DS CEN/TS 16080:2013

Internet Content and communications filtering software and services

Scope

The objective of this Technical Specification is to define a set of criteria on how Web filters shall perform and that shall give Internet users more confidence in choosing a suitable product or service in order to help protecting children online.
NOTE A product is a software system that is installed by its administrator or its provider. A service is provided without specific installation by the administrator, but by direct provision of the customer by the provider. An example of a product is a software system installed on a personal computer, and an example of a service is an Internet connection filter provided by an Internet Service Provider and added on the Internet access service.
By using a Web filter that complies with the requirements set out in this Technical Specification, a user can be confident that the product or service:
a) has been specifically designed to meet the needs of parents and carers (administrators of the filter) to protect children from potentially harmful URLs on the Internet;
b) has been specifically targeted to minors, and is also suited for individuals looking to protect themselves from potentially harmful URLs on the Internet;
c) delivers a minimum set of features and efficacy that are sufficient to provide the required level of protection;
d) comes with clear and comprehensive documentation, installation and implementation instructions and available support;
e) is reasonably secure, i.e. adopts proven measures to prevent bypassing or removal of the filter itself.
This Technical Specification does not cover the following technologies:
f) any kind of email filtering, including: antispam filtering, antivirus analysis of emails and attachments, anthiphishing filtering;
g) other Web filtering for the purpose of enterprise or adult Web usage, including: antivirus analysis of Web content, antiphishing filtering;
h) the analysis and/or filtering of any other application traffic delivered over HTTP/HTTPS/FTP including for instance: instant messaging, peer to peer file (P2P) sharing, VoIP;
i) the analysis and/or filtering of any other application traffic delivered over non HTTP/HTTPS/FTP protocols including for instance: newsgroups, instant messaging, peer to peer file (P2P) sharing, VoIP and social networking applications.