“This FAQ is intended to answer frequently asked questions about
Eddy L.O. Jansson’s and my essay, titled The Breaking of Cyber
Patrol® 4, the resulting court cases, and related topics.”
“To summarize: we took apart, to see how it worked, a
software package designed to filter out undesirable content (such
as pornography) on the Web. We published a document explaining what
we found inside the software. The makers of the software sued
us. We settled out of court. Issues related to this chain of
events are still being fought in the courts and elsewhere….”
“Cyber Patrol is an Internet filtering, or “censorware”,
package. If it’s installed on a computer, it’s supposed to prevent
users of the computer from accessing undersirable material on the
Internet. The stereotypical use of Cyber Patrol would be for
parents to prevent children from viewing pornography on their home
computers, although in fact the product is aggressively marketed to
schools, libraries, and employers as well as to parents, and it
blocks a lot more than just pornography.”