Content Filtering Policy

To help encourage Christian values and enforce the acceptable use policies, St. James Academy filters web content for all students. The following are the categories of Web content that are blocked at this time.

Adult Material

All websites that contain information about adult content, lingerie, swimsuits, nudity and sex are blocked.

Drugs

All websites that contain information about illegal drugs, prescribed medications, marijuana or promote the sale or use of chemicals not regulated by the FDA are blocked.

Entertainment

All websites sites that provide information about or promote motion pictures, non-news radio, TV, books, humor and magazines are blocked. Also includes sites that support downloading MP3 or other sound files.

Gambling

All websites that provide information about or promote gambling or support online gambling, and involve a risk of losing money are blocked.

Illegal or Questionable

All websites that teach or promote nonviolent crime, unethical behavior, dishonest behavior or the avoidance of prosecution are blocked.

Information Technology

All websites that contain information relating to computer security, hacking, proxy avoidance and URL translation sites are blocked.

Internet Communication

All web chat, general email, organizational email and text messaging and media messaging are blocked.

Militancy and Extremist

All websites that provide information about antigovernment beliefs or actions are blocked.

Alternative Journals

All websites that are the online equivalent to supermarket tabloids and fringe publications are blocked.

Racism and Hate

All websites that promote racial hate groups, or the superiority of any group are blocked.

Religion

All websites that provide information about non-traditional religions or the occult are blocked.

Shopping

All websites that support online purchases and services are blocked. This will included Internet auctions and real estate. These categories do not include sexual materials, investments, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, vehicles and weapons. These websites are covered in other categories.

Society and Lifestyles

All websites that have information regarding alcohol, tobacco, gay or lesbian interest, personals or dating, and all social networking are blocked.

Sports Hunting and Gun Clubs

All websites that have information regarding gun clubs, paintball facilities and war-games are blocked.

Tasteless

Sites that contain information considered offensive or shocking, but is not violent or frightening are blocked. This includes websites devoted in part or whole to scatology and similar topics to improper language, humor or behavior.

Vehicles

All websites that provide information about vehicles, including sites that allow online purchases are blocked.

Violence

All websites that contain information about bodily harm, self-inflicted harm, images of death, gore and injury are blocked.

Students are blocked from bandwidth categories. In a 1-to-1 laptop environment it is essential to limit the amount of bandwidth used to ensure all students and staff can access the Internet. The categories are as follows:

Internet Radio and TV
Internet Telephony
Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
Personal Network Storage and Backup
Streaming Media

Students are blocked from productivity categories. The following categories are not essential to the St. James Academy academic program. The categories are as follows:

Advertisements
Freeware and Software Download
Instant Messaging
Message Boards and Forums
Online Brokerage and Trading
Pay-to-Surf

Students are blocked from security related categories. Security filtering adds a higher level of protection by blocking sites which could potentially allow spyware, phishing, malicious code, etc. The categories are as follows:

Bot Networks
Keyloggers
Malicious Websites
Phishing and Other Frauds
Potentially Unwanted Software
Spyware

Teachers may request specific websites be unblocked for classroom and instructional purposes. The websites are approved by the administration after careful inspection.

For more information about Websense or a complete list of URL categories you may visit Lightspeed Systems.