The Blue Coat WebFilter™ database contains over fifteen million website ratings representing billions of web pages, published in more than 50 languages, and organized into 71 useful categories. Blue Coat WebFilter is backed up by Blue Coat's unique Dynamic Real-Time Rating (DRTR™) ecosystem. DRTR accurately categorizes up to 98% of unrated objectionable sites "on the fly" to better enforce your policy (see Blue Coat WebFilter data sheet for more details). Following is an alphabetical listing and description of these categories used by Blue Coat WebFilter to classify web sites.
Categories
Abortion
Sites which provide information or arguments
in favor of or against abortion, describe
abortion procedures, offer help in obtaining
or avoiding abortion, or provide information
on the effects, or lack thereof, of abortion.
Adult/Mature Content
Sites that contain material of adult nature
that does not necessarily contain excessive
violence, sexual content, or nudity. These sites
include very profane or vulgar content and
sites that are not appropriate for children.
Alcohol
Sites that offer for sale, promote, glorify,
review or in any way advocate the use or
creation of alcoholic beverages, including but
not limited to beer, wine, and hard liquors. It
does not include sites that sell alcohol as a
subset of other products such as restaurants
or grocery stores.
Alternative Sexuality/Lifestyles
Sites that provide information, promote, or
cater to alternative sexual expressions in
their myriad forms. Includes but is not limited
to the full range of non-traditional sexual
practices, interests, orientations or fetishes.
This category does not include sites that are
sexually gratuitous in nature which would
typically fall under the Pornography category,
nor does it include lesbian, gay, bi-sexual,
transgender or any sites which speak to one’s
sexual identity.
Alternative Spirituality/Occult
Sites that promote and provide information
on religions such as Wicca, Witchcraft
or Satanism. Occult practices, atheistic
views, voodoo rituals or any other form of
mysticism are represented here. Includes
sites that endorse or offer methods, means
of instruction, or other resources to affect
or influence real events through the use
of spells, incantations, curses and magic
powers. This category includes sites
which discuss or deal with paranormal or
unexplained events.
Arts/Entertainment
Sites that promote and provide information
about motion pictures, videos, television,
music and programming guides, books,
comics, movie theatres, galleries, artists
or reviews on entertainment. Also includes
sites dedicated to or run by zoos or
amusement parks.
Auctions
Sites that support the offering and purchasing
of goods between individuals. Does not
include classified advertisements.
Blogs/Personal Pages
Sites that primarily offer access to personal
pages and blogs. This classification includes
but is not limited to content that shares a
common domain such as web space made
available by an ISP or some other hosting
service. Personal home pages and blogs tend
to be dynamic in nature and their content may
vary from innocuous to extreme.
Brokerage/Trading
Sites that provide or advertise trading of
securities and management of investment
assets (online or offline). Also includes
insurance sites, as well as sites that offer
financial investment strategies, quotes,
and news.
Business/Economy
Sites devoted to business firms, business
information, economics, marketing, business
management and entrepreneurship. This
does not include sites that perform services
that are defined in another category (such
as Information Technology companies, or
companies that sell travel services). Does not
include shopping sites.
Chat/Instant Messaging
Sites that provide chat, text messaging
(SMS) or instant messaging capabilities or
client downloads.
Computers/Internet
Sites that sponsor or provide information
on computers, technology, the Internet
and technology-related organizations
and companies.
Content Servers
Servers that provide commercial hosting
for a variety of content such as images and
media files. These servers are typically used
in conjunction with other web servers to
optimize content retrieval speeds.
Cultural/Charitable Organizations
Sites that nurture cultural understanding and
foster volunteerism such as 4H, the Lions and
Rotary Clubs. Also encompasses non-profit
associations that cultivate philanthropic or
relief efforts. Sites that provide a learning
environment or cultural refinement/
awareness outside of the strictures of
formalized education such as museums and
planetariums are included under this heading.
Education
Sites that offer educational information,
distance learning, or trade school information
or programs. Also includes sites that are
sponsored by schools, educational facilities,
faculty, or alumni groups.
Email
Sites offering web-based email services, such
as online email reading, e-cards, and mailing
list services.
