Difference between revisions of "Hareidi.org's Kosher Internet"

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==Technical Issues==
 
==Technical Issues==
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Several methods have been tried to remove objectionable content from the internet.  They have had various degrees of success depending on the two audiences that have been targeted. 
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The first audience has been "family use".  The intention was to remove objectionable content to the extent that a religious family can allow both children, teenagers and adults to ''benefit'' from the internet in much the same way it was thought that non-Jewish families ''benefited'' from the internet.  In recent years, the entertainment, educational, economical (online shopping) and sociological (meeting new people) benefit to a religious family has been much questioned.
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The second audience has been "professional use".  Solutions were sought for people who are required and permitted to use the internet, either for their job, to perform research, or for jewish outreach. This category of people are generally people who are married and are preprared to work with the non-religious public.  This also includes ''baalei teshuvah'' who have taken on a a religious lifestyle by choice, and under Rabbinic guidance reach out to others and to encourage them to return. These individuals also often found themselves inundated with unwanted advertisements, objectionable imagery and opportunity for engage in social activities which would normally be discouraged in a religious household.
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* '''Content-filtering'''
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* '''DNS-filterning'''
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* '''URL-filtering'''
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* '''URL list'''
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* '''Blockage'''
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* '''Log files'''
  
 
==Permitted Use==
 
==Permitted Use==

Revision as of 09:31, 30 October 2007

Free download

This page is under construction.

First of all, let us say that "Kosher internet" does not exit, yet. There is no known solution to the various problems that internet poses to a hareidi family. There are partial solutions and this article discusses them.

In addition, hareidi.org recognizes that pornography and sexually abusive content on the internet is a significant problem that affects both families who do not follow the rulings of the hareidi rabbinical authorities, as well as those hareidim who are required and permitted to use the internet.

The reports on the quantity and popularity of this material on the internet[1] (reaching, according to some estimates, 20%-30% of non-commercial internet usage) are astounding. The medical reports on the health and psychological aspects of this problem[2] reflect a medical problem which is attracting the attention of both Jewish and non-Jewish medical experts worldwide.

This article is devoted to explain the issues involved, and recommend possible solutions.

Rabbinic response

In 5765 (2005), after examining internet filtering technology, various ISP's offering "kosher" service, and reviewing the number of case where individuals in religious households were affected by this problem, the halachic authorities of several important hareidi communities ruled that current technology does not provide adequate safeguards to prevent these problems. It was ruled that internet usage must be reduced or eliminated, and for the first time the Gedolei Hador took the unusual step of requiring physical security of any internet appliance, and externally verifiable compliance by religious households.

  • Reducing usage means "casual" internet usage is forbidden. This means that using the internet for entertainment, online shopping or even education is not allowed. In general the only two permitted reasons for using the internet were parnasa (making a living) and kiruv (jewish outreach).
  • Physical security means that any internet capable device must be disabled, even if not physically connected at the time to an internet service provider. Desktop computers, laptops and palm computers must stored in a locked room, and whenever they are used, they should not be used in such a way to lead others in the household (particularly children) to think that being used in a casual way.
  • Externally verifiable compliance means that individuals are not trusted[3] to decide for themselves whether their usage qualifies as allowed usage, but are required to go to ask a shailah of a Rabbinical authority and receive a legal decision.

In summary, it was decided in 2005 that internet filters and add-on software were considered inadequate and of no consequence, due to the "mistakes" these systems make and the ease that they can be bypassed (by connecting alternate software, proxies, or even using the account on another machine). It is clear that the ideal hareidi home is without a computer, much less one connected to the internet.

Takana of Lakewood

One example of this legal ruling is the Takana of Lakewood[4]

  1. Internet access is only permissible if required for a person’s job, and should be done at work.
  2. Internet access in the home is prohibited if it is only for the purpose of entertainment or casual use (shopping, airline tickets etc.)
  3. Anyone who requires access to perform their jobs should be required to have a Rabbi certify the validity of this need.
  4. Computers with internet access must be physically protected from use (in a locked room, etc), as current software filtering technology is not sufficient to protect their use.
  5. Computers even without internet access will be required to have software installed which will prevent them from being configured to connect to the internet by the use of external modems, WIFI etc.

