About DNSWatch Content Filter Categories

DNSWatch uses content categories to group domains or websites. A domain is added to a category when the content of the website meets the criteria for the content category.

If you think a website is not included or is miscategorized, you can send feedback. Submit the website URL and a suggested category, separated by a space, comm, or semicolon. Type each suggestion on a separate line. For example:

http://www.seattletimes.com, News and Media
http://www.soccer.com, Sports

Content Filter Categories

Abortion

Sites with neutral or balanced presentation of the issue.

• Pro-Choice: Sites that provide information about or are sponsored by organizations that support legal abortion or that offer support or encouragement to those seeking the procedure.
• Pro-Life: Sites that provide information about or are sponsored by organizations that oppose legal abortion or that seek increased restriction of abortion.

Adult Material

Parent category that contains adult-oriented categories; might also contain age-restricted content.

• Adult Content: Sites that display full or partial nudity in a sexual context, but not sexual activity; erotica; sexual paraphernalia; sex-oriented businesses including clubs, nightclubs, escort services; and sites supporting the online purchase of such goods and services.
• Lingerie and Swimsuit: Sites that offer images of models in suggestive but not lewd costume, with semi nudity permitted. Includes classic 'cheesecake,' calendar and pinup art and photography. Includes sites offering lingerie or swimwear for sale.
• Nudity: Sites that offer depictions of nude or seminude human forms, singly or in groups, not overtly sexual in intent or effect.
• Sex: Sites that depict or graphically describe sexual acts or activity, including exhibitionism; sites offering direct links to such sites.
• Sex Education: Sites that offer information about sex and sexuality, with no pornographic intent.

Advocacy Groups

Sites that promote change or reform in public policy, public opinion, social practice, economic activities and relationships.

Bandwidth

Sites that use a large amount of bandwidth.

• Educational Video: Sites that host videos with academic or instructional content.
• Entertainment Video: Sites that host videos with entertainment-oriented content.
• Internet Radio and TV: Sites that provide online radio or television programming.
• Internet Telephony: Sites that enable users to make phone calls through the Internet or to obtain information or software for that purpose.
• Peer-to-Peer File Sharing: Sites that provide client software to enable peer-to-peer file sharing and transfer.
• Personal Network Storage and Backup: Sites that store personal files on web servers for backup or exchange.
• Streaming Media: Sites that enable streaming of media content.
• Surveillance: Sites that enable real-time monitoring of various operations through network cameras, webcams and other video recording devices.
• Viral Video: Sites that host videos with high or rapidly rising popularity.

Business and Economy

Sites sponsored by or devoted to business firms, business associations, industry groups or general business.

• Financial Data and Services: Sites that offer investment advice and news and quotations on stocks, bonds and other investment vehicles, but not online trading. Includes banks, credit unions, credit cards and insurance.
• Hosted Business Applications: Sites that provide access to business-oriented web applications and allow storage of sensitive data, excluding those for web collaboration.

Collaboration – Office

Office Category used to manage the Office domain, and includes these functions:

• Office - Apps: Office function that enables a user to collaborate through various applications.
• Office - Documents: Office function that enables a user to collaborate through document applications.
• Office - Drive: Office function that enables a user to collaborate through virtual storage.
• Office - Mail: Office function that enables a user to collaborate through email and messaging.

Drugs

The parent category that contains the following categories:

• Abused Drugs: Sites that promote or provide information about the use of prohibited drugs, except marijuana, or the abuse or unsanctioned use of controlled or regulated drugs; also, paraphernalia associated with such use or abuse.
• Marijuana: Sites that provide information about or promote the cultivation, preparation or use of marijuana.
• Nutrition: Sites that provide information about nutrition.
• Prescribed Medications: Sites that provide information about approved drugs and their medical use.

Education

The parent category that contains the following categories:

• Cultural Institutions: Sites sponsored by museums, galleries, theaters (but not movie theaters), libraries and similar institutions; also, sites whose purpose is the display of artworks.
• Educational Institutions: Sites sponsored by schools and other educational facilities, by non-academic research institutions, or that relate to educational events and activities.
• Educational Materials: Sites that provide information about or that sell or provide curriculum materials or direct instruction; also, learned journals and similar publications.
• Reference Materials: Sites that offer reference-shelf content such as atlases, dictionaries, encyclopedias, formularies, white and yellow pages, and public statistical data.

Entertainment

Sites that provide information about or promote motion pictures, non-news radio and television, books, humor and magazines.

• Media File Download: Sites that enable download of media content.

