Censorware: Reports

The Censorware Project's special reports are mostly in-depth looks at the various censorware products available. Our most recent report was released on March 23, 1999.

Released on March 23, 1999:

Webtrack/Smartfilter in the Utah School System
The state of Utah coordinates internet access for its schools through the Utah Education Network. UEN allows the 40 school districts to censor student internet access by using a program called Webtrack or Smartfilter. Michael Sims undertook to request access, on behalf of the Project and under Utah's open government laws, to the log files maintained by the software censor, to see just what was Banned In Utah.

Released on November 23, 1998:

The X-Stop Files: Deja Voodoo
The Project released this report simultaneously with the news of the resounding victory in the Loudoun, VA censorware case. This report is a counterpart to Judge Brinkema's opinion, showing what you're really getting when you purchase an encrypted list from a censorware company.

Released on June 22,1998:

Protecting Judges Against Liza Minelli: The Websense Censorware at Work
Our tax dollars are being spent to protect judges, and library users, against Liza Minnelli, Jewish teens, a grocer, a speakers' bureau, a mortgage company--and some free speech advocates. All of these sites are blocked by WebSENSE under the Sex1, Sex2 or Adult Entertainment categories, the settings used in the federal courts and in libraries.

We also released a report on April 22, 1998:

Federal Courts Use Censorware
The Censorware Project announced today that it has learned that federal courts are using the WebSENSE censorware product, at least in the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth judicial circuits (covering twenty-two states and Guam).

We released a report on February 17, 1998:

Cyber Patrol and Deja News
In our report Blacklisted by Cyber Patrol: From Ada to Yoyo, issued in late December, we disclosed that Cyber Patrol blocks the premier Usenet archive and search engine, Deja News. As a result of that report and the attendant publicity, Microsystems Inc., publishers of Cyber Patrol, unblocked many of the sites we listed. However, the company stood its ground and refused to unblock Deja News.

And please see our first substantial report (December 23, 1997):

Blacklisted by Cyber Patrol:
From Ada To Yoyo
Our conclusion is that Cyber Patrol blocks a great many sites which do not deserve to be, and that furthermore, looking at past reports of the product's accuracy, fixing these errors is a low priority.

And of historical significance, our first look at X-Stop (October 5, 1997):

The X-Stop Files
In which X-Stop's "obscenity only" version is shown to ban the Quakers. They know something we don't?