Inside Internet Filtering

Last year the Australian government launched its free filter scheme, where any resident of Australia could download a free Internet filter.  InternetSafety.com is a participant in this scheme with Safe Eyes.  A few months after the launch, there was an election which caused a shift in the controlling party of the Australian government, and Labor party had a different view on Internet Filtering.  They felt that it was best performed by the ISP, instead of with software installed on each PC.

They commissioned a study to review the products currently available to determine the state-of-the-art of the industry, and if creating a ISP based clean feed was possible.  They had conducted a similar study in 2005.  The results of the report were released today in the ACMA Report on ISP-Level Internet Filters.

I believe that the software-based filters are better for famlies.  Not just becaue we participate in the current scheme in Australia, but because I think they have the ability to provide the parents with richer features.  Features, like Time Controls, Privacy Controls, Application Control, and IM Monitoring are all things that can be done much more effectively on the local computer.  So what did the report find:

Performance

• One product showed only a 2% speed degradation.
• Three products showed 22-30% speed degradation.
• Two products showed a 75% speed degradation.

Effectiveness

• 88%+ blocking capability for all products.
• 94%+ blocking capability for 4 products.
• 8% or less over-blocking by all products.
• 3% of less over-blocking by 4 products.

Scope of Test

• Products where able to block content on non-web based protocols such as IM, and P2P.
• Products where not able to identify content on these non-web based protocols.

Overall Conclusion

• ISP level filters are faster than they were in 2005.
• ISP level filters are more effective than they were in 2005.
• Non-web based protocols are still a problem.

There is a lot of good information in this report, which I will dig into in future posts.

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