Halachic Issues

"Kosher internet" is often compared to "Kosher food". Both rabbinic authorities and religious families expect a solution which is similar to the system of certification which has been developed for food production. The expectation is that some organization will go around checking websites for objectionable content and issue certification for compliant websites. Religious jews who surf the internet would limit themselves to certified content and the matter would be settled.

In reality, there are many significant differences between food and websites.

First and foremost is quantity and variety. It is estimated that there are 10,000,000 active websites today, and thousands being added every day. With food, generally a family eats large quantities of the same diet, whereas business or educational use of the internet requires the use of search engines which can expose the user to tens of new websites with each new search.

Second, the halachic issues involved with food are very different than internet content. Jewish law, being a legal system that encompasses both criminal and civil law, generally limits itself to actions and rarely address thoughts, ideas or entertainment. It is much harder to determine exactly which content is forbidden, discouraged or simply to be avoided. Furthermore, while it is clear that internet has caused problems in religious families, to some degree it has also provided benefits. This has resulted in a legal ruling which discourages internet in almost all cases, but has a few significant exceptions (parnasa, research by professionals, jewish outreach). Kosher food has no equivalent set of rulings.

Thirdly, there is a psychological and addictive factor which is not normally present with food products. Rabbinical authorities reviewed evidence that individuals who would not otherwise engage in objectionable activities, do so because of the attractive and anonymous nature of the internet. As one example, the cases of several families were heard where the husband left the family due to a relationship developed through chat forums - something that had no counterpart in similar hareidi families who made no use of the internet.

Lastly, imagery plays a large role on the internet. While we are not aware of any study involving hareidi families, there have been studies reporting that large percentages of non-Jewish clergy "struggle with pornography", and it is assumed that the hareidi community also suffers. This is not to mention that most orthodox Jews, especially chassidic Jews stress shemiras enayim which would make most advertisements objectionable, even ones not considered pornographic by law.

Technical Issues

Several methods have been tried to remove objectionable content from the internet. They have had various degrees of success depending on the two audiences that have been targeted.

The first audience has been "family use". The intention was to remove objectionable content to the extent that a religious family can allow both children, teenagers and adults to benefit from the internet in much the same way it was thought that non-Jewish families benefited from the internet. In recent years, the entertainment, educational, economical (online shopping) and sociological (meeting new people) benefit to a religious family has been much questioned.

The second audience has been "professional use". Solutions were sought for people who are required and permitted to use the internet, either for their job, to perform research, or for jewish outreach. This category of people are generally people who are married and are preprared to work with the non-religious public. This also includes baalei teshuvah who have taken on a a religious lifestyle by choice, and under Rabbinic guidance reach out to others and to encourage them to return. These individuals also often found themselves inundated with unwanted advertisements, objectionable imagery and opportunity for engage in social activities which would normally be discouraged in a religious household.

  • Content-filtering
  • DNS-filterning
  • URL-filtering
  • URL list
  • Blockage
  • Log files

Permitted Use

Visual and addictive aspects

Free Download

The developers at Hareidi.org have put together a package which address some of these needs. It is based on the open source Privoxy internet filter, which is free to download and available for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and other operating systems. Privoxy software was originally designed to remove unwanted advertisements, and we use it here to remove unwanted graphics and warn (or prevent) users from visiting "untrusted" websites. Hareidi.org's Kosher Internet add-on software was designed to be used by hareidim who are required and permitted to use the internet but are bothered by the amount of unwanted graphics they must encounter.

Hareidi.org's Kosher Internet was developed in three versions:

  • The "closed list version" is based on a list of 3000+ websites, and requires authorization for each new websites requested. This version is designed for people who must regularly visit the same websites. The user can indicate which websites are to be displayed in full graphics, and which websites in a fully functional, text only form. Unauthorized websites cannot be viewed.
  • The "open list version" is the same as the closed list version, except that all websites which are referred by reliable search engines (such as google, or altavista in their "family friendly" form) are automatically added to the list of viewable websites. These automatically added websites will be viewed in a in a fully functional, text only form. This version is designed for people who must regularly visit new websites to collect information. It presents the websites in a fully functional, but text only form.
  • The "warning version" is the same as the "open list version", except that the user is giving the choice to them proceed and view the blocked information. This version is designed for people who want to be minimally restricted in their internet usage, but wish to avoid graphics from all websites, except those authorized.

