k9

No, not a dog – a web filter! K9 is an amazing tool for filtering internet content. If you don’t like that idea just stop reading NOW.

Bluecoat is a company that sells industrial strength security and filtering tools. One of their assets is a huge categorized list of Internet sites and their general category. Is the site business, porn, movies? it’s all in the database. K9 is a free tool Bluecoat created for home users to filter internet requests. Most filters just look at the words on the website and make a guess if the content is OK. They use PICS ratings and other things but the bottom line is content filtering only gets you so far. K9 brings an immense categorization of the Internet to the table so most sites can be screened out (or in) with ease. K9 drops down to do content filtering if the site isn’t in it’s database. One thing I like about K9 is you can set it up to only allow sites in a certain set of categories and if it doesn’t know about the website it blocks it. K9 runs in the background – you forget it is there. It doesn’t hog your CPU, slow your internet browsing, or give you a lot of false warnings.

K9 has one HUGE problem. It’s only available for Windows.
Mac has one HUGE problem. Apple’s parental controls filtering is pathetic. The other filters are content only and are EXPENSIVE.

Bluecoat has announced there is a Mac version coming in early ’08! Problem solved. To the folks at BlueCoat – you’ve done a great service to parents and more, keep up the good work. Your product helps protect people from some of the worst society has to offer.