Bach Seat

OpenDNS is the largest global DNS service that handles DNS for 1 percent of all Internet users worldwide. The firm resolves 30 billion DNS queries per day and services 15 million requesting IP addresses per day. OpenDNS has released the OpenDNS 2010 Report Web Content Filtering and Phishing, (PDF) which highlights their 2010 findings of social media content filtering with data from their global vantage point.

Web-based content can be filtered by subscribing to services like OpenDNS. These firms categorize the content on the web into broad categories like porn, hate, gambling or social media. This allows organizations to block all content that the service providers places in these categories. For more granular control content may also be filtered by blocking specific websites via blacklisting or by allowing specific websites via whitelisting.

• Blacklists are typically used when there is no wish to block an entire category in principle, but there is a focus on preventing traffic to specific websites based on a combination of their popularity and content.
• Whitelists are typically used when there is a desire to block entire categories, but access to selected websites is granted on an exception basis. These sites represent the most trusted sites in their category.

The World’s Most Blocked Websites - OpenDNS

Whitelisted			Blacklisted
Site	%		Site	%
YouTube.com	12.7		Facebook.com	14.2
Facebook.com	12.6		MySpace.com	9.9
Gmail.com	9.2		YouTube.com	8.1
Google.com	9.0		Doubleclick.net	6.4
Translate.Google.com	6.3		Twitter.com	2.3
LinkedIn.com	6.0		Ad.yieldmanager.com	1.9
MySpace.com	4.7		Redtube.com	1.4
Skype.com	4.6		Limewire.com	1.3
Deviantart.com	4.3		Pornhub.com	1.2
Yahoo.com	3.9		Playboy.com	1.2

The report says that businesses have specific goals in mind when blocking websites. They need to ensure compliance with HR policies, while also increasing worker productivity by preventing what they consider to be employee cyberslacking on social media. According to the OpenDNS report, the business list confirms that businesses are singling out popular social media sites considered to be of little value in a work setting, especially if they consume a lot of bandwidth. Filtering by Business Users:

1. Facebook.com — 23%
2. MySpace.com — 13%
3. YouTube.com — 11.9%
4. Ad.Doubleclick.net — 5.7%
5. Twitter.com — 4.2%
6. Hotmail.com — 2.1%
7. Orkut.com — 2.1%
8. Ad.Yieldmanager.com — 1.8%
9. Meebo.com — 1.6%
10. eBay.com — 1.6%

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The blacklisted sites suggest a concern with the use of bandwidth by streaming sites and with privacy concerns from advertising networks. We will be exploring the web app Meebo, which lets users get on web 2.0 apps like MSN, Yahoo, AOL/AIM, MySpace, Facebook, and Google Talk by simply using a browser and a popular workaround even when the desktops are locked down.

The fact that many of the same sites that appear on both the Whitelisted and Blacklisted lists is a sign of how confused the responses are to social networking, All the better reason to have a social media policy in place.

How does your organization handle content filtering?

Does your AUP address social networking?

Related articles

• If you can’t trust your ISP, who can you trust? (gigaom.com)

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.