About URL categories

Web Security uses the following categories for URL Filtering.
URL Categories
Category Name
Description
Abortion
Sites that provide information or arguments in favor of or against abortion, including the following:
  • Describing abortion procedures
  • Offering help in obtaining or avoiding abortion
Adult/Sexually Explicit
Sites that contain sexually explicit material for the purpose of arousing a sexual or prurient interest.
This category includes the following:
  • Sex chat rooms
  • Sex portals
  • Pornography thumbnails and ‘pic post’ sites
  • Online magazines
  • Picture galleries
  • Phone sex and live video
  • Adult services
  • Escort services
  • Strippers
  • Mistresses
  • Adult personal advertisements
Advertisement and Popups
Sites that provide Internet advertising services, including the following:
  • Pay-per-click advertising
  • Sponsored advertisements
  • Search engine marketing
  • Pop-up, pop-under, and banner advertisements
Alcohol
Alcohol-related sites, including the following:
  • Promoting or selling alcoholic beverages
  • Supplying recipes or paraphernalia to make alcoholic beverages
  • Glorifying, touting, or otherwise encouraging alcohol consumption or intoxication
Anonymizer
Sites that offer anonymous access to web sites, often used to bypass corporate and school proxy controls as well as parental control filtering solutions.
Art Nudes
Non-pornographic sites with tasteful and artistic display of the naked body. These sites are not sexually oriented.
Arts
Sites that include the following:
  • Art galleries
  • Artists
  • Museums
  • Visual arts
  • Performing arts
  • Theater
  • Painting
  • Drawing
  • Sculpture
  • Photography
Automated Web Application
Sites that allow a computer to automatically open an HTTP connection for various reasons, including checking for operating system updates or application updates.
Blogs
"Blog" sites that provide commentary on particular subjects including news, politics, and online diaries that contain the following content types:
  • Text
  • Photo
  • Audio
  • Video
Business
Sites sponsored by or devoted to individual businesses not covered by any other categories.
This category includes the following industries:
  • Aerospace
  • Defense
  • Agriculture
  • Biotech
  • Chemical
This category also includes the following:
  • Consumer goods and services
  • Industrial goods and services
  • Textiles
  • Transportation and logistics
Caches and Archives
This category filters cached content by extracting the user's original requested URL and comparing it with the URL categorization policies.
This category covers the following:
  • Major search engines (for example, Google and Yahoo)
  • Popular cached content sites
Chat
Sites that enable users to chat to other users online, using the following:
  • Text-based chat
  • Internet Relay Chat
  • Instant Messaging
  • Visual chat rooms
Computing and Internet
Sites that provide information about computers, the Internet, and telecommunications, including the following:
  • Software solutions and services
  • Computer and telecommunications hardware, devices, and gadgets
  • Internet and phone access services
  • Technology news
Content Delivery Networks
Websites that are used to deliver software updates and other high-bandwidth applications to corporate customers. This category also includes corporate image servers.
Cult
Sites that promote prominent organized modern religious groups that are identified as cults by three or more authoritative sources. This category includes the following:
  • The Church of Satan
  • Aum Shinrikyo
  • The Hare Krishna movement
  • The Family
  • The Unification Church
  • The Branch Davidians
  • Scientologists.
Dynamic
Sites that have dynamically changing content with the possibility of generating, displaying, or offering links to inappropriate material, including the following:
  • Search engines
  • Directory services
  • Hosting
  • Portals
  • Blogs
Education
Education-related sites including the following:
  • Educational facilities
  • Faculty or alumni groups
  • Public and private schools
  • Home-schooling
  • Universities
  • Colleges
Energy
Sites that represent companies involved with the production and distribution of energy, including the following:
  • Oil
  • Gas
  • Electricity
  • Alternative energy
  • Energy discovery, production, and distribution
Enterprise Webmail
Sites that provide online email services for select communities of users, including the following:
  • Software for providing webmail
  • ISP email and hosting services
  • Business, school, or institutional web email services
This category does not include webmail from larger providers (for example, Google, Yahoo, and Hotmail)
Entertainment
Sites related to the entertainment industry including the following:
  • Official web sites of movies
  • Film studios
  • TV stations
  • Fan sites about celebrities and fictional characters
  • Entertainment news and reviews
  • Show times
  • Online shopping for entertainment products such as DVDs, movie and concert tickets
Fashion and Beauty
Sites that emphasize, promote, or provide information on how to achieve physical attractiveness, allure, charm, beauty or style with respect to personal appearance. This category includes the following:
  • Clothes
  • Shoes
  • Hair
  • Make-up
  • Fashion accessories
File Storage and Backup
Sites that allow users to upload files for personal online storage on Internet servers for backup or exchange. This category includes sites for documents or other information, but not photo sharing sites.