Extended Protection

The parent category that contains the following categories:

• Dynamic DNS: Sites that mask their identity using Dynamic DNS services, often associated with advanced persistent threats (APTs).
• Elevated Exposure: Sites that camouflage their true nature or that include elements suggesting latent malicious intent.
• Emerging Exploits: Sites found to be hosting known and potential exploit code.
• Newly Registered Websites: Scans for newly registered websites on an ongoing basis. The default criteria for classification under the associated category Newly Registered Websites involves unknown (Uncategorized) websites registered within the last 41 days. Exception is given to websites known to pose a live security risk; such websites are assigned security classification regardless of the registration attribute. A website classified under the category Newly Registered Websites might acquire a granular content-based category at any time.
• Suspicious Content: Sites found to contain suspicious content.

Gambling

Sites that provide information about or promote gambling or support online gambling, involving a risk of losing money.

Games

Sites that enable a user to play or download a game.

Government

Sites sponsored by branches, bureaus or agencies of any level of government, except for the armed forces.

• Military: Sites sponsored by branches or agencies of the armed services.
• Political Organizations: Sites sponsored by or providing information about political parties and interest groups focused on elections or legislation.

Health

Sites that provide information or advice on personal health or medical services, procedures, or devices, but not drugs. Includes self-help groups.

Illegal or Questionable

Sites that provide instruction in or promote nonviolent crime or unethical or dishonest behavior or the avoidance of prosecution.

Information Technology

Sites sponsored by or providing information about computers, software, the Internet and related business firms, including sites supporting the sale of hardware, software, peripherals and services.

• Computer Security: Sites that provide information about or free downloadable tools for computer security.
• Hacking: Sites that provide information about or promote illegal or questionable access to or use of computer or communication equipment, software or databases.
• Proxy Avoidance: Sites that provide information about how to bypass proxy server features or to gain access to URLs in any way that bypasses the proxy server.
• Search Engines and Portals: Sites that support searching the web, news groups, or indexes, or directories thereof.
• Unauthorized Mobile Marketplaces: Protects against websites that might distribute applications unauthorized by the mobile OS manufacturer, the handheld device manufacturer or the network provider. (Traffic visiting websites in this category might indicate jail-broken or rooted phones.)
• Web Analytics: Sites that are associated with web traffic analysis.
• Web and Email Marketing: Sites that are associated with online marketing.
• Web and Email Spam: Sites whose links are sent in unsolicited commercial email, either as part of campaigns to promote products or services or to entice readers to click through to surveys or similar sites. Also includes sites that display comment spam.
• Web Collaboration: Sites that provide virtual workspace for purposes of collaboration and conferencing, which might include sites that enable authorized access to a computer or network from a remote location.
• Web Hosting: Sites of organizations that provide hosting services, or top-level domain pages of web communities.
• Website Translation: Sites that enable translation of website text.

Internet Communication

The parent category that contains the following categories:

• General Email: Sites that provide email services open to general use.
• Organizational Email: Log in sites for corporate or institutional email systems.
• Text and Media Messaging: Sites that enable the sending of messages and other content through SMS, EMS, MMS or similar protocols.
• Web Chat: Sites that host web chat services or that support or provide information about chat through HTTP or IRC.

Intolerance

Sites that condone intolerance towards any individual or group.

Job Search

Sites that offer information about or support the seeking of employment or employees.

Militancy and Extremist

Sites that offer information about or promote or are sponsored by groups advocating anti-government beliefs or action.

Miscellaneous

The parent category that contains the following categories:

• Content Delivery Networks: Commercial hosts that deliver content to subscribing websites.
• Dynamic Content: URLs that are generated dynamically by a web server.
• File Download Servers: Web servers whose primary function is to deliver files for download.
• Network Errors: URLs with hosts that do not resolve to IP addresses.
• Private IP Addresses: IP addresses defined in RFC 1918, 'Address Allocation for Private Intranets.'
• Uncategorized: Sites that are not assigned to a specific category.
• Web Images: Sites that deliver image content.
• Web Infrastructure: Sites that are associated with website architecture.

News and Media

Sites that offer current news and opinion, including those sponsored by newspapers, general-circulation magazines or other media.

• Alternative Journals: Online equivalents to supermarket tabloids and other fringe publications.

Parked Domain

Sites that are expired, offered for sale, or known to display targeted links and advertisements.

Productivity

The parent category that contains the following categories:

• Advertisements: Sites that provide advertising graphics or other ad content files.
• Application and Software Download: Sites that enable download of software, applications.
• Instant Messaging: Sites that enable instant messaging.
• Message Boards and Forums: Sites that host message boards, bulletin boards and other unaffiliated discussion forums.
• Online Brokerage and Trading: Sites that support active trading of securities and investment management.
• Pay-to-Surf: Sites that reward users for online activity such as viewing websites, advertisements or email.

