scope:

The objective of this Technical Specification is to define a set of criteria on how Web filters shall perform and that shall give Internet users more confidence in choosing a suitable product or service in order to help protecting children online. By using a Web filter that complies with the requirements set out in this Technical Specification, a user can be confident that the product or service: a) has been specifically designed to meet the needs of parents and carers (administrators of the filter) to protect children from potentially harmful URLs on the Internet; b) has been specifically targeted to minors, and is also suited for individuals looking to protect themselves from potentially harmful URLs on the Internet; c) delivers a minimum set of features and efficacy that are sufficient to provide the required level of protection; d) comes with clear and comprehensive documentation, installation and implementation instructions and available support; e) is reasonably secure, i.e. adopts proven measures to prevent bypassing or removal of the filter itself. This Technical Specification does not cover the following technologies: f) any kind of email filtering, including: antispam filtering, antivirus analysis of emails and attachments, anthiphishing filtering; g) other Web filtering for the purpose of enterprise or adult Web usage, including: antivirus analysis of Web content, antiphishing filtering; h) the analysis and/or filtering of any other application traffic delivered over HTTP/HTTPS/FTP including for instance: instant messaging, peer to peer file (P2P) sharing, VoIP; i) the analysis and/or filtering of any other application traffic delivered over non HTTP/HTTPS/FTP protocols including for instance: newsgroups, instant messaging, peer to peer file (P2P) sharing, VoIP and social networking applications.