Join Now!

Blocked Site of the Day

Blocking Software Reports

BESS
Cyber Patrol
WebSENSE
Net Nanny
SmartFilter
X-Stop / 8e6
I-Gear
CYBERsitter

About Peacefire
Join Peacefire
Blocking Software FAQ
Contact
Press information

All contents
©1996-2010 Peacefire

webmaster@
peacefire.org

HomeAbout PeacefireCensorwareContact

More sites found blocked by Cyber Patrol (January 2002)

Peacefire's most recent test of Cyber Patrol was conducted in January 2002. Cyber Patrol has now been on the market for six years, with complaints about overblocking dating back to 1995, so it is reasonable to assume that if problems with the accuracy rate have not been fixed by now, they are probably inherent in the program.

The blocked sites found in our most recent test have been broken up into categories below; most of the blocked sites fell in one of these few categories. A site blocked as "sexually explicit" refers to a site blocked by Cyber Patrol with only the "Full Nudity" and "Partial Nudity" categories turned on; these categories are defined by Cyber Patrol not to "include sites containing nudity or partial nudity of a non-prurient nature". These are the categories used to block Playboy.com and other pornographic sites; most sites on Cyber Patrol's list are blocked as "sexually explicit". These sites were all blocked at the time this page was published (February 1, 2002) unless otherwise noted. The word "blocked" generally links to a screen capture of Cyber Patrol blocking the site.

Some of these mistakes can be explained by human error (e.g. blocking Anthonyhowell.org as a pornographic site because it contains artistic nudity); others appear to be unattributable to human error (e.g. blocking Adoption Links Worldwide as a pornographic site). Cyber Patrol describes the process by which their blocked-site list is put together, as "a combination of automated tools, human researchers, and spidering technologies". Their Web site used to claim that every site blocked by their product was first viewed by an employee, but that claim no longer appears on their Web page. (Ever since Cyber Patrol was first sold, sites that no human reviewer could have considered "offensive", such as the ones below, have been regularly found to be blocked by Cyber Patrol. The company's claims of 100% human review may have finally been simply removed from the site.)

Churches and religious organizations:

Organizations for children and youth:

  • Aleh.org -- providing medical and rehabilitative care to disabled children in Israel. Blocked as sexually explicit.
  • Acorn Community Enterprises -- a community program in Shasta County, California providing developing youth programs and economic development activities. Blocked as sexually explicit.
  • Beatitudes Age Link -- a child development center offering care for children from infancy through preschool age. Blocked as sexually explicit.
  • All About Omaha -- a network promoting civic involvement for young leaders living in Omaha. Blocked as "Questionable/Illegal".
  • Variety Club of Queensland -- an association founded by entertainers to raise money for the support of underpriveleged and handicapped children. Blocked as sexually explicit.
  • "High Schools That Work", Ohio Chapter -- an organization of administrators, principals, and teachers promoting school improvement in Ohio. Blocked as sexually explicit.

Environmental and animal rights pages:

Hospitals, treatment centers, and medical information sites:

  • The American Cancer Society -- Cyber Patrol later said this site was blocked because its IP address used to be assigned to www.chinesesex.net. (The link does point to the current ACS home page, but Cyber Patrol Vice President Susan Getgood claimed in testimony before the National Academy of Sciences, in March 2001, that Cyber Patrol did not block sites by IP address.)
  • Capitol Hill Medical Clinic -- providing medical services to Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. The site was blocked on 1/8/2002 but was unblocked before this page was published.
  • The Tsow-Tun Le Lum Society -- a substance abuse treatment center in Lantzville, British Columbia, Canada. Blocked as sexually explicit.
  • Good Shepherd Manor -- providing residential and day treatment services to men with developmental disabilities in Momence, Illinois. Blocked as sexually explicit.
  • The Dr. Vodder School -- offering training programs in Combined Decongestive Therapy. The site was blocked on 1/6/2002 but was unblocked before this page was published.
  • Advanced Life Support Group -- a medical education charity founded in 1993 to provide training and education to the public on life saving techniques. Blocked as sexually explicit.
  • Bipolar Home -- an educational site about bipolar affective disorder ("manic depressive" disorder) in children and adults. Blocked as sexually explicit.
  • AVSC.org -- now EngenderHealth, promoting women's health issues worldwide. EngenderHealth.org is not blocked, but AVSC.org is blocked as sex education.
  • LifeStream -- promoting research on addictions, attention deficit disorder (ADHD) and other compulsive/impulsive disorders. The site was blocked on 1/22/2002 but was unblocked before this page was published.
  • TeenAIDS -- a site promoting AIDS awareness with an emphasis on education for teens. Blocked as sex education.

Miscellaneous sites:

Gay-themed Web sites:

Sites featuring nudity that is clearly not pornographic:

  • AnthonyHowell.org -- home page of a British poet and performance artist. Possibly blocked because of nudity (though of a very non-pornographic kind) in some of the photographs taken from his performance pieces. Blocked as sexually explicit.
  • Nudists.org -- a nudist/naturist site opposing legislation to outlaw nudity on formerly nude beaches. Some of the pictures feature nudity (including a humorous splash graphic on the front page), but of the clearly non-pornographic kind. Blocked as sexually explicit.
  • Club Catala de Naturisme -- a nudist beach in Barcelona, Spain. Some pictures feature nudity but are clearly not pornographic. Blocked as sexually explicit.