Netsweeper - am I being unrealistic?

[sigma]

I'm moving a load of blocks from local Impero to cloud Netsweeper (Schoolsbroadband), and testing to see if sites are already blocked (or still exist) by Netsweeper as I go. I am somewhat surprised that a number of sites with "full movies", "chat with strangers" and "video chat with strangers" are not filtered for pupils. They are loading immediately and not going into the categorising routine. Some of these I have had blocked for quite a while, others I'm finding as I'm checking up as I go. Am I being unrealistic in assuming that "bad things are blocked" as I have the categories they would naturally fall into blocked, especially where safeguarding is concerned or should I spend more time being pro-active rather than mopping up after pupils have accessed them?

[psydii]

We're on netsweeper though another provider. Could you share an example so we can check against our config?

[sigma]

Yes. For example,today I blocked:

talk.chat - Chat with strangers

ww2.1primewire.com - Movies which played

primewire.live - Movies which played

primewire.today - Movies which played

primewire.id - Movies which played

 

Yesterday:

fruzo.com - Chat with strangers

chathub.cam - Videochat with strangers

 

There were others over the last couple of weeks such as hdmovie2.plus.

 

I blocked primewire ages ago in Impero

 

I reported all these via the url alert feature, talk.chat at least has been recatgorised now, but I was able to access it via the pupil proxy earlier today.

[sigma]

These are not blocked by my pupil filter category blocks right now. I will put them on my local list and report them via the url alert before pupils return, but would have expected them to be caught automatically.

 

https://web.azarlive.com/match/

 

I've not tried signing in, but it accepts a Google or Apple account.

 

Since its launch in 2014, Azar has grown to be the number one app for video-chatting and meeting new people. In 2022 we welcome an all-new Azar, bringing more thrill, more surprises and even more connections.

Viewer, guest, or host - you decide

Azar Live is the new and improved streaming experience that helps you find your community. The choice is in your hands. Sit back and watch your favourites, join in the fun as a guest, or if you have something to share, take the lead and start your very own Live.

 

That rings a rather load safeguarding alarm to me. Ts&Cs state you should be 17.

 

Or

 

mili.live Registration or sign up with Google. States you should be 18

 

Welcome to Mili, video chat app that makes it easy to meet new people online. Have lots of fun in private video calls, live video chat, or comfy text chat.

 

From their Google Ad:

 

Thousands of real and verified women are online and waiting for you to meet. Video chat with women. Sign up for Free. Bonus coins after registration. Comfortable chat. Exclusive girls. Relaxing chat. Cheaper than real girl. Play in videochat. Guaranteed hot girl. Beautiful girls.

Edited August 31, 2022 by sigma
Adding to post

[psydii]

Wonderful. Wonderful. They are not blocked for us either.

 

Though I will say that I'm finding that the movies are in an entertainment category - so perhaps create a test rule blocking that category?

Edited September 1, 2022 by psydii

[sigma]

Wonderful. Wonderful. They are not blocked for us either.

 

Though I will say that I'm finding that the movies are in an entertainment category - so perhaps create a test rule blocking that category?

 

It would be a fix, but since Netsweeper has a "streaming" category, which is blocked here for pupils, and streaming movies are "streaming" and these are "unlawful" they should be blocked under copyright infringement as well (That's the PIPCU category I think?) in the same way that primewire.mx already is.

 

Why access is denied

The site you have chosen has been categorized as: Streaming Media, Copyright Infringement

Blocked URL

hxxps://primewire.mx/

 

That the same sites are also unfiltered for you suggests a product deficiency/fail and not a broadband provider issue.

Edited September 1, 2022 by sigma
Breaking the url link

[PaddyNewman]

From my end;

 

http://talk.chat General + Web Chat-200

http://ww2.1primewire.com General + Redirector Page-8144710

http://primewire.live General + Entertainment-200

http://primewire.today General + Entertainment-200

http://primewire.id General + Entertainment-200

 

You can reclassify within Netsweeper, but those look 'correct' ignoring http://ww2.1primewire.com and the legalities of live streaming movies etc.

Edited September 1, 2022 by PaddyNewman

[psydii]

@PaddyNewman 501602 and 501603

[sigma]

From my end;

 

http://talk.chat General + Web Chat-200

http://ww2.1primewire.com General + Redirector Page-8144710

http://primewire.live General + Entertainment-200

http://primewire.today General + Entertainment-200

http://primewire.id General + Entertainment-200

 

You can reclassify within Netsweeper, but those look 'correct' ignoring http://ww2.1primewire.com and the legalities of live streaming movies etc.

