NETPROTECT
A European Prototype of Internet Access Filtering
Background
The objective of the NetProtect proposal is to build a European prototype of an Internet access filtering tool for parents and teachers which addresses the problems of current existing filtering solutions: inappropriate blocking/filtering techniques which sometimes blocks legitimate Web sites and occasionally allow questionable Web sites, inability to filter non-English Web sites and therefore most Web European sites, lack of transparency disabling the user the right to know why some sites can be accessed and not others.
It is intended that the NetProtect prototype will result from the assembly of various COTS tools that will be cautiously selected after a careful review of European parents and teachers requirements. These tools will include language products, filtering products, text analysers, etc. The resulting filtering tool will be able to filter out English, French, German or Spanish Web sites which contain pornography and/or violent materials.
To achieve this objective, the NetProtect consortium will first assess the current state of the art in filtering products & techniques with respect to the European parents/teachers which will be carefully examined. Then, a prototype will be designed by integrating together existing COTS tools (e.g. filtering products, language products, text analysers, etc.). This prototype will be demonstrated to and assessed by representative end-users that will compare it with traditional filtering products. Finally, the consortium will specify the next steps for the way ahead in order to go from the NetProtect prototype to a full-scale product.
Benefits
A NetProtect Web site providing European citizens with useful information on filtering solutions.
A review of existing filtering tools.
An analysis of European users requirements in terms of filtering solutions.
A prototype of a multi-lingual Internet filtering software able to filter out English, French, German or Spanish Web sites which contain pornography and/or violent materials.
A full evaluation of the prototype.
Recommendations for a full scale industrial product.
Contact
Stéphan BRUNESSAUX
MATRA Systèmes & Information
B.P. 613
Parc d’Affaires des Portes
F-27106
VAL-DE-REUIL
Tel: +33 2 32634055
Fax: +33 2 32634200
Email: sbrunessaux@matra-ms2i.fr
Other Participants
Red Educativa, Spain
Matra Grolier Network, France
Hypertech, Greece
Sail Labs, Germany
http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/iap/projects/netprotect.html