Religion

The parent category that contains the categories:

• Non-Traditional Religion: Sites that provide information about non-traditional religious beliefs and practices.
• Traditional Religions: Sites that provide information about or promote Bahai, Buddhism, Christian Science, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Shinto and Sikhism, as well as atheism.

Security

Security-related website categories that allow you to develop policies to deny access to sites associated with spyware, phishing, keylogging and malicious mobile code.

• Advanced Malware Command and Control: Protects against outbound transmissions from a compromised machine to a malicious command-and-control center.
• Bot Networks: Sites that host the command-and-control centers for networks of bots that have been installed onto users' computers. (Excludes web crawlers.)
• Compromised Websites: Sites that are vulnerable and known to host an injected malicious code or unwanted content.
• Keyloggers: Sites that download programs that record all keystrokes, and which might send those keystrokes (potentially including passwords or confidential information) to an external party.
• Malicious Embedded Link: Sites infected with a malicious link.
• Malicious Embedded Iframe: Sites infected with a malicious iframe.
• Malicious Websites: Sites containing code that might intentionally modify users' systems without their consent and cause harm.
• Mobile Malware: Protects against malicious websites and applications designed to run on mobile devices.
• Phishing and Other Frauds: Sites that counterfeit legitimate sites to elicit financial or other private information from users.
• Potentially Unwanted Software: Sites using technologies that alter the operation of a user's hardware, software or network in ways that diminish control over the user experience, privacy or the collection and distribution of personal information.
• Spyware: Sites that download software that generate HTTP traffic (other than simple user identification and validation) without a user's knowledge.
• Suspicious Embedded Link: Sites suspected of being infected with a malicious link.

Shopping

Sites that support the online purchase of consumer goods and services except: sexual materials, lingerie, swimwear, investments, medications, educational materials, computer software or hardware, alcohol, tobacco, travel, vehicles and parts, weapons.

• Internet Auctions: Sites that support the offering and purchasing of goods between individuals.
• Real Estate: Sites that provide information about renting, buying, selling or financing residential real estate.

Social Organizations

The parent category that contains the following categories:

• Professional and Worker Organizations: Sites sponsored by or that support or offer information about organizations devoted to professional advancement or workers' interests.
• Service and Philanthropic Organizations: Sites sponsored by or that support or offer information about organizations devoted to doing good as their primary activity.
• Social and Affiliation Organizations: Sites sponsored by or that support or offer information about organizations devoted chiefly to socializing or common interests other than philanthropy or professional advancement.

Social Web - Facebook

Category used to manage the Facebook domain.

Social Web - LinkedIn

Category used to manage the LinkedIn domain.

Social Web - Twitter

Category used to manage the Twitter domain.

Social Web - YouTube

Category used to manage the YouTube domain.

Society and Lifestyles

Sites that provide information about matters of daily life, excluding entertainment, health, hobbies, jobs, sex and sports.

• Alcohol and Tobacco: Sites that provide information about, promote, or support the sale of alcoholic beverages or tobacco products or associated paraphernalia.
• Blogs and Personal Sites: Sites that host blogs and personal sites.
• Hobbies: Sites that provide information about or promote private and largely sedentary pastimes, but not electronic, video or online games.
• Personals and Dating: Sites that assist users in establishing interpersonal relationships, excluding those intended to arrange for sexual encounters.
• Restaurants and Dining: Sites that list, review, advertise or promote food, dining, or catering services.
• Social Networking: Sites of web communities that provide users with means for expression and interaction.

Special Events

Sites devoted to a current event that requires separate categorization.

Sports

Sites that provide information about or promote sports, active games, and recreation.

• Sport Hunting and Gun Clubs: Sites that provide information about or directories of gun clubs and similar groups, including war-game and paintball facilities.

Tasteless

Sites with content that is gratuitously offensive or shocking, but not violent or frightening. Includes sites devoted in part or whole to scatology and similar topics or to improper language, humor or behavior.

Travel

Sites that provide information about or promote travel-related services and destinations.

Vehicles

Sites that provide information about or promote vehicles, including those that support online purchase of vehicles or parts.

Violence

Sites that feature or promote violence or bodily harm, including self-inflicted harm; or that gratuitously display images of death, gore or injury; or that feature images or descriptions that are grotesque or frightening and of no redeeming value.

Weapons

Sites that provide information about, promote, or support the sale of weapons and related items.