Rulespace Solutions

Filtering: The Next Generation - by Samuel Greengard

On: 2001-09-04 11:49:49

AOL's New Service Does a Better Job Blocking Inappropriate Content.

September 2001 Article:
Web filtering software has always been a dicey proposition. You plunk down money and spend time setting up the program only to find that your kids can't get to information about breast cancer, but they can view pictures of scantly clad women. "The problem with most filtering programs," says Brian Burke, a senior research analyst at market research firm IDC, "is they block specific URLs or use a control list with specific words to determine whether a site should be blocked. It's easily defeated." Web filtering software has always been a dicey proposition. You plunk down money and spend time setting up the program only to find that your kids can't get to information about breast cancer, but they can view pictures of scantly clad women. "The problem with most filtering programs," says Brian Burke, a senior research analyst at market research firm IDC, "is they block specific URLs or use a control list with specific words to determine whether a site should be blocked. It's easily defeated."

Enter RuleSpace, a Portland Ore. company that's using sophisticated blocking technology to sift through sites. Instead of looking for targeted words or phrases within a site, RuleSpace uses pattern recognition: If an individual site fits the pattern of a typically inappropriate site, then it's blocked. RuleSpace has developed a database of more than 30 million sites and relies on human editors to double-check the system. Currently, the service is available for free through AOL and Intel's AnyPoint home networking system.

Our test of RuleSpace showed that the software is relatively effective--far better than traditional filters, such as Internet Guard Dog or NetNanny. And, notes IDC's Burke, technology like RuleSpace heralds the future. "Filtering at the ISP level is a logical step forward," he says. But, the technology isn't perfect. Says Burke, "At this point, no application is 100 percent accurate."



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