Forcepoint
| File:Websense logo.jpg | |
| Company type | Internet Censorship |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1994 |
| Headquarters | San Diego, California |
Key people | Phil Trubey, founder |
| Website | http://www.websense.com |
Websense is a San Diego based company which produces Internet content-control software of the same name. The company's slogan is "Securing Productivity". While it is aimed at businesses and other large entities (such as governments, for their employees), it also sees use in libraries and schools. It has come under criticism from civil liberties groups on grounds that it restricts the free flow of speech [1]. The company was founded by Phil Trubey in 1994.[2]
Websense categories
Websense is designed to allow system administrators to block access to web sites (and other protocols) based on categories. These categories contain lists of sites that can be blocked. Separate categories can be blocked at all times or only during certain times of the day. The following is a list of these categories. [3]
- Abortion
- Adult Material (including sex education[4], including government/charity-sponsored websites for teenagers)
- Advertisements
- Advocacy Groups
- Alternative Journalism
- Bad taste
- Business and Economy
- Dating and Personals
- Drugs
- Freeware and Software Download
- Gambling
- Government
- Health
- Illegal or Questionable (sites promoting illegal activity)
- Information Technology
- Instant Messaging
- Internet Communication
- Internet Radio and TV
- Internet Telephony
- Job Search
- Message Boards and Clubs
- Militancy and Extremist
- Miscellaneous
- News and Media
- Online Brokerage and Trading
- Pay-to-Surf
- Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
- Personal Network Storage and Backup
- Personals and Dating
- Proxy Avoidance
- Racism and Hate
- Religion
- Sex
- Shopping
- Social Organizations
- Society and Lifestyles
- Streaming Media
- Tasteless
- Travel
- Uncategorized
- URL Translation Services
- Vehicles
More categories can be filtered for an extra fee including:
- Keyloggers
- Phishing and Other Frauds
- Potentially Unwanted Software (defined as "Sites that use technologies that alter the operation of the user's hardware, software, or network in ways that diminish control over the user experience, privacy, or the collection and distribution of personal information."
- Spyware
System administrators can also set up custom categories, which allows the administrator to block websites that they deem inappropriate if they do not want to block the website's entire category.
Criticism
Some groups claim that the program is censoring free speech. Websense was the subject of an essay on the popular satirical site, The Best Page in the Universe after the site was added to the Websense blacklist [5]. There are other organizations which have criticized the software [6].
External links
- Official homepage
- Critical webpage Peacefire.org has not tested Websense since November 2001 according to this page so their criticisms may be outdated.
- Bypassing the Websense An article describing techniques on how to get around the Websense filter.