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1.
E-mail Questions
Does
S4F filter e-mail?
Yes S4F filters outgoing requests to the Internet, not
incoming e-mails.
What
happens if I get a pornographic e-mail?
Some porn sites will "SPAM" the Internet periodically
and entice people to click on a link to their website.
With S4F, you may still receive these e-mails.
However, should you click on the link, S4F would step
in at that point and stop you from visiting any website
on our list of blocked sites. If you do get to
a pornographic site from an e-mail, you should immediately
report this new site to www.s4f.com/sitereview.
2.
Filtering Questions
What
criteria are used when blocking a site?
The GoZOE.COM filter only blocks those sites with pornographic
or recreational nudity, sexually explicit language,
or criminal activity. Criminal activity includes, but
is not necessarily limited to, hate speech, wagering,
drug promotion, illegal weapons construction/modification/sales,
and crime instructions.
Is
every bad site blocked?
No true filter stops 100% of the targeted sites. Independent
testing estimates 90% to 99% of the targeted sites are
blocked at any given time. This percentage fluctuates
as new sites go up every day. The actual percentage
is very difficult to obtain. Independent tests
have placed us anywhere from 90% to 99%.
What
do I do if someone finds a site that should be blocked,
but is not?
Should you or one of your users encounter a bad site
while online with GoZOE.COM, submit it to www.S4F.com/sitereview
and it will be manually removed.
I
submitted a site to be blocked, but it is still not
blocked. Why not?
Your block request could be denied for one of several
reasons.
- First,
it may not fit the categories you have set for blocking.
Specifically, if it does not contain nudity or criminal
activity, it will not be blocked by the default filtering
categories of "Pornographic and Recreational
Nudity" and "Criminal Activity".
- Second,
you may have submitted a site without the specific
page or directory. For example, if the offensive
site is on GeoCities or AOL's personal sites, we must
have the whole URL, not just "geocities.com"
or "aol.com". Please copy the entire
URL and resubmit the site.
- Third,
you may have received an offensive e-mail and reported
your e-mail provider for blocking. We do not
block e-mail providers, such as Hotmail or Yahoo!,
even though people may use these sites to send you
offensive e-mail. Were you to click on the link
in the offensive e-mail, our filter would then check
to see if that site is a blocked site. To report
problematic e-mail, contact your e-mail provider.
- Fourth,
it may have been added to the database, but you are
still seeing it in your cache. Clear your cache.
In Internet Explorer, go to "Tools", then
"Internet Options". Under the section
labeled "Temporary Internet Files" click
"Delete Files". (Click
here for screen shot.)
In Netscape, go to "Edit" and select "Preferences".
Click on "Advanced", then "Cache".
Click on both boxes marked "Clear Memory Cache"
and "Clear Disk Cache". (Click
here for screen shot.)
Actual paths and labels may vary from version to version.
You may always use the "Help" function in
your browser for further assistance.
- Fifth,
your request may have been missed somehow. To
send it via e-mail, send it to block@s4f.com.
The
blocked site window popped up, but when I closed that
window, the offensive website continued to load. Why
is this?
The blocked site window was not blocking the URL you
were accessing. It was blocking other elements on the
page, such as banner ads, images, or other information
received from a third-party URL. In this case, report
the offensive URL that was accessible at www.S4F.com/sitereview.
What
do I do if I believe a site is wrongly blocked?
If a site is blocked that you believe should be accessible,
submit it at www.S4F.com/sitereview
and we will manually review it. If you are an
administrator of a network of filtered computers, you
may also override the filtering with your password to
immediately view the site.
S4F
tells me a site is not blocked, yet I still cannot access
it. What's going on?
If you cannot access a site, but did not get the pop-up
window stating, "You Have Attempted To Access A
Restricted Site", then the problem is NOT related
to the filter, unless you have disabled the Blocked
Page Dialog (right click the S4F icon in the system
tray, select "S4F Options", then "Display").
Such
things as a "404: File Not Found" and "500:
Internal Server Error" are related to the website
you are attempting to access, not the filtering.
If you are getting the pop-up window, but the Site Review
tool at www.s4f.com/unblock
keeps telling you the site is not blocked, send the
URL to sitereview@s4f.com for
manual review.
3.
Technical Questions
How
does the filtering work?
In short, the GoZOE.COM filter installs on your computer,
which then directs all website requests to the S4F filtering
servers to see if the website is on your list of blocked
sites. If the site is on your list, your website
request is denied. If the site is not on your
list, your request is sent out to the Internet for normal
processing.
Will
the filtering slow down my Internet access?
Not perceptibly. The filtering process takes less than
half a second, so you should not notice any difference
in your Internet speed. If you do see a significant
lag, you should check the technical FAQ for troubleshooting
tips.
4.
Miscellaneous Questions
Will
users be able to play multi-player games or use ICQ?
Yes. Internet connections that do not use a browser,
such as multi-player games or ICQ, are not routed through
our servers. This means you may have safe web access
and still enjoy other online activities.
Will
the filtering disturb website development?
Typically, no. GoZOE.COM does filter FTP protocol,
but does not conflict with FrontPage, Dream Weaver or
other uploading/publishing tools. As long as your
website is not blocked, you should not have any problems.
The only known conflict comes when a host resolves the
same IP to numerous URLs and one of the URLs is a blocked
site. For example, some free hosting services
will resolve your website to the same IP as another
porn site. When this happens, you have two courses
of action. First, you can switch hosts.
Second, you can insist that your host not use your website
on the same IP as a porn site.
Can
I still use Instant Chat software?
Yes. We also recognize that when used responsibly, Instant
Messaging programs such as ICQ and AOL's Instant Messenger
are very useful. In addition, by utilizing the built
in functions that come with these programs along with
some common sense, they can be very safe. |