Extreme
Sites that are extreme in nature and are
not suitable for general consumption.
Includes sites that revel and glorify in gore,
human or animal suffering, scatological
or other aberrant behaviors, perversities
or debaucheries. It includes visual or
written depictions deemed to be of
an unusually horrific nature. These
are salacious sites bereft of historical
context, educational value or artistic
merit created solely to debase,
dehumanize or shock. Examples would
include necrophilia, cannibalism, scat
and amputee fetish sites.
Financial Services
Sites that provide or advertise banking
services (online or offline) or other types
of financial information, such as loans.
Does not include sites that offer market
information, brokerage or trading
services.
For Kids
Sites designed specifically for children.
This category is typically used in
conjunction with other categories - it is
not a stand-alone category.
Gambling
Sites where a user can place a bet or
participate in a betting pool, participate
in a lottery, or receive information,
assistance, recommendations, or
training in such activities. Does not
include sites that sell gambling-related
products/machines or sites for offline
casinos and hotels, unless they meet
one of the above requirements.
Games
Sites that support playing or
downloading video games, computer
games, or electronic games. Includes
sites with information, tips or advice
on such games or how to obtain cheat
codes. Also includes magazines
dedicated to computerized games
and sites that support or host online
sweepstakes and giveaways.
Government/Legal
Sites sponsored by or which provide
information on government, government
agencies and government services such
as taxation and emergency services.
Includes sites which discuss or explain
laws of various governmental entities.
Also includes sites that advertise
legal services, lawyers for hire,
adoption services, information about
adoption, immigration information, and
immigration services.
Hacking
Sites that distribute, promote, or provide
hacking tools and/or information which
may help gain unauthorized access to
computer systems and/or computerized
communication systems. Hacking
encompasses instructions on illegal or
questionable tactics, such as creating
viruses, distributing cracked or pirated
software, or distributing other protected
intellectual property.
Health
Sites that provide advice and information
on general health such as fitness
and well-being, personal health or
medical services, drugs, alternative
and complementary therapies, medical
information about ailments, dentistry,
optometry, general psychiatry, self-help,
and support organizations dedicated to a
disease or condition.
Humor/Jokes
Sites that primarily focus on comedy,
jokes, fun, etc. May include sites
containing jokes of adult or mature
nature. Sites containing humorous
Adult/Mature content also have an
Adult/Mature category rating.
Illegal Drugs
Sites that promote, offer, sell, supply,
encourage or otherwise advocate the
illegal use, cultivation, manufacture, or
distribution of drugs, pharmaceuticals,
intoxicating plants or chemicals and
their related paraphernalia.
Illegal/Questionable
Sites that advocate or give advice on
performing illegal acts such as service
theft, evading law enforcement, fraud,
burglary techniques and plagiarism.
Also includes sites that provide or sell
questionable educational materials,
such as term papers.
Intimate Apparel/Swimsuit
Sites that contain images or offer the sale
of swimsuits or intimate apparel or other
types of suggestive clothing. Does not
include sites selling undergarments as a
subsection of other products offered.
Job Search/Careers
Sites that provide assistance in finding
employment, and tools for locating
prospective employers.
LGBT
Sites that provide information regarding,
support, promote, or cater to one’s
sexual orientation or gender identity
including but not limited to lesbian,
gay, bi-sexual, and transgender sites.
This category does not include sites
that are sexually gratuitous in nature
which would typically fall under the
Pornography category.
Military
Sites that promote or provide
information on military branches or
armed services.
News/Media
Sites that primarily report information
or comments on current events or
contemporary issues of the day. Also
includes news radio stations and news
magazines. Does not include sites that
can be rated in other categories.
Newsgroups/Forums
Sites that primarily offer access to
newsgroups, messaging or bulletin
board systems, or group blogs where
participants can post comments,
hold discussions, or seek opinions or
expertise on a variety of topics.
Non-viewable
Servers with non-malicious, nonoffensive
content or resources used by
applications, but not directly viewable
by web browsers. Includes but is not
limited to visitor tracking, ranking and
content filtering systems.
