| A key element of the Birmingham Grid for Learning is that it is a "filtered" service. It is important that access to the Internet is controlled and monitored, and that access to inappropriate sites is blocked.
Web filtering
N2H2 was acquired by Secure Computing in October of 2003. Secure Computing has continued to sell and support the Bess filtering products previously sold by N2H2. In August of 2005, Secure Computing launched an all-new 4.1 version of SmartFilter and SmartFilter, Bess edition. This major release combines the best features from the SmartFilter and N2H2 Bess/Sentian product lines. What this means is that the key features and functionality from the three product lines are now available under the SmartFilter brand.
All access from the Grid to the Internet has to be made through the filtering server which runs SmartFilter. In order to deliver Internet access at the fastest possible speed to schools, this filtering service now offers a standard level of filtering across all schools. The following categories of site are blocked:
- Pornography
- Strong and offensive language
- Violence
- Chat rooms
- Adults only
- Drugs (sites that promote or advocate recreational drug use)
- Personal (dating)
- Gambling
- Hate/discrimination
- Tasteless/Gross
- Weapons
In addition, some sites not in these categories are also blocked, for example the World Wide Wrestling federation site, following many requests from schools.
It is possible for schools to have their own local filtering server, which will give some additional control over access to the Internet. This will include being able to set access levels by person, computer and time of day, giving total control of what can and cannot be accessed on the Grid or Internet. For more information on school based filtering, e-mail
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. A new service, Web Washer, is being prepared which will include a complete customisable filtering service.
If you have any comments on the filtering policy, or would like to suggest sites which should be blocked but aren't, or sites which should not be blocked but are, please e-mail
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E-mail filtering
We also use software to filter e-mail, to ensure that file attachments containing computer viruses cannot be sent or received, and to ensure that e-mail is not used in an inappropriate way. It is possible to check for inappropriate words or phrases in e-mails, and to divert them if required. The software used for this purpose is called MimeSweeper, supplied by ClearSwift.
Use of the e-mail service on BGfL is subject to the Birmingham City Council policy on the acceptable use of e-mail.
This software is also used to direct e-mail to the right place on the Grid, for example to a school's own mail server, or to the BGfL web server.
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