The Bristol Internet Service uses a third party product for internet filtering.
This product has a number of different categories of sites which can be restricted, eg: Drugs, Finance, Job Search, as well as ‘non categorised' sites which are allowed. The categories are listed below, with the two columns showing which are currently allowed or banned:
| Allowed | Banned |
|---|---|
| Animals/Pets Art Books & Literature/Writings Comics Community Organizations Domain Landing Education Educational Games Employment Entertainment Fashion Financial Institution Fitness Freeware/Shareware General Business Government Health/Medical Holistic Image Servers & Image Search Engines Information Technology Internet Radio Internet Service Provider Invalid Web Pages Kids Legal Lifestyle Local Community Military Appreciation Military Official Movies & Television Music Appreciation News Online Auction Online Classes Online Communities Online Greeting Cards Online Trading/Brokerage Outdoor Recreation Paranormal Political Opinion Portals Real Estate Recreation Reference Religion Religious Opinion Restaurant/Dining Reviewed/Miscellaneous Search Engines Self Help Shopping Social Opinion Sports Streaming Media Theater Tickets Travel Vehicles VoIP Weather/Traffic Web Based Email Web Based Storage Web Hosts Web Logs/Personal Pages |
Adware Alcohol Banner/Web Ads Chat Child Pornography Criminal Skills Cults Dating/Personals Dubious/Unsavory Explicit Art Free Hosts Gambling Games Hacking Hate & Discrimination Humor Illegal Drugs Instant Messaging Malicious Code/Virus Message Boards Obscene/Tasteless Peer-to-peer/File Sharing Phishing Pornography/Adult Content Remote Access R Rated School Cheating Self Defense Spyware Terrorist/Militant/Extremist Tobacco Weapons Web Based Newsgroups Web-based Proxies/Anonymizers |
This process is not an exact science and sites may occasionally be categorised inappropriately or change category (because of altered content).
For non categorised sites, the content of web pages is scanned for inappropriate materials and then allowed/banned as appropriate.
CYPS IT can allow/deny access to individual sites on a school-by-school basis, or we can arrange for schools to do this themselves. If your school has special access requirements which the blocking stated above does not sufficiently address then please contact the CYPS IT Helpdesk on 0117 90 37999.
All Internet access is recorded, ie: analysis can be undertaken of which computers access individual sites including date and time of access.
No system is 100% secure so you need to ensure your students use the Internet appropriately and that appropriate supervision is available. A 'Model Policy on the Acceptable Use of the Internet for Schools' is available on the IT Policies and Guides page.
If sites slip through this procedure then please contact the CYPS IT Helpdesk on 0117 90 37999 and approved/disallowed site lists can be amended promptly.
Contact:
Tracey O'Brien, IS Manager
Children & Young People's Services
The Council House
College Green
Bristol
BS1 5TR
Tel: 0117 90 37654
Fax: 0117 90 37988
Email: tracey.o'brien@bristol.gov.uk