CatholicExchange.net » What We Filter

What We Filter

CatholicExchange.NET keeps your family safe and your computer clean!

A 2002 study by the London School of Economics revealed “nine out of 10 children between eight and 16 have viewed pornography on the internet.” CatholicExchange.NET thinks that is a shame and a tragedy. Now you don’t need to worry anymore about where your children go online.

When you connect to the internet with CatholicExchange.NET, you can be confident that your family won’t see anything that you don’t want them to see.

We use a locked filter that will protect your family from all forms of pornography, recreational nudity and obscenity. However, there are many other potentially objectionable, inappropriate, or dangerous types of content on the Internet. We offer a parental control feature that will allow parents to set their chosen level of filtering in the following categories:

Filter Categories

Hate Speech: Sites dedicated to speech that incites hatred against any group or person (distinguished by race, color, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation or age of that person or group of persons) where such incitement may lead to social, emotional and/or physical harm.

Mature Sexual Language: Mature refers to information or text intended for adults; specifically, discussions involving sexual material or descriptions of sexual activity.

Partial Nudity-Lingerie: Sites displaying partial frontal and rear nudity, including beach wear and intimate apparel.

Profanity: Language that is considered crude or obscene (including obscene gestures), vulgarity or swearing.

Sexuality: Recognition of or emphasis upon mature sexual matters, including: sex education, gender/transgender studies and gay-lesbian sexuality, sexual advice, sexology, sexual addictions, etc.

Activism and Issues: Sites promoting the doctrine or practice of vigorous action or involvement as a means of achieving political or other goals as by demonstrations, protests, etc., specifically sites that promote change in public policy or opinion, social practice or economic activities.

Alcohol and Tobacco: Sites promoting the use of intoxicating liquor such as whiskey, beer, gin, vodka, etc. or promoting products using tobacco for smoking, chewing or snuff.

Body Art-Tattoos-Piercing: Sits promoting body art such as tattoos or piercing of the body (For ex. piercing of the ear, eyebrows, lip, cheek, bellybuttons, nipples, nose, tongue or genitals)

Computer Hacking: Computer Hacking is the act of unauthorized hacking to a computer, either for fun, malicious or fraudulent purposes. These sites teach and promote such activities.

Death/Suicide: Narrations or depictions of the act of dying or death, including autopsies, genocide and the intentional taking of one's own life (suicide).

Gambling: Information that advocates teaches or directs an individual to gambling; including casinos, online gambling or any game of chance for money or other stakes.

Illegal Activities: Activities contrary to or forbidden by official laws or regulations; specifically criminal instruction, illegal drugs or illegal activities.

Reproductive Health: Sites that host information concerned with or pertaining to reproductive health, including: human sexual reproduction, male and female sexual health issues, sexually transmitted diseases etc.

Violence: Sites promoting rough or injurious physical force, action or treatment; specifically, written descriptions of extreme or excessive violence or grave injury. Also sites devoted to horror or grotesque material.

Dating Service/Personals: These sites are geared toward dating to promote interpersonal relationships via dating personals, escort services and mail order bribes.

Games: The sites that allow the downloading of games or sites that host advice, tips or cracks for computer and video games. Also included are sites exhibiting game magazines.

Humor: Sites that present humor in text and/or graphic forms and include jokes, anecdotes, satire, sitcoms, etc.

Main Shareware Sites: Main sits that host the downloading of shareware. Most shareware is delivered free of charge, but the author usually requests that you pay a small fee if you like the program and use it regularly.

News and Media: Sites that host the entire gamut of news based media, including online newspapers, headline news, newswires and weather information.

Non English Language Web Sites: These web sites use primarily a language other than English.

Online Games: Sites hosting games online. The content of games can vary from young to adult and many online game sites provide a means of communication between gamers such as instant messaging or chat.

Pay to Surf: There are companies around the world that will pay you money to receive advertising, send you email, or otherwise contact individuals, businesses or groups while you surf the internet.

Personal Web Pages/Unpredictable Sites: Some web sites offer, for pay or free, space available to individuals who may or may not express points of view related to lifestyles, ideology issues, etc. Sites hosting personal web pages are very unpredictable. This characteristic also includes other sites that are of unpredictable nature.

Search Engines: A search engine is a web site that searches the internet for specified keywords that you type in the search window and returns a list of the documents where the keywords are found. Google, Alta Vista, Yahoo, Lycos and Excite are samples of search engines.

Streaming Media: Sites that host and/or video streaming media files (For ex. Mp3, mpeg, music or videos) that use a technique for transferring live or archived data processed as a steady or continuous stream.

Weapons: Sites promoting the use of guns and knives, including air guns, ammunitions, collectibles, engravings, competition shooting, range facilities, organizations and clubs and retailers.

Web Based Chat: Internet chat related sites include chat rooms, discussions and home pages. Chat refers to real time communication between users via their computers through text or voice formats.

Web Based Email: Sites hosting typically free Internet based email such as Hotmail and Yahoo. Web based Email requires only minimal information to create an Email account to send Email text, pictures and graphics to others over the internet. Web based Email is also more likely to receive unsolicited email. This characteristic includes sites that allow users to sign up for email lists.

Occult: The occult refers to a set of mostly unrelated divination and/or spiritual practices or activities which appear to tap into forces that have not been explained by science, and which are not conventional practices seen in traditional religions. Also, of or pertaining to any system claiming use or knowledge of secret or supernatural powers or agencies (For Ex. Wicca, Satanism and Horoscopes)

Other Belief Systems: Sites that host information about other religions not included in the 5 major world religions (For example Taoism, Sikhism, Unitarianism, Confucianism and Shinto).

Paranormal: Of or pertaining to events or perceptions occurring without scientific explanation such as alchemy, astral projection, clairvoyance, crystallomancy, divination, poltergeist, telekinesis or extra sensory perception.