 

"Ignoring the legalities of live streaming movies?"

 

You called them "streaming"?

 

That does suggest they should be automatically categorised as "streaming".

 

As far as legaility is concerned, I don't think copyright breaking films and ("18" rated material) should be available in school (on school equipment or via school networks), to minors, and has the potential to bring the school into disrepute or worse.

[PaddyNewman]

@PaddyNewman 501602 and 501603

For ref, I am checking another instance which is 'bleeding edge' rather than the live one, I tend to not want to run queries against that as we do indeed change stuff when requested. Looks like they have been switched now? I can investigate if not!

 

 

@sigma Indeed, they are streaming, but so is YouTube and Vimeo etc etc, our current system doesn't have streaming as a category, it does have Streaming Media however... I still don't feel its the right category. I'd probably be throwing it under questionable/piracy or similar.

 

I do agree with you, it should be snipped before it gets to the school which leads me to...

I don't have access to another filtering platform, but it would be good to see a comparison on varied systems to see what is out of line. I should add all I do is check the sites for our clients and customers, not for/with Netsweeper at all, its just the only filtering product I have access to

[sigma]

Many thanks.

 

2 things.

 

Yes, I would chuck it under the copyright/piracy bus as its playing films some of which are current cinema releases, but as I detailed previously, primewire.mx is categorised as streaming media and copyright infringement, but primewire.live and primewire.id etc are basically clones and are not.

 

Secondly:

 

https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/teachers-and-school-staff/appropriate-filtering-and-monitoring/appropriate-filtering

 

Inappropriate Online Content

 

Recognising that no filter can guarantee to be 100% effective, schools should be satisfied that their filtering system manages the following content (and web search)

 

Piracy and copyright theft – includes illegal provision of copyrighted material

 

This list should not be considered an exhaustive list and providers will be able to demonstrate how their system manages this content and many other aspects.

 

I appreciate that we are dealing with a dynamic situation but we are provided with these tools that are supposed to be able to respond automatically and hopefully with some consistancy. I'm not sure it's managing for our school without what feels like significant intervention from me.

 

I do support another school that has a different ISP and filtering supplier, so I'll try these there and see what I get. I still prefer Netsweeper though.

[psydii]

@sigma does your netsweeper have "piracy and copyright theft" as a category?

[PaddyNewman]

https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/teachers-and-school-staff/appropriate-filtering-and-monitoring/appropriate-filtering

I appreciate that we are dealing with a dynamic situation but we are provided with these tools that are supposed to be able to respond automatically and hopefully with some consistancy. I'm not sure it's managing for our school without what feels like significant intervention from me.

I do support another school that has a different ISP and filtering supplier, so I'll try these there and see what I get. I still prefer Netsweeper though.

 

 

Agree 100% on the consistency of it, I know there is a lot of black-art wizardry that happens with website categorisations that I am definitely not knowledgeable in, but some things that look logical don't seem to add up or match.

 

I think the 1 thing I saw on a Smoothwall was the content scanning, so it actually read the page at each visit, but that comes at a processing cost..

[sigma]

Agree 100% on the consistency of it, I know there is a lot of black-art wizardry that happens with website categorisations that I am definitely not knowledgeable in, but some things that look logical don't seem to add up or match.

 

I think the 1 thing I saw on a Smoothwall was the content scanning, so it actually read the page at each visit, but that comes at a processing cost..

 

Having used both, I'm still more comfortable with Netsweeper at the moment. I think there is an element of overselling of both.

[PaddyNewman]

For me, I didn't like the Smoothwall UI, I didn't like how vague things were and I like to be very clear and specific when I decrypt and don't decrypt, that is where Netsweeper works for me. I use it aggressively though, its literally so flexible, but I can't voice an opinion on the selling/overselling, I personally don't deal with that stage of it, I just 'gotta make it work' which is fine, mostly enjoyable.

[sigma]

@sigma does your netsweeper have "piracy and copyright theft" as a category?

 

I have PIPCU and Copyright Infringement as categories within Security in Netsweeper

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Intellectual_Property_Crime_Unit <-- Who supply their list.

 

Curiously (I digress):

13 April 2022 Domain Seizure, Arrests Club Penguin Rewritten Website transferred to police following takedown action by Disney[33]

 

I blocked that again manually this week. hxxps://newcp.net

 

The PIPCU list is the responsibility of PIPCU and I guess the unit is under resourced.

https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/club-penguin-rewritten-presumably-shut-down-by-disney