What is Content Filtering?
Content filtering is the automated process of classifying incoming mail as spam or legitimate mail. Spam is unsolicited, unwanted junk mail, often originating from ‘untraceable’ sources sent out in mass-mailings. Content filtering can take place on a mailserver, a personal computer, or both. If content filtering is done on a home or office computer, legitimate mail can be further classified for personal purposes, according to desire. A mailserver that runs a spam filter has the built-in ability to reject mail based on various parameters such as keywords, originating addresses, or other header information. Many mailservers run some type of content filtering software, but often this isn’t enough to keep spam at bay. Mailserver spam filters have to be somewhat general, comparatively speaking, to account for a customer base. Personal content filtering can be extremely specific. The most popular type of content filtering software uses the Bayesian method. In this case, the software that per
ISPs use many methods to determine how messages coming into their users are handled (and individual recipients may have a degree of control over mail filtering as well). One common method is content filtering, which is based on the content of the subject and body of messages. Content filters “read” incoming email messages to see if the messages match any of the filters’ rules. Messages that match a filtering rule will be placed in the recipient’s “bulk” or “junk” folder, or may not be assigned to the recipient’s email account at all.
– Content filtering is a system that enables an organisation to monitor the activities of all personnel who have access to a PC… [Read More] The future of content filtering – Many companies already monitor emails and web activity and this is set to continue due to increased legislation… [Read More] Why content filtering? – Some 1 billion emails are sent every hour and 50% of those contain sensitive information… [Read More] Benefits of using content filtering – One of the benefits is greater productivity. If 40% of employees’ activities are spent on non-work related activities, organisations can be losing many hours of valuable resource in an age when the cost of running a business is already extremely high… [Read More] Disadvantages and potential pitfalls – Big Brother – content filtering can be seen to be interference by senior management and the general perception amongst employees might be that the management don’t trust their personnel… [Read More] Download and Go! – If y
The content filtering system is able to establish a series of policies for correct e-mail use. On the one hand, it can filter messages with attachments that the company considers are not work related (for example MP3 music files or movies in Divx formats). In any case, the domain administrator is able to configure the system to take appropriate action based on the policy established by their company: delete attachments, delete messages, notify the sender etc. Why is it important? In some countries the failure to take necessary measures to protect employees from offensive contents (sex, racism, insults, etc.) may mean a company is legally liable. Furthermore, unsuitable or unrelated work content may consume a significant amount of resources (memory, bandwidth…) and reduce productivity, increasing a company’s costs. What are the legal implications of filtering content? This will depend on the legal situation in each country. In general, the company does not run any risk if it establish
Content Filtering means blocking access to certain material available on the web, and will usually log attempts by Network users to access forbidden material. In Routers under $500.00 this is usually achieved by using either a keyword list, URLs or both. eg You can create a rule to block access to any website that uses the word “tree” in its name, or you can block access specifically to “www.tree.com.au”. Note: These Routers do not filter emails or viruses. In more expensive Routers, content filtering gets serious and is available as a subscription service (with an annual fee). The manufacturer will provide a list of forbidden websites and provide regular updates. For example, see Snapgear’s URL Content Filtering Service. In more expensive Routers still, the ability to block viruses (with regular definition updates), filter emails and even block access to downloading certain file types like mp3s is available.
