Netspective Internet Filtering Software

WHPS utilizes an Internet Filtering Service to insure that district computing resources remain available for mission-critical curriculum and administrative tasks. The purpose of the service is two-fold: to protect students, staff, and teachers from sites that promote hate, anti-Semitism, racism, pornography, violence and other illegal activities; and also to preserve computing resources, including but not limited to Internet bandwidth, for the primary purpose of technology within WHPS, which is the integration of technology into the curriculum in order to support educational achievement and excellence.

            Computers and associated networking within the district are productivity tools that support educational and administrative objectives. If a blocked site is legitimately required for educational and curriculum-related purposes, teachers or staff may request a review of that site by sending an email message to info@whps.org.

It should be noted that no blocking or filtering system is perfect, and that from time to time websites and/or users will find ways to circumvent any system the District puts in place.  We have selected a system that gives WHPS a high degree of local control, enabling the Information Technology Department to respond flexibly and rapidly to any such occurrences. 

            The following is a description of the categories of web sites both open and blocked by the service. All sites are organized into categories, allowing organizations to better adjust the level of access to give users. The categories have been selected based on feedback from the business and education communities regarding what would be deemed unacceptable, inappropriate, or undesirable in a school or business setting with regard to student safety, employee productivity, or threat of legal action. For further information, see:

http://www.verso.com/

NetSpective^® Category Listing

Filtered categories are listed in RED. Open categories are BLUE.

Category	Description
Advertising	Sites that provide banner advertising servers.
Alcohol	Sites promoting alcohol use, including drink recipes, home brewing methods, advertisements, etc.
Anonymous Proxy and Hacking	Sites specifically designed to bypass content filters and security. Promotion, instruction, or advice on the questionable or illegal use of computer equipment and software.
Art	Sites providing online galleries, museums and artist sites.
Automotive	Sites of automobile manufacturers, dealers, sales and clubs.
Chat	Sites and protocols related to Instant Messaging and Chat applications.
Chat Extended	Sites and protocols related to additional Instant Messaging features such as, File Sharing, Voice over IP, Streaming Internet Radio Video Messaging, etc.
Consumer Information	Sites with consumer-generated reviews, buying tips, ratings and pricing.
Criminal Skills	Sites advocating, instructing, or giving advice on performing illegal acts.
Cult and occult	Sites promoting cult or occult matters and other types of psychological control or manipulation.
Drugs	Sites promoting the use or purchase of illegal drugs and narcotics, including techniques and products.
Dynamic Hosting	Sites for third party content provider networks that service a wide range of frequently changing content using a distributed network of servers.
Education	Sites sponsored by schools or other educational facilities, faculty or alumni groups that promote educational events or activities.
Entertainment	Sites containing movies, theater times, comic strips, television, music, hobbies, rock bands, etc.
Finance/Investing	Sites of financial trade, financial news, online banking services, trading exchanges.
Gambling	Sites which encourage gambling such as betting sites, bookmaker odds, lottery, bingo, online sport betting, and online casinos.
Games	Sites related to computer or other games, game download and online game sites.
General Business	Sites sponsored by or devoted to individual business firms.
Glamour	Sites related to fashion and modeling.
Government	Sites sponsored by government branches or agencies.
Hate speech	Sites containing material related to the discrimination of any group of people based on race, religion, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, etc.
Health	Sites that provide information or advice on personal health or medical services, health insurance, procedures, or devices. This includes information such as diet, nutritional facts, therapies and counseling services.
Hobbies	Sites that provide information on private and largely sedentary pastimes.
Hosting Sites	Sites for third party content provider networks that service a wide range of frequently changing content using a distributed network of servers.
HTTPS Trusted	HTTPS sites with signed certificates that don’t fall within a current category.
HTTPS Unrated	HTTPS sites not seen before that will be processed within 24 hours and moved to an appropriate category.
HTTPS Untrusted	HTTPS sites with self-signed certificates.
Internet Tools	Sites or services that give users the ability to store personal information or remotely access Web-Conferencing.
Job search	Sites that offer information on or support seeking employment.
Law	Sites with legal content to include laws, legal topics and lawyers.
Lingerie	Sites selling or modeling undergarments or lingerie.
Mature content	Sites with mature content that may not be considered explicitly pornographic- like lingerie, swimsuits and revealing pictures.
Military	Sites sponsored by military branches or agencies.
News	Sites relating to mainstream online news publications or media format such as print, radio, or television.
Nudism and Naturism	Sites related to nudists and naturists.
Peer-to-peer	Sites and protocols related to file sharing applications. example: KaZaa and Gnutella.
Personals/Dating	Sites related to personal ads, dating sites and services, relationships, introductions.
Politics and Religion	Sites that pertain to politicians, election campaigns, political organizations and publications, churches and related publications, discussion forums, religions.
Pornography	Sites with nudity of any sort, vulgarity, including the likes of Playboy, Hustler, Penthouse, etc.
Portal	Site or service that offers a broad array of resources and services, such as e-mail, forums, search engines, and on-line shopping malls.
Reference	Personal, professional, or educational references to include online dictionaries, maps, and language translation sites.
Science	Sites whose primary function is to provide scientific/research pages or materials.
Sex Education	Sites offering information on sexuality and sexual content.
Sexual Advice	Information related to sexual relationships and sexual issue.
Sexual Orientation	Sites related to the discussion of homosexuality or other sexual orientation issues.
Shopping	Sites which contain consumer oriented online shopping, online malls, real estate, automobiles, classifieds and online trading services.
Shopping Auction	Shopping sites that specifically conduct their shopping business as auctions.
Skype	Blocks the Skype VoIP application and protocol.
Society	Sites that provide information on matters of daily life including sites that contain material relative to an individual's personal life, whether straight, gay, lesbian, or otherwise; any site pertaining to any particular culture, behavior, organization, society, club, etc.
Sports	Sites that provide information on or promote sports, active games, and recreation.
Streaming Internet Radio	Sites that transmit audio in real-time (i.e., as the information is received).
Streaming Media	Sites that stream audio and video on demand.
Technology	Sites dedicated to general computer/internet related information pertaining to both hardware and software.
Tobacco	Sites that provide information on, promote, or support the sale of tobacco products, and any associated paraphernalia.
Travel	Sites that offer travel tickets and reservations, travel clubs, travelogues, visitor information bureaus, travel promotions, etc.
Uncategorized	Sites that don't fall into a specific category.
Violence	Sites that provide information on or promote violent activity.
Weapons	Sites that provide information on, promote, or support the sale of weapons and related items.
Web Email	Site that allow users to send e-mail via a web browsing application including sites such as hotmail.com and Yahoo! mail.
Web Log	(also known as blog) Site that serves as a publicly-accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
Web Search	Sites that support searching the Web, news groups, or indices and directories thereof.
Web Search Filtered	Sites that support searching the Web, news groups, or indices and directories thereof. These engines will not return objectionable content or explicit pictures. For Google and Yahoo, safe search options are enforced via this category.