Finance and Investment
Finance-related sites including the following:
  • Establishing, planning, researching, or managing personal finances and investments
  • Personal finance and investment portals
  • Buying, trading, or selling financial instruments, commodities, futures, mutual funds, stocks, and equities online or offline
  • Stock quotes, tickers, and fund rates
Food and Dining
Sites that provide information about the following:
  • Food
  • Recipes
  • Speciality food shops
  • Catering
  • Food delivery
  • Restaurant sites, guides, and reviews
Forums and Messageboards
Sites that enable users to participate in the discussion of numerous topics, often with online communities.
This category includes the following:
  • Monitored and unmonitored web forums
  • Message boards
  • Discussion forums
  • Bulletin boards
Freeware and Software Download
Sites that offer the download of software online, including the following:
  • Freeware
  • Shareware
  • Open source software
Gambling
Sites that allow users to place bets or participate in a betting pool including the following:
  • Lotteries
  • Obtaining assistance for placing bets
  • Participating in games of chance
  • Casinos
  • Betting
  • Handicappers
  • Sports gambling
  • Bookies
  • Charity gambling
  • Gambling directories
Games
Sites related to computer or video games, game downloads and online game sites, including the following:
  • Computer or video game manufacturers
  • Sites hosting multi-player games
  • Forums and messageboards related to video games
  • Online games
Gore
Sites that display graphic violence and the infliction of pain or injuries, including the following:
  • Gross violence towards humans or animals
  • Scenes of dismemberment, torture, massive blood and gore
  • Sadism and other types of excessive violence
Government
Sites that are sponsored by government branches or agencies, including the following:
  • Local and state government
  • Health and social services
  • Elections
  • Employment
  • Public safety and services
  • Embassies and consulates
Hacking
Sites that promote or provide the means to practice illegal or unauthorized acts of computer crime using technology or computer-programming skills.
This category includes the following:
  • Hacker magazines
  • Password, software, or other ‘cracks’ for download or trading
  • Sites offering software license keys
  • Tools and scripts for hacking
Health and Medicine
Sites that provide information or advice on the following:
  • Personal health or medical services
  • Health insurance, procedures, or devices
  • Information on diets, nutrition, therapies, and counseling services
Hobbies and Recreation
Sites that provide information on private pastimes, including the following:
  • Genealogy
  • Collectibles
  • Crafts
Hosting Sites
Sites that provide individuals or organizations with online systems for storing information, images, video, or any content accessible from the web.
This category includes the following:
  • Free or paid hosting
  • Virtual private server hosting
  • Online backup or file storage
Illegal Activity
Sites with illicit content or instructions for threatening or violating the security of property or privacy of people.
This category includes the following:
  • Child pornography and pedophilia sites*
  • Theft of money , goods and phone services
  • Lock-picking and burglary
  • Fraud, identity theft, and stealing credit card numbers
  • Telephone crime
  • Evading or circumventing the law
* All child-oriented erotic sites are registered with global advocacy groups, including the following:
  • Australian Broadcasting Authority (AU)
  • Bundesministerium für Inneres (AT)
  • Internet Watch Foundation (UK)
  • Interpol
  • Meldpunt (NL)
  • National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (US)
Illegal Drugs
Sites that promote, offer, sell, supply, encourage or advocate the use, cultivation, manufacture, or distribution of illegal drugs, pharmaceuticals, intoxicating plants or chemicals and their related paraphernalia.
Image Search
Websites that provide resources for photo and image searches, including the following:
  • Online photo albums
  • Digital photo exchanges
  • Image hosting sites
Intimate Apparel and Swimwear
Sites that display or offer the sale of the following:
  • Lingerie, negligee, and other intimate apparel
  • Bikinis and thongs that are marketed as beachwear rather than swimwear
  • Galleries and videos of bikini models
Intolerance and Hate
Sites that advocate hostility or aggression toward individuals or groups on the basis of race, religion, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, or other involuntary characteristics, including the following:
  • Racism, anti-Semitism
  • White power, white separatism
  • Homophobia,
  • Misogyny, anti-feminism
  • Holocaust denial sites.
