People are prone to misuse a facility in absence of supervision and control; this attitude can increase if the person knows how to avoid detection and prosecution. Internet provides a user with a plethora of information and knowledge but also hosts illegal, dangerous and useless content and services. Without any control, a worker can watch videos and listen to music instead of doing their work; a user can use organizational or institutional bandwidth to download/upload content of personal interest.
Therefore, content filtering is needed at workplace, educational institutes and even at homes to protect both the user and the organization from legal liabilities, to improve productive use of provided facilities and reduce the improper use of resources.
Content filtering, also known as information filtering refers to provision of selective access to content. A user is allowed to access content that are considered useful or necessary by the authorities, all other contents which are beyond the jurisdiction of the user are not permitted.
Content filtering provides the following benefits,
- Efficient use of the facilities and resources by preventing the user from unwanted activities such as social networking, online gaming, online music and video browsing etc;
- Save cost by stopping improper use of downloads and file transfer facilities;
- Prevent usage of organizational resources by users for personal use;
- Eradication of misuse and potentially dangerous activities such as access to harmful or risky content like websites with malicious codes and programs;
- Protect the organization from legal liabilities.
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