[WEB4LIB] Re: Filtered by WebSENSE (was: Staff Web Sites)

[GraceAnne A. DeCandido]

My own web site was/is blocked by CyperPatrol, and I don't 
know why. It might be that it uses the words "feminist" 
"goddess" and "passionate" or it mightly simply be that it 
lives on The Well, long a bastion of free speech. So far as I 
know, it is still blocked, and since I am a consultant, this has 
a direct impact on my livelihood.
What have I done about it? Nothing at all. But how sites are 
blocked is outlined briefly in a web document I wrote for the 
Public Library Association at
Filtering: No Easy Answers
http://www.pla.org/filtering.html

GraceAnne DeCandido, sig file way below

> I'm convinced from the repeated reports of sites being blocked for no
> apparent reason that despite the claims of many filter companies, they don't
> actually review the sites that their robots discover roaming the web.  This
> type of review requires a human to actually visit and evaluate a site and
> that takes time which equals money - I don't think they want to spend the
> money to do this.  The size of the web is overwhelming these products and I
> would not at all be surprised to discover that many of the products continue
> to rely on keyword blocking or algorithms that rely on keywords to determine
> which sites are blocked.  Even the manufacturers admit as such:
> 
> "'Marc Kanter, vice president of marketing for Cybersitter, said that with
> more than a billion Web pages, it's impossible to keep up with the number of
> Web sites being added daily."
> 
> From:
> http://www.apbnews.com/newscenter/internetcrime/1999/12/13/filter1213_01.html
> 
> If anyone else can explain otherwise why this might occur as often as it
> does, I would appreciate hearing it.
> 
> Andrew Mutch
> Library Systems Technician
> Waterford Township Public Library
> Waterford, MI
> 
> Jennifer Heise wrote:
> 
> > > Does their technical explanation make sense? - Yes, my site uses
> > > redirection from a domain hosting service < http://www.mydomain.com >
> > > which I'm sure hosts all kinds of material.
> >
> > Except that this has to be a fairly common problem. One wonders why they
> > are specifically setting themselves up for this problem by the IP number
> > filtering.
> >
> > --
> > /   Jennifer Heise, Web Mgmnt, Lehigh Univ. Information Resources
> > \ \ Linderman Library, 30 Library Drive, Bethlehem PA 18015
> >   / Phone (610) 758-3072          Email: jahb at lehigh.edu
> >
> > "Comment is free, but facts are on expenses." -- Tom Stoppard
> 
> 


GraceAnne A. DeCandido
Blue Roses Editorial & Web Consulting, New York City
ladyhawk at well.com http://www.well.com/user/ladyhawk/gadhome.html
What's Ladyhawk reading now?
http://www.well.com/user/ladyhawk/books.html

Writing is exciting, and baseball is like writing.
You can never tell with either how it will go.
Marianne Moore