sites that range from purely factual to
strategic to cheating. Sites related to lotteries or looking
up winning numbers. Excludes sites that are clearly support
sites for gambling addiction.
o Hate Speech: Portrayal (written, verbal,
illustrated) of views that are intentionally overwhelmingly
critical or offensive to a person, intending to degrade,
intimidate, or incite violent or prejudicial actions against
someone based on race, ethnic affiliation, nationality,
gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or
profession. Any description of one of these groups or group
members that uses strong or crude language, explicit sexual
references, or obscene gestures is considered Hate Speech.
o Occult: Study of secret or hidden
knowledge. Cults, supernatural forces and events, occult
lore, vampires, astrology, witchcraft, mysterious symbols,
and other phenomena beyond ordinary understanding. Sites
about these topics that are historical or factual in nature
and/or promote such practices.
o Substance Abuse: Illegal drugs used for
recreational rather than medical purposes, or that promote
the abuse of legal drugs. Promotion of the use of any
substance that produces a hallucinated effect on self or
others. Excludes informational sites that are clearly
intended to provide description of drugs and substances,
their negative effects, and addiction potential.
o Weapons: Promotion, sale, or discussion
of weapons or any form of device used in combat that can
injure or kill, such as guns, knives, or swords. Information
on how to build weapons or bombs is included in Criminal
Skills.
Entertainment:
o Arts & Culture: Art is a product of human
creativity. It is the creation of meaningful things; yet it
does not need to be innovative to be good. Culture refers to
human activity. Varying definitions of culture reflects the
different theories for understanding and valuing human
activity. Art that includes the human body with an erotic
intent is typically included in this category and the
pornography category.
o Entertainment: All things pertaining to
music, recreation, amusements, fan clubs, gossip,
celebrities, movies, or any other form of casual diversion.
Personal sites devoted to movies and television shows. Sites
overwhelmingly critical of an entertainer or group are
categorized as Hate Speech.
o Games: Games or information about games
(electronic, computer, card, board, Internet, etc.).
Strategies, cheats, and any sites that promote game makers,
sites, or sellers.
o Humor: URLs intending to entertain or
make people laugh and feel happy. Includes jokes, funny
pictures, comic pages, comedy clubs, etc.
o Sports: Physical activity for the
recreational purpose of competition or self enjoyment.
Typically involve side by side competition and a scoring
system. Athletics, racing, hunting, baseball, football,
basketball, soccer, hockey, etc.
Information:
o
General News: Journalism. Reporting of
current events by local, regional or mass media in the form
of newspapers, television, radio programs, and WWW sites.
Most news is investigated and written or broadcast by
journalists (or reporters) and often distributed via news
agencies. Any mainstream newspaper, television station, and
radio station site.
o Journals/Blogs (or web logs):
Electronic diaries or personal chronicles, intended for open
communication and sharing of thoughts, knowledge, and
opinion. Ranges from personal and medical to literary and
culturally oriented publications. Typically does not include
Mainstream magazines and newspapers. Does not include
personal/family web pages unless there is a diary or blog
component.
o Political: Politics is the process and
method of decision making for groups of human beings.
Although it is generally applied to governments and
politics, is also observed in all human group interactions
including corporate, academic, and religious. Sites related
to the structure or affairs of government, politics, or the
state.
o Portals: Web-based applications that
provide a single starting point to retrieve information from
multiple sources. For example, the content of a portal could
include web searching, news, free-email, discussion groups,
online shopping, references, and other services.
o Religion: Any specific system of belief,
worship, or conduct that prescribes certain responses to the
existence of a God or Gods. URLs related to or dealing with
religious beliefs, practices, faith, churches, worship, etc.
o Self Help: Information or support for an
individual or a group to better themselves economically,
intellectually, physically, or emotionally. Ranges from
therapy methods to support groups.
o Technology: Development and application
of tools, machines, materials, and processes that help to
solve human problems. Software downloads (free as a trial or
for purchase).
o Travel: Transport of people on a trip or
journey, primarily for vacation, tourism, or family outings.