Nudity
Sites containing nude or seminude
depictions of the human body. These
depictions are not necessarily sexual in
intent or effect, but may include sites
containing nude paintings or photo
galleries of artistic nature. This category
also includes nudist or naturist sites
that contain pictures of nude individuals.
Online Storage
Sites that provide a secure, encrypted,
off-site backup and restoration of
personal data. These online repositories
are typically used to store, organize and
share videos, music, movies, photos,
documents and other electronically
formatted information. Sites that fit this
criteria essentially act as your personal
hard drive on the Internet.
Open Image/Media Server
Sites that host images or videos or
provide search capabilities for images
and videos that include potentially
pornographic content (e.g. that return
thumbnail images) along with nonpornographic
content (as defined in
our Pornography category). Sites that
explicitly exclude offensive content are
not included in this category.
Pay to Surf
Sites that pay users in the form of cash
or prizes, for clicking on or reading
specific links, email, or web pages.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
Sites that distribute software to facilitate
the direct exchange of files between
users. P2P includes software that
enables file search and sharing across
a network without dependence on a
central server.
Personals/Dating
Sites that promote interpersonal
relationships.
Phishing
Sites that are designed to appear as a
legitimate bank or retailer with the intent
to fraudulently capture sensitive data (i.e.
credit card numbers, pin numbers).
Placeholders
Sites that are under construction, parked
domains, search-bait or otherwise
generally having no useful value.
Political/Activist Groups
Sites sponsored by or which provide
information on political parties, special
interest groups, or any organization that
promotes change or reform in public
policy, public opinion, social practice, or
economic activities.
Pornography
Sites that contain sexually explicit
material for the purpose of arousing a
sexual or prurient interest.
Proxy Avoidance
Sites that provide information on how
to bypass proxy server features or gain
access to URLs in any way that bypasses
the proxy server. This category includes
any service which will allow a person to
bypass the Blue Coat filtering system,
such as anonymous surfing services.
Real Estate
Sites that provide information on
renting, buying, or selling real estate
or properties. Also includes vacation
property rentals such as time-shares
and vacation condos.
Reference
Sites containing personal, professional,
or educational reference, including online
dictionaries, maps, censuses, almanacs,
library catalogues, genealogy-related
sites and scientific information.
Religion
Sites that promote and provide
information on conventional or
unconventional religious or quasireligious
subjects, as well as churches,
synagogues, or other houses of worship.
Does not include sites about alternative
religions such as Wicca or witchcraft
(Alternative Spirituality/Occult), or
atheist beliefs (Political/Activist Groups).
Remote Access Tools
Sites that primarily focus on providing
information about and/or methods
that enable authorized access to and
use of a desktop computer or private
network remotely.
Restaurants/Dining/Food
Sites that list, review, discuss, advertise
and promote food, catering, dining
services, cooking and recipes.
Search Engines/Portals
Sites that support searching the
Internet, indices, and directories.
Sex Education
Sites that provide information
(sometimes graphic) on reproduction,
sexual development, safe sex practices,
sexuality, birth control, tips for better
sex, and sexual enhancement products.
Shopping
Sites that provide or advertise the
means to obtain goods or services with
either prices listed or a clear way to
order. Does not include sites that can be
classified in other categories (such as
vehicles or weapons).
Social Networking
Sites that enable people to connect with
others to form an online community.
Typically members describe themselves
in personal web page profiles and form
interactive networks, linking them with
other members based on common
interests or acquaintances. Instant
messaging, file sharing and web logs
(blogs) are common features of Social
Networking sites. Note: These sites
may contain offensive material in the
community-created content. Sites
in this category are also referred to
as "virtual communities" or "online
communities". This category does not
include more narrowly focused sites,
like those that specifically match
descriptions for Personals/Dating sites
or Business sites.
Society/Daily Living
Sites providing information on matters
of daily life. This includes but is not
limited to pet care, home improvement,
fashion/beauty tips, hobbies and other
tasks that comprise everyday life.
It does not include sites relating to
entertainment, sports, jobs, personal
pages or other topics which already have
a specific category.
Software Downloads
Sites that are dedicated to the electronic
download of software packages, whether
for payment or at no charge.