Job Search
Sites that provide assistance or tools to help to find employment, including the following:
  • Job search engines
  • Resume banks
  • Recruiters
  • Staffing and temp agencies
  • Referral services
  • Sites promoting career fairs and expos
Kids Sites
Sites that provide a safe Internet experience for children under 12 years of age.
Category includes the following:
  • Activities and crafts
  • Coloring and artwork
  • Interactive learning
  • Popular books
  • Children's books publishers
  • Comic heroes
  • Fan sites made for children
  • Age-appropriate gaming portals
  • Age-appropriate singers and pop groups
  • Age-appropriate clubs, leagues, associations, zoos, and other organizations
Law Site
Sites that offer legal content and services, including the following:
  • State and regional laws
  • Criminal and civil law
  • Lawyers and attorneys
  • Legal services and law firms
  • Consultation in particular areas such as personal injury
Mature
Sites that contain sexually explicit information that is not of a medical or scientific nature.
This category includes the following:
  • Discussions or descriptions of sexual techniques or exercises
  • Sexual relationship counseling
  • Products to improve one's sex life
  • Explicit discussions of sex and sexuality
  • Sexual orientation issues
  • Lingerie sales
  • Nudism
  • Naturism
Military
Sites that are sponsored by military branches or agencies as well as official and personal sites related to military history, ideology, or specific branches of the military.
Mobile Phone Downloads
Sites that offer a range of add-ons for handheld devices, including the following:
  • Ringtones
  • Wallpapers
  • Games
  • Videos
Motor Vehicles
Sites that relate to motor vehicles, dealers, sales, and clubs, including the following:
  • Manufacturers of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other forms of transportation
  • Automotive dealers
  • Online shopping for cars, motorcycles, parts, and accessories
  • Motoring clubs, and associations
Music
Sites related to the music industry, including the following:
  • Radio web sites
  • Band and artist pages
  • Music fan sites
  • Music reviews
  • Music studios
  • Venues
  • Record labels
  • Promotional sites
  • Lyrics
  • Tablature
  • Sheet music
Neutral
Sites that have not yet been categorized, or may never be categorized, into one of the standard categories, but that have been examined and found to not contain offensive content.
News
Sites that primarily report, inform, or comment on current events or issues of the day, including the following:
  • Sports
  • Weather
  • Editorials
  • Human interest news
Nudity
Sites that offer depictions of nude or semi-nude human forms, and are not sexually oriented.
This category includes the following:
  • Nude lifestyle
  • Nudism
  • Naturism
Occult
Sites that promote or offer methods, means of instruction, or other resources to affect or influence real events through the use of spells, curses, magic powers or supernatural beings, including the following:
  • Magic spells and curses
  • "black" and "white" magic
  • Witchcraft rituals and activities
  • Herbs, tools, or paraphernalia for casting spells
  • Summoning demons
  • Other magical behavior or activities
Peer-To-Peer
Sites that make files available for other users to download over the Internet or smaller private networks. This category includes the following:
  • Centralized Peer-to-Peer Networks (for example, Limewire)
  • Serverless P2P networks (for example, Gnutella)
  • Decentralized client-based networks (for example, KaZaA, eMule, BitTorrent)
Personals and Dating
Sites that promote or provide opportunity for establishing or continuing romantic or sexual relationships, including the following:
  • Dating portals and directories
  • Personal advertisements
  • Cyber relationships, dating services, and international introductions
Pets
Sites and forums related to the care, maintenance, purchase, rescue, or breeding of any animal for companionship and enjoyment, including the following:
  • Pets and pet related sites
  • Pet care
  • Pet products
  • Animal rescue
  • Pet breeding
  • Dog breeds
Philanthropic and Professional Organizations
Sites that are owned by non-profit organizations, including organizations in the following areas:
  • Environment
  • Humanitarian aid
  • Animal protection
  • Education
  • The arts
  • Social issues
  • Charities
  • Health care
  • Politics
  • Religion
  • Research
  • Sports or other endeavors
Phishing and Fraud
Sites that impersonate legitimate business sites, for the purpose of eliciting financial or other private information for users, including the following:
  • Phone service theft advice
  • Other cheating sites
Placeholder
Sites that are typically owned by domain name registrars, domain brokers, or Internet advertising publishers, including the following:
  • Domains for sale
  • Parked domains
  • Expired domains
  • Domains under construction
  • Sites that are "coming soon"
Plagiarism
Sites that are made available for students to plagiarize content from, including the following:
  • School reports
  • Research and term papers on popular school topics
Politics
Sites that relate to the following:
  • Politicians
  • Election campaigns
  • Political organizations and publications
  • Official home pages of politicians and political parties
  • Personal sites about politics and grass-root movements
Portal
Sites that offer a broad array of resources and services, such as email, forums, search engines, and online shopping malls. Portals typically publish their own content or collate multiple sources of information for many areas such as the following:
  • News
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Finance
Real Estate
Sites that are commercial in nature and involved in the real estate business, including the following:
  • Individual brokers and agents
  • Real estate companies
  • Real estate search and property location services
  • Real estate tips and advice
Reference
Sites that contain personal, professional, or educational references, including the following:
  • Dictionaries
  • Encyclopedias
  • Thesauruses
  • Maps
  • Language translation
Religion
Sites that are about religion as any set of beliefs and practices that have the function of addressing the fundamental questions of human identity, ethics, death, and the existence of the Divine.