Discussions of favorite travel destinations, discounts for
travelers, special events in different cities, travel
guides, vacations, accommodation, transportation,
regulations, and bookings. Business travel. Security:
o Adware: While not necessarily malware or
spyware, is advertising that goes beyond what one would
reasonably expect while surfing the Internet. Banners ads
and pop-up ads in this category can be used to track your
activity and display ads based on your surfing patterns. Ads
and other marketing materials are typically drawn from an ad
server at a different site. URLs that are advertisements. If
you block the adware category, many portal pages may appear
broken - what is actually happening is that the
advertisements are being blocked while the main content is
still displayed. Most frequently visited web pages are
actually composed dynamically, drawing data from several
sources at once. Each portion of a page drawn in from a
unique location is categorized and filtered separately.
oDirectory: URLs that produce a directory
listing instead of a default html page. This page is
generated by the remote web server if no default html page
is available and directory browsing is enabled. These
directory files can be images, movies, applications, or any
other type of file. Each individual file within the listing
will be assigned a category once requested. Generally,
Directory site pages should not be blocked.
o Host is an IP: Identifies a request that
is the form of an IP address. This means the DNS or host
name was not used. It is possible that allowing this type of
request could in some circumstances override normal content
filtering settings. Generally, pages accessed by IP should
be blocked.
o Intranet Servers: Indicates the remote
server is not located on the Internet. The Kosher Net
categorization servers will not be able to scan these sites
for content. These are normally servers located behind
firewalls and on your local area network.
o Malformed URL: Used when a URL is not
valid (for example a URL with a semicolon instead of a
colon: http;\\www.google.com). Generally, malformed URL pages
should be blocked.
o Under Construction: Indicates a site that
has been identified by the owner as being incomplete - under
construction. Generally, Under Construction pages pose
little threat and need not be blocked.
Miscellaneous:
o Investing: Internet banking systems that
allow users to invest online, view their equity portfolio,
and ask the bank to buy shares or bonds on their behalf.
URLs about stocks and quotes, money management, online
publications, banks, discount brokerage services, mutual
funds, and portfolio management.
oJob Search: Allow people to search and
apply for employment positions. Resume writing and
interviewing skills, career information, classified
advertising, job databases, and job application pages.
o Sales: The ability to purchase products
or services online. Catalog of products that are offered for
sale off-line.
o Search Engines: A tool that helps web
users to search the Internet using keywords. Some Search
Engines work by automatically searching the contents of
other systems and creating a database of the results, and
other Search Engines contain only material manually approved
for inclusion in a database. Some combine the two
approaches. Many Internet pages offer some form of search
function. Blocking Search Engines blocks only sites or pages
whose sole purpose is Internet search.
o Web E-Mail: Send and receive text, HTML,
images, and other data files. Does not block email client
applications that run outside a browser, such as Outlook,
Thunderbird, or Eudora.
o Web Chat: Computer programs that enable
two-way communication between users within an active browser
window. This category includes any type of instant messaging
and forums that talk about current events, debate, and share
common interests. Does not block instant messaging
applications that are run outside a browser, such as MSN,
AIM, or Yahoo Messenger.
Advanced:
o General: URLs that do not belong to any
other category. The majority of the Internet is assigned to
this category. Do not block this category unless you are
filtering in an 'allow list only' mode.
o Images: URLs for image files, determined
by file name extension (example:
*.jpg). Generally, Images
should not be blocked.
o New URL: A temporary category assigned to
a URL that has not been categorized before or whose
categorization has expired. Blocking the New URL blocks any
URL that has not already been categorized or whose
categorization has timed out. Normally, revisiting a URL
immediately after being denied as New URL will return the
appropriate category for the URL (it takes about one second
to categorize a URL). If you block New URL you are denying
any new URL; if you do not block New URL you are allowing
any new URL.
o No Text: Used when the file extension of
this page is not recognizable by the Categorization Engine.
Blocking is entirely based on the file extension. Generally,
No Text pages should not be blocked.
o Redirector Page: URL that redirects the
user to another page. Do not block this
category unless you are filtering in an 'allow list only'
mode.
Click Here
for system default settings - to see which of these
categories is blocked at which profile level.
(You have the option of changing Profiles
settings).
