City of Tacoma Looks to Web Filtering

The Tacoma City Council will vote tomorrow night to approve a contract for the Websense Security Suite. Websense provides filtering solutions to allow or block certain websites. We understand why organizations choose to use website filtering systems … legal liability … worker productivity.

That said, using Websense or similar filtering software has a few challenges which have been documented online. Sometimes very safe and useful websites are blocked due to apparently arbitrary reasoning. (Our favorite reason to block a site? Because it has criticized web filtering software.)

The last time I checked, Exit133 was blocked by Websense for being a “club.”

Tell us how it works once it’s installed. We’re very curious. Although we will understand if you have wait until you get home to comment.

Link to the City Council Agenda for Oct. 23rd (.pdf file)

Via the New Takhoman