Important Notice: Our web hosting provider recently started charging us for additional visits, which was unexpected. In response, we're seeking donations. Depending on the situation, we may explore different monetization options for our Community and Expert Contributors. It's crucial to provide more returns for their expertise and offer more Expert Validated Answers or AI Validated Answers. Learn more about our hosting issue here.

Does it matter whether labels are applied to IP addresses or to URLs?

April 26, 2017applied ip addresses labels URLs

0

10 Posted

Does it matter whether labels are applied to IP addresses or to URLs?

1 Answer

0

10 Posted

An IP address identifies the location of a computer on the Internet. A URL identifies the location of a document. To simplify a little, a URL has the form http:///. A web browser first resolves (translates) the domain-name into an IP address. It then contacts the computer at that address and asks it to send the particular filename. Thus, a label that applies to an IP address is a very broad label: it applies to every document that can be retrieved from that machine. Labeling of URLs permits more flexibility: different documents or directories of documents can be given different labels. This difference of granularity will, naturally, have an impact on filtering. Filters based on IP addresses will be cruder: if some but not all of the documents available at a particular IP address are undesirable, the filter will have to either block all or none of those documents. PICS, by contrast, permits labeling of individual URLs, and hence permits finer grain filters as well