Sites blocked by ClickSafe

ClickSafe CEO Richard Schwartz submitted statements in his testimony before the COPA Commission on July 20, 2000 attesting to the accuracy of the ClickSafe filter:

ClickSafe uses state-of-the-art, content-based filtering software that combines cutting-edge graphic, word and phrase-recognition technology to achieve extraordinarily high rates of accuracy in filtering pornographic content.
ClickSafe can precisely distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate sites (i.e. it has both remarkably low underblocking and overblocking rates).

We tested the accuracy of these statements by looking for blocked sites on the home page of the COPA Commission itself and by testing the Web pages of companies and organizations that had representatives on the Commission. We became interested in testing the software after discovering that the home page of Lawrence Lessig, who was also scheduled to speak at the hearing, was blocked by ClickSafe:

http://www.thestandard.com/people/display/0,1157,1739,00.html

All pages listed below as "blocked" were tested with a version of the ClickSafe proxy server for Windows NT, downloaded on July 18, 2000. The pages below were all blocked under the program's "pornography" category. (Although the ClickSafe "Access Denied" message does not tell you what category a page is blocked under, we turned off the program's "pornography" blocking category and confirmed that all of the pages below became accessible when the "pornography" category was disabled.)

Pages on COPACommission.org that are blocked by ClickSafe

http://www.copacommission.org/commission/faq.shtml
Frequently Asked Questions about the COPA Commission.

http://www.copacommission.org/commission/hughes.shtml
http://www.copacommission.org/commission/balkam.shtml
http://www.copacommission.org/commission/balkam.shtml
Biographies of Commission members Donna Rice-Hughes, Stephen Balkam, and John Bastian. (Of the other commissioner biographies linked from http://www.copacommission.org/commission/commissioners.shtml, none of the others were blocked by ClickSafe.)

http://www.copacommission.org/commission/technologies.shtml
"Technologies and methods within the scope of the COPA Commission" -- a list of the different software and age verification techniques that the commission was appointed to consider.

http://www.copacommission.org/commission/scope.shtml
"COPA Commission: Scope & Timeline Proposal". Description of proposed activity schedule for the COPA Commission and questions for the commission to consider.

http://www.copacommission.org/commission/original.shtml
http://www.copacommission.org/commission/amended.shtml
The original and amended versions of the portions of the Child Online Protection Act that mandated the creation of the COPA Commission.

Blocked home pages of companies and organizations that have members on the COPA Commission

http://www.networksolutions.com/legal/service-agreement.html
Service Agreement from Network Solutions, Inc.

http://www.icra.org/about.html
"About the Internet Content Rating Association". A description of the ICRA and the history of their Internet ratings system.

http://www.securitysoft.com/cyber-page.htm
"About Cyber Sentinel" -- product information page for Security Software's flagship product.

http://www.cdt.org/
The Center for Democracy and Technology home page -- one of Washington's most prominent civil liberties groups opposing Internet censorship.

http://www.familyconnect.com/block.htm
"Block/Unblock" request page from FamilyConnect.com -- where FamilyConnect users can suggest sites to be blocked or unblocked by the software.

http://www.nationallawcenter.org/federal.htm
A list of activities and lobbying efforts that the National Law Center for Children and Families has conducted at the federal level.

http://www.protectkids.com/app.a.html
"Appendix A -- Resources for Kids and Parents" from Donna Rice Hughes's book, Kids Online: Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace.

http://bible.crosswalk.com/
Bible Study Tools from Crosswalk.com, including a text search of the bible and commentaries from different authors.

Political groups blocked by ClickSafe

http://www.aclu.org/
The American Civil Liberties Union -- one of the most prominent civil liberties groups opposing Internet censorship and other violations of constitutional rights.

http://www.eff.org/
The Electronic Frontier Foundation -- an organization staunchly opposing Internet censorship and promoting free speech through their now-famous Web-based Blue Ribbon Campaign.

http://www.cdt.org/
The Center for Democracy and Technology home page -- one of Washington's most prominent civil liberties groups opposing Internet censorship.

http://www.afa.net/
The American Family Association -- the only conservative group we could find, out of a small number that we tested, whose home page was blocked by ClickSafe. (The home pages of the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women For America, the Family Research Council, and Dr. Laura were not blocked by ClickSafe when we tested them.)