Internet filtering
How does our filtering software work?
Manchester Library and Information Service use SurfControl web filtering software. The software works by blocking access to web sites that fall into any of the nine categories listed below.
- Adult / sexually explicit
- Chat (Children's computers only)
- Criminal skills
- Hacking
- Hate
- Personals and dating (Children's computers only)
- Remote proxies
- Violence / offensive
- Weapons
Find out more detailed information about the categories that are filtered.
What can I do if a web site is blocked?
When you attempt to access a site that has been blocked by SurfControl the following page will appear:
The page informs you that access to the page is restricted and tells you (at the end of the first paragraph) why the page has been blocked. Staff computers use the same filtering mechanism, and they are unable to check filtered sites or unblock access.
If you believe that the web site that you are trying to access has been wrongly categorised you can fill in our filtering comments form and request that the site is reviewed by a central team, who are able to check the suitability of sites and amend our filter.
You will receive a reply to your comment within five working days. If your request for change is accepted, our filter takes five working days to amend.