Censorware

toc A Censorware message from Qatar, a Country known for censoring its internet traffic

Introduction
Censorware, also known as Internet filtering, Internet blocking, Internet nanny, and Internet babysitter, is considered a means of surveillance. Censorware is filtering software used by many organizations to sift through and to block unwanted material streaming in from the web. It is also used in several countries worldwide (most notably China, but also Qatar and Saudi Arabia), in order to block any information or messages their governments find offensive. This article focuses primarily on censorware use in North America, where it is generally used to safeguard children from explicit and inappropriate content, promoting online safety. Censorware is often found at schools and public libraries. Blocked content includes pornography, hate speech, violent imagery, religious websites, alternative lifestyles, gambling, and other inappropriate material (Wikipedia, 2006).

History
The advent of the World Wide Web in 1991 led to many concerns including premature exposure of explicit material to children. In response, the U.S. Congress passed the [|Communications Decency Act], which “attempted to regulate both indecency and obscenity in cyberspace” (Wikipedia, 2006). However, civil liberties challenged the act and the Supreme Court ruled in their favour (Wikipedia, 2006). The Supreme Courts found that “the interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic society outweighs any theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship” (Electronic Privacy Information Center, 2002). Civil liberties groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that parents who wanted to block sites could use their own content-filtering software, thus, making the government involvement unnecessary (Wikipedia, 2006). Software companies began producing and releasing remedies to filter unwanted content.

**How Censorware works**
There are many ways Censorware software works. They include:
 * [|blacklists] : blacklists are produced by content controllers, any sites that appear on this list will not be accessible to individuals using the software
 * [|whitelists] : whitelists are produced by content controllers, only sites that appear on this list will be accessible
 * keyboard blocking: content controllers can generate a list of in appropriate words, the individuals that are trying to access a site containing the word(s) will not load

Problems of Censorware
There are indeed many problems and concerns regarding to censorware. They include: (Electronic Privacy Information Center, 2002).
 * underblocking: not blocking enough, this is common because of the complexity of human language and thought
 * overblocking: blocking too much, issues of free speech and censorship arises. ex. breast cancer
 * expert control: censorship software sometimes depend on "expert" opinions when deciding what is appropriate/inappropriate
 * error prone: the software rely on automated systems which then becomes difficult to correct problems
 * [|censorship]: blocking access to information is a form of censorship
 * discrimination: uneven distribution of blocking across issues
 * vulnerable: software can be overriden
 * technical difficulties: software needs frequent updates, maintenance etc
 * wrong focuses: censorware is not a solution to online safety and monitoring

Examples

 * [|Cyber Patrol]
 * [|Cyber Sitter]
 * [|Net Nanny]
 * [|8e6 technologies]
 * [|Surf Control]
 * [|SafeSurf]