Internet Content Filter
About the Children's Internet Protection Act
HCPSS Policy and Procedures
In order to comply with CIPA and HCPSS Board of Education Policy 8080, Responsible Use of Technology Links to an external site., HCPSS attempts to filter abusive, libelous, obscene, offensive, profane, threatening, sexually explicit, pornographic, illegal, or other inappropriate material that is harmful to minors.
The HCPSS internet content filter works by categorization sites, and blocking categories considered inappropriate for student viewing, such as, alcohol and gambling. However, due to the vast number of sites on the Internet, sites may occasionally be categorized incorrectly. When attempting to view sites that are blocked, computer users will receive a message similar to the one below. The message will give the URL and it's category.
Note: Staff members and families may look up a site's category Links to an external site. on Lightspeed's website. If you believe the stie should be restricted or made available for student access, please contact your child's school. School staff can work with Division of Academics and Technology staff to have the site evaluated.
Blocked Website Categories
Category |
Type |
Description |
|---|---|---|
| Forums, Chat, Email | Forums | Unmoderated personal expression. (Moderated forums that are limited to a specific topic are categorized according to the topic. I.e. An automobile forum would be in the Automobile category.) |
| Forums, Chat, Email | Forums - Dating | Dating websites like FriendFinder, eHarmony and Match.com |
| Forums, Chat, Email | Forums - Newsgroups | Newsgroups, usenet and subscription newsletters |
| Forums, Chat, Email | Forums - p2p | Peer-to-peer and filesharing sites |
| Forums, Chat, Email | Forums - Personals | Personal web pages and personal ads |
| Forums, Chat, Email | Forums - Social Networking | Social networking websites, as well as related websites that provide avatars, hosting resources for social networks, etc. |
| Artificial Intelligence | Artificial Intelligence | General AI-powered sites and services that provide user-accessible tooling and information. Hosts that do not fit into the more specific AI categories will be grouped here. |
| Artificial Intelligence | AI - Generative | Tools to create content using AI including but not limited to: Generating text, images and art, video, audio. |
| Mature | Access Denied | Websites that present a login page |
| Mature | Alcohol | Production, promotion and sale of alcoholic beverages |
| Mature | Drugs | Promotion of illicit and illegal drug use |
| Mature | Education - Sex | High school level sex education websites |
| Mature | Gambling | Gambling, casinos, betting, lottery and sweepstakes |
| Mature | Mature | Mature products, services, situations and humor. Sale of lingerie, sex toys, mature videos. Nudity that is not pornographic nor art. Sites that have non-existent or ineffective user controls to prevent children from accessing mature materials. |
| Mature | Mature - Art | Art that contains nudity or mature activity and situations |
| Mature | Mature - Body Art | Body art, tattoos, body piercings, body modification, scarification, body painting |
| Mature | Mature - Games | Sex games, games containing mature language, situations or humor whether online or board games |
| Mature | Mature - Language | Strong language, profanity |
| Mature | Porn | Pornography related sites |
| Mature | Suspicious | Recently discovered sites with suspicious words or phrases |
| Security | Security | Security risks and sites providing information that poses security risks |
| Security | Security - Domain Sharing | Hosts with shared space under their domain, allowing unmanaged content served typically as subdomains |
| Security | Security - Malware | Viruses, spyware, phishing |
| Security | Security - Nettools | Tools that may be used to bypass network security or content filtering. (e.g. VPN products, remote access products, tutorials on bypassing security measures, etc. ) |
| Security | Security - Proxy | Anonymous proxies, tutorials on using anonymous proxies, and tools that allow content filtering to be bypassed, such as language translation sites like translate.google.com and bing.com/translate |
| Security | Security - Translators | Language translation sites that do not honor filter restrictions |
| Security | Security - Warez | Sites promoting illegal access and sharing of software and other copyrighted material |
| Violence | Violence | Promotion of violence and anarchy |
| Violence | Weapons | Guns, swords, knives and other weapons |
| Advertising | Parked | Pay-per-click hosting websites that park expired domains |
| Business and work | Weapons | Guns, swords, knives and other weapons |
| Education (Middle and High School Only) | Education - Games | Educational games for kids |
| Education | Education - Sex | High school level sex education websites |
| Education | Plagiarism | Sale of term papers, research papers, and other ways to help students cheat |
| Recreation (Middle and High School Only) | Games | Games, anime, cartoons, wallpapers and screen savers |
| Sports | Sports - Esports | Electronic Sports websites. Teams and Players. Gaming. |
| Education | Education Games (Middle and High Only) |
Educational games for kids |
| Recreation | Games (Middle and High Only) |
Games, anime, cartoons, wallpapers and screen savers |
Howard County Public School System Information Technology Department