Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

WebSense Patents Censorware System

Posted by timothy on from the ones-and-zeros dept.

Matthew Skala writes "As reported in SiliconValley.internet.com, filtering-software vendor Websense has received US Patent 6,606,659 on a "System and method for controlling access to internet sites". The new features in the patented system seem to revolve around using time limits instead of filtering sites out entirely; offering users a choice of viewing a site and having it logged, or not viewing it; and a scheme for automatically categorizing sites that looks very much like the "Bayesian filters" we've heard so much about in recent weeks. You may be interested in the filtering company's press release about their patent, or my own view."

3 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Prior art: Novell Netware - in 1994. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I helped to sysadmin a Novell Netware installation back when I was at high school in '94.

    I seem to remember that they had a time limiting system. Per user, you could set when that user was allowed to log on and access the network.

    We used it make sure that users couldn't access the network when they weren't supposed to be able to - so kids didn't share their accounts with others or access the network outside of the allowed times (after hours unsupervised, etc).

    I'm not sure how this would relate to the patent (I'm not a patent lawyer), but this was a form of network censorship based on time.

  2. Re:Prior art? by Shivaji+Maharaj · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have experienced first hand internet access policies based on time of the day. When i was working at a CMM Level 5 company, we were not allowed to surf during office hours ( 9 AM to 6 PM ) and the proxy itself was open between 7 AM to 7 PM weekdays.

    --
    We do not have a history of profitable operations. Our future SCOsource licensing revenue is uncertain.
  3. WebSense filtering by TLouden · · Score: 3, Informative

    My school district uses WebSense to block out 'inappropriate' sites which includes porn, and instructions on making bombs as well as gaming and chat sites. It's pretty damned easy to bypass. Just find the google cache OR if pictures/files are needed find the foriegn version of the site. The de extension seems to be really good for downloads. Another idea would be to setup your own web server which had a form so that you could give it the URL of the site you wanted and it would then dl everything and serve it up under http://yourip/website_ext/
    Something like this would require replacing all the hyperlinks but that's not too difficult.
    Can anyone tell me if their filters check port 81? 45? etc?

    --
    -Tim Louden