Exetel Conducts Live Trial Using NetClean WhiteBox Technology in Australia

Exetel Trials NetClean ‘blacklist’ Filtering Technology from Watchdog International.  

Watchdog International Ltd Press Release
Tuesday 5th May 2009 – Auckland, New Zealand

Independently of the Australian Government ISP Content Filtering Trial, Exetel has undertaken testing by linking up to the externally hosted blacklist filtering service offered by Watchdog International Ltd.

Exetel, a mid sized ISP, has successfully tested the filtering technology outside of the Australian Government Content Filtering Pilot so that they can be prepared in the event that the government mandates blacklist filtering.

Trialing the technology has allowed Exetel engineers and system administrators to understand the technology, see how easy it is to implement, see it in action, and allow customers to determine first hand the impact of the NetClean WhiteBox hosted filtering solution.

The list used is that provided by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) in the UK. They are a well-established and respected agency that maintains a blacklist of illegal child sexual abuse material that is used in the UK and across Europe, and now locally by Watchdog Corporation.

Exetel tested the technology in passive mode and in blocking mode.   Thousands of requests to the blocked sites were being made every day. During the 6-day trial a total of 16,413 accesses or attempts to access child sexual abuse web sites on the IWF list were made. 

Surprised by the high number of requests, Watchdog International staff alerted NetClean to check the filter and ensure there were no technical reasons for the high number of accesses.  The number was however correct.

As expected the blind trial found that some of Exetel’s customers blamed the filter for slow downs that they noticed on their connections. . On his forum, Steve Waddington of Exetel concluded that these could not be attributed to the filter.

 “These were clearly false negatives, I stopped the filter traffic with no notice to customers so that an accurate blind 'before and after' comparison could be made. The result was that reports continued to arrive after filter redirection was stopped, proving with no room for doubt that the filter trial was not the cause of the reported problems.”

Watchdog agreed for Exetel to publish their findings on their blog in real time as they would any other technical test of new technology knowing that this transparent testing process will put many of the false claims about filtering to rest.

A Whitebox is also being tested by the Enex TestLab during the government filtering trial with participants able to link up to an externally hosted service.

The Watchdog service invites ISPs to test the WhiteBox service, blocking child sexual abuse imagery from part or their entire network. 

Further information can be obtained about the NetClean WhiteBox technology and hosting service by visiting: 
watchdoginternational.net

To read Exetel’s results go to:

Watchdog International specializes in ISP filtering providing Governments, ISPs and Businesses with illegal and inappropriate web content filtering technology to suit their size and needs.

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From Australia