Science
Sites that provide research materials in the natural and life sciences.
Search
Sites that support the following:
  • Searching the Internet
  • Searching newsgroups
  • Indices and directories of Internet resources
Self-Harm
Sites that describe or discuss ways in which to self harm including the following:
  • Eating disorders
  • Self-harm and self-injury
Sex Education
Sites that provide educational information on the following:
  • Reproduction and sexual development
  • Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
  • Contraception
  • Safe sexual practices
  • Sexuality
  • Sexual orientation
Shopping
Sites that provide the means to purchase products or services online, including the following:
  • Internet malls
  • Online auctions
  • Department and retail stores' online catalogs
Social Networking
Sites that enable a group of people to communicate and interact on the Internet. This category includes the following:
  • Social networking, chat, and instant messaging
  • Forums and message boards
  • Hosting of home pages and other user-generated content
Spam URLs
Website URLs found in spam email, including the following:
  • Computing
  • Finance and stocks
  • Entertainment
  • Games
  • Health and medicine
  • Humor and novelties
  • Personal and dating
  • Products and services
  • Shopping
  • Travel
Sports
Sites that promote or provide information about spectator sports. including the following:
  • Professional and collegiate sports teams
  • Player and fan sites
  • Scores and schedules
  • News, statistics, and discussion
Spyware
Sites that provide or promote information gathering or tracking that is unknown to, or without the explicit consent of, the end user or organization, including the following:
  • Sites that carry malicious executables or viruses
  • Third-party monitoring
  • Malware with ‘phone home’ destinations
Streaming Media
Sites that host streaming media including the following:
  • Television
  • Movies
  • Video
  • Radio
Suicide
Sites that describe or promote suicide, including the following:
  • Newsgroups, chat rooms, and message boards
  • Descriptions, instructions, and depictions of methods, systems and computers
Tobacco
Tobacco-related sites, including the following:
  • Offering tobacco for sale
  • Promoting or encouraging the consumption of tobacco.
This category includes the following:
  • Retailers
  • Manufacturers
  • Products
  • Paraphernalia
  • Smoking lessons
Travel
Sites that promote or provide opportunity for travel planning, including the following:
  • Finding and making travel reservations
  • Travel portals and packages
  • Air travel and carriers
  • Tickets, reservations, charters and rentals for cars trains, buses, boats, and motorcycles
Unclassified
Sites that are not categorized in the Web Security database, possibly for the following reasons:
  • The site has only recently been created
  • The site has not been in use
Violence
Sites that advocate or provide instructions for causing physical harm to people or property through the use of weapons, explosives, pranks, or other types of violence, including the following:
  • Explosives and bombs
  • Descriptions or instructions for killing people
Voice Over IP
Sites that enable users to make telephone calls over the Internet or obtain information or software for this purpose, including the following:
  • VOIP
  • PC-to-PC, PC-to-phone, and phone-to-phone services connecting over TCP/IP networks
Weapons
Sites that describe or offer for sale weapons, including the following:
  • Guns, ammunition, firearm accessories
  • Knives
  • Martial arts
  • Descriptions, reviews, and specifications of weapons
  • Weapons retailers, and manufacturers
  • Weapon auctions, and trading centers
  • Instructions for manufacturing weapons
Webmail
Sites that provide free Web-based email services, accessible through any Internet browser (for example, Yahoo, Hotmail, and Google)
Wedding
Sites related to the traditions, customs, planning, and products involved in a marriage or commitment ceremony as well as in civil unions, including the following:
  • Wedding planning
  • Wedding products
  • Alternative commitment ceremonies