Closed list version

Open list version

Warning version

Security considerations

Hareidi.org's Kosher Internet add-on software was not designed to be a censorship device. It is not meant to allow parents to leave their children to surf the internet unattended, and it does not change the legal ruling of the Gedolei Hador. For those who are required and permitted to use the internet however, it provides a valuable service. It is meant to be a voluntary filter of unwanted graphics in the same spirit that privoxy was originally designed - to remove unwanted advertisements.

It is relatively easy to remove, disable or modify the software. The software also only filters webpages, it does not affect email, instant messaging, file sharing or internet gaming. To filter these other services, or to prevent tampering with the software, it is necessary to filter at the ISP level.

  • For email, the easiest way to filter at the ISP level is to sign up with one of the major free email services such as Yahoo or GMail and enable their "filtering services" and disable "view images in email".
  • For instant messaging, file sharing or internet gaming the best solution is to sign up with a filtering ISP such as Internet Rimon (see resources below).
  • If a filtering ISP is not available in your location, or is prohibitively expensive, you can create your own filtering ISP by using a dedicated computer:
Bridge computer.png

Other resources

Filtering ISPs

  • Internet Rimon - Available in Israel, this organization developed a content filter that filters objectional content from within a website, and permits viewing of the rest of the website. Sites can be added or reported through use of a 24 hour support telephone number. Filtering is done at the ISP level, so theoretically there is no way to bypass it. Four levels of filtering are offered, and it is priced comparable to other Israeli ISPs. It is has the approval[5] and encouragement of leading Rabbonim, including: Harav Mordechai Eliyahu, Harav Yig'al Kaminetski, Harav Yehoshua Shapira, Harav Yaakov Ariel, Harav Elyakim Levanon.

Commercial filters

  • IShield - The most sophisticated commercial internet filter. It works by doing image processing on each image (or anywhere on the computer screen) and identifies unwanted content by color, texture and shape. It was developed by the Islamic community[6]. Unfortunately tends to filter out only the worst examples.

Free filters

  • Naomi - freeware internet filter Naomi is an advanced internet filtering program, easy to use and totally free, intended for families, and kids in particular. Naomi is able to constantly monitor all internet connections, protecting children from inappropriate online material. It does not rely on a list of banned sites; instead, it examines in real-time all the data being transmitted and received through any internet application - such as web browers, chat programs, news readers, etc.
  • X3 Watch - free accountability program (informs about accesses to questionable sites - for PC and MAC)
  • Care2's Race for Children - click daily (for free) to help provide children in need with food, medical attention and education
  • Safe Families - free internet filtering and parental control software
  • SurfPass - free version of the SurfPass filter, which also allows time limits, logging, etc.
  • B Gone - free web filter based on keywords list
  • NoWorrys - allows access to trusted sites (list) only (see also: PpGuard)
  • ICRA Plus - free tool, offers control over access to labelled sites
  • Censornet - a free filter for Linux (another alternative: DansGuardian) They also provide Internet Safety & Management solution tohelps hundreds of businesses, schools and libraries world wide keep their employees and students safe online whilst improving productivity and accountability.
  • Hosts-File.net - easily block scammer, phishing and other malicious websites (Windows only)
  • KidRocket - web browser for young kids (limits access to web sites)

Diagnostics

  • LogProtect - prevent your child from transmitting his personal coordinates (can be bypassed, though)
  • SpyBot - free program to remove dialers, spyware, and other malware from your pc
  • HiJackThis - invaluable tools for removal of hijackers, dialers, and more (download CWShredded and HiJackThis)

Blacklisting

  • Squid - proxy/blacklisting for administrators

References

  1. ↑ Availability of pornography
  2. ↑ Internet addiction
  3. ↑ The same thinking is even more apparent in the "kosher" cellphones, where a distinctive unique set of "kosher" phone numbers were made available. Some hareidi newspapers will only accept ads listing these phone numbers, etc. Even though it was suggested that would be possible to add a "kosher" filter to their existing phone, the new numbers were required as an external verifiable means of knowing if someone was indeed using a filtered system or not.
  4. ↑ Takana of Lakewood
  5. ↑ It is not known whether these rabbonim give their approval for general use, or only in pressing situations.
  6. ↑ Asia Pacific Institute of Information & Technology (A.P.I.I.T) Research and Development Team
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