[WEB4LIB] Blocking software for Linux/Apache

[c.murdock]

Here at Meadville we use two open source filters, squidGuard 
(www.squidguard.org) and DansGuardian (www.dansguardian.org).  SquidGuard is 
url-based, while DansGuardian filters by keyword.

> - runs as a proxy with Linux/Apache or squid
Both run through squid.

> - blocking on a site basis rather than word-based or "intelligent agent"
SquidGuard does this.  Dansguardian is more strict.

> - ability to block or unblock individual sites, overriding the "black list"
SquidGuard gives you total control of the blacklist.  You can use theirs, 
make up your own, or any combination therein.

> - relatively fine-grained blocking categories
They can be as finely grained as you want them to be.  The blacklists 
provided with SquidGuard have many categories, or you can make up your own.

> - open access to vendor's criteria for blocking
> - stable
Absolutely on both accounts.

> - availability of customer support
Not in the traditional sense, but I have been able to get excellent support 
from the mailing lists for both filters.

> - price
Free, of course.  You can't get better than that!

We use squidGuard in both the children's area and on the adult computers, 
with slightly different sets of filtering rules.   We've been using 
DansGuardian just in the children's room on an experimental basis.  What is 
nice about these filters is you can see exactly what's is/isn't being 
blocked, because they have thorough logging capabilities.  I also have a 
little script that scans the logs for a list of choice terms, and emails me 
the results every day, so I can keep an eye on things and modify the lists if 
necessary.    Hope you're as happy with them as I am!

Cindy Murdock
Network Administrator
Meadville Public Library
http://meadvillelibrary.org