Sports/Recreation
Sites that promote or provide
information about spectator sports
or recreational activities. It does not
include sites dedicated to hobbies such
as gardening, collecting, board games,
scrapbooking, quilting, etc.
Spyware Effects/Privacy Concerns
Sites to which spyware (as defined in
the Spyware/Malware Sources category)
reports its findings or from which it
alone downloads advertisements. It
does not contain sites which serve
advertisements for other web pages in
addition to spyware advertisements; only
those sites uniquely used by spyware.
Includes sites that contain serious
privacy issues, such as "phone home"
sites to which software can connect
and send user information; and sites to
which browser hijackers redirect users.
Usually does not include sites that can
be marked as Spyware/Malware.
Spyware/Malware Sources
Sites which distribute spyware and other
malware. Spyware and malware are
defined as software that takes control
of a computer, modifies computer
settings, or collects or reports personal
information without the permission of
the end user. It also includes software
that misrepresents itself by tricking
users to install, download, or enter
personal information. This includes
sites or software that perform driveby
downloads; browser hijackers;
dialers; software that does intrusive
advertising; any program which modifies
your browser homepage, bookmarks,
or security settings; and keyloggers.
It also includes any software which
bundles spyware (as defined above)
as part of its offering. Information
collected or reported is "personal" if
it contains uniquely identifying data,
such as email addresses, name, social
security number, IP address, etc. A site
is not classified as spyware if the user
is reasonably notified that the software
will perform these actions (e.g. it alerts
that it will send personal information, be
installed, or that it will log keystrokes).
Suspicious
Sites considered to have suspicious
content and/or intent. This
categorization is determined by
analysis of web reputation factors.
If a site is determined to be clearly
malicious or benign, it will be placed in
a different category.
Streaming Media/MP3s
Sites that sell, deliver, or stream
music or video content in any format,
including sites that provide downloads
for such viewers.
Tobacco
Sites that offer for sale, promote, glorify,
review or in any way advocate the use or
creation of tobacco or tobacco related
products including but not limited to
cigarettes, pipes, cigars and chewing
tobacco. It does not include sites
that sell tobacco as a subset of other
products such as grocery stores.
Travel
Sites that promote or provide
opportunity for travel planning,
including finding and making
travel reservations, vehicle rentals,
descriptions of travel destinations, or
promotions for hotels or casinos.
Uncategorized
These show in the ProxySG logs as the
category 'none'
User-Defined
Requests given a custom classification
by an ProxySG administrator.
Vehicles
Sites that provide information on or
promote vehicles, boats, or aircraft,
including sites that support online
purchase of vehicles or parts.
Violence/Hate/Racism
Sites that depict extreme physical harm
to people or property, or that advocate
or provide instructions on how to cause
such harm. Also includes sites that
advocate, depict hostility or aggression
toward, or denigrate an individual or
group on the basis of race, religion,
gender, nationality, ethnic origin, or
other involuntary characteristics.
Weapons
Sites that sell, review, or describe
weapons such as guns, knives or martial
arts devices, or provide information
on their use, accessories, or other
modifications. Does not include sites
providing information on BB guns,
paintball guns, black powder rifles,
target shooting, or bows and arrows,
unless the site also meets one of the
above requirements. Also does not
include sites that promote collecting
weapons, or groups that either support
or oppose weapons use.
Web Advertisements
Sites that provide online advertisements
or banners. These sites will always be
allowed. Does not include advertising
servers which serve adult-oriented
advertisements.
Web Applications
Sites with interactive, web-based office/
business applications. Excludes email,
chat/IM or other sites that have a
specific content category.
Web Hosting
Sites of organizations which provide
top-level domain pages, as well as web
communities or hosting services.
Copyright © 2007 Blue Coat Systems, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this document may be reproduced by any means nor translated to any electronic medium without the written consent of Blue Coat Systems, Inc. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Information contained in this document is believed to be accurate and reliable, however, Blue Coat Systems, Inc. assumes no responsibility for its use, Blue Coat is a registered trademark of Blue Coat Systems, Inc. in the U.S. and worldwide. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. v.TP-AAA-v1-1007
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