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.

This article is devoted to explain the issues involved, and recommend possible solutions. There is a complete software Internet Filter system based on the PRIVOXY available for download on this page.

There have been several Rabbinic admonitions against the use of the internet.<ref>In the late 1990s, when the world wide web was exploding with new websites, a brief, informational site on Satmar Hasidism, apparently published by an independent-minded Satmarer, issued a warning in Yiddish at the top of its home page which said, “if you can read this, you should not be using the internet. It is muktse.” - [http://modiya.nyu.edu/handle/1964/265 Topic: Haredim and the internet]</ref><ref>In early 2000, a group of prominent Haredi rabbis in Israel representing Hasidic, Lithuanian, Sefardic and Mizrahi precincts, issued a ban on use of the internet. They argued, "The Internet is a danger 1,000 times greater [than television, which was banned 30 years ago], and is liable to bring ruin and destruction upon all of Israel." - ibid.</ref><ref>In November of 2003, the official English language journal of Agudat Israel, The Jewish Observer, dedicated an issue to the dangers of the internet. The article offers excerpts from the Novominsker Rebbe’s address given at the Torah Umesorah convention on the problems of the Internet, in which he alleged that “The internet, with a flick of a button, invades a Jewish home, a Jewish soul, and makes moral disaster.” The Rebbe added that “if your business cannot get along without it, you must create the strictest controls around its use. Do not give it free rein! Remember that you are dealing with a force that contains spiritual and moral poison.” - ibid.</ref><ref>In the same issue, Rabbi Leyb Keleman writes that, “the internet has penetrated our community, but with the same strength [with which we avoided television], we shall uproot it…. Our gedolim have advised us to remove internet from our homes, and so we will do.” - ibid.</ref> 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 minimized and in most cases 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.

":''Main page [[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. Internet 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. Second, the halachic issues involved with food are very different than internet content. Thirdly, there is a psychological and addictive factor which is not normally present with food products. Lastly, imagery plays a large role on the internet.

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==

==:''Main page [[Kosher Internet Technical Issues==]]''

The second audience has been "professional Basically, internet use"is forbidden. Solutions were sought for people who However there are required some exceptions. If internet use is needed to earn a living, and other options are not available, it is permitted to use the internet, either . It is also permitted for their jobcase of Jewish outreach, to perform research, or and in certain cases for Jewish outreacheducational purposes. This category <ref>There are some (non-Hareidi) rabbinical authorities who permit the use of people generally includes those who are married internet for news and are prepared to work with activism, given the nongenerally anti-religious publicnature of the Israeli media. </ref> This If already permitted for one of the above reasons, then it is also includes ''baalei teshuvah'' who have taken on a a religious lifestyle by choice, and under Rabbinic guidance reach out permitted to do "internet shopping" for oneself or 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.

* However in all these cases, a hareidi religious Jew cannot decide for himself that that their use qualifies as "permitted use", but must ask a ''shailat Rav'Content-filtering''' - This technique involves looking for objectionable words or images within the content as it flows from the provider to the browser. The simplest schemes and receive a simple word list. More complicated schemes do a statistical analysis of the page based on words used, methods of presentation and other artifacts of the webpage. These are the same schemes used to filter out spam email. One of the most interesting filters of this type was developed for the Islamic community. 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 has the advantage of allowing the user to access the entire internet, dynamically checking the content at the moment it is presented to the user. The disadvantage is that it tends to filter out only the most objectionable content, and may filter out legitimate content. The better the scheme, the more compute intensive it is, slowing response time. Many of these schemes require the content to be sent twice, doubling the bandwidth. Together this amounted to operating costs for ISPs and letter in turn, increased price to writing authorizing the consumer, so it was initially avoideduse.

* '''DNS-filtering''' - Due to bandwidth issues, this was first scheme implemented by several "kosher internet" ISP services. Whenever a user types in a website name, it must be converted to a number before it can be used. This conversion is called DNS, ==Visual and seemed a natural place to filter websites by name. Some ISPs would maintain a "blacklist" of objectionable websites and would simply not translate the name of any website on the list. The advantage of this system is that bandwidth was not affected, the ISP was not required to absorb inordinate amounts of processing time, and prices could be kept down. The disadvantage was that only one list of approved sites was maintained, and there was little agreement among customers as to which sites should be on the list. Eventually it was proven that this system was relatively easy to bypass, causing this scheme to be abandoned. * '''URL-filtering''' - The alternative to DNS-filtering is to filter website names based on both their name and number form. This requires more sophisticated software that is either placed on the PC or at the ISP. The PC or ISP would maintain a "blacklist" of objectionable websites and would simply not translate the name of any website on the list. Again the advantage of this scheme is that bandwidth is not affected, the ISP is not required to absorb inordinate amounts of processing time or double bandwidth, and prices could be kept down. The disadvantage is maintaining a up to date list for objectionable sites. Furthermore, if the list was located on the PC, it must continually be updated from the ISP's master list. It has the undesirable feature that unrated websites are allowed, until they are reported.  * '''URL list''' - Another alternative to DNS-filtering is to filter website names by a "whitelist". This involves discarding all requests for websites not on a list of approved websites. Microsoft's Internet Explorer comes with such a filter.<ref>To use Microsoft Internet Explorer's content filtering, opening Internet Explorer, click Tools->Internet Options->Content->Enable. Click "Approved Sites" and enter all allowed sites. Click "General" and click "Supervisor can type a password". Click "Create password" and enter a password.</ref> The advantage of a URL List is that it does not suffer from the drawback of URL-filtering, any unrated site is discard and not show. But maintenance of such an approved "whitelist" of names because unmanageable very quickly. ISPs must offer 24 hour hotlines to approve sites that may have been left out. While a list for "family use" could be approximated, a list for "professional use" was almost impossible to create, due to the need of professionals to collect information from a wide variety of sites. * '''Blockage''' - One alternative, especially for internet services other than browsing is blockage. For example an ISP, or program installed on an a PC can block a rage of Port addresses for internet gaming or chat. While this seems to be a draconian solution, it appears to be effective in that the "family use" does not general want, and "professional use" does not require, use of internet gaming, chat or other more exotic internet services. The single exception is Internet Telephone (Skype), but its use by the hareidim is still very limited. * '''Log files''' - As mentioned above, one of the problems of the internet is anonymity. The easy of access, and almost total privacy offered by the internet was caused members of some religious families to alter their behavior and engage in actions that other similar religious families would not. A simple way to address this problem is the use of logfiles. The most direct concern address by logging and reporting internet access to the billing address is to make the parents aware of their children's unauthorized use of the internet, or a boss aware of their employee's usage. This can be done at the ISP level, or PC software can be installed (see X3-watch software below). Another indirect, but perhaps just as significant effect is that all users of the internet behave differently if they are aware that their actions are being logged. This scheme does not prevent any access, but sometimes adds the needed self control to allow self regulation. Many schemes which address "internet addiction" also provide time limits to internet access restricting both the hours and length of duration of internet use. * '''Authorized exceptions''' - With all these schemes, a mechanism for exceptions is often provided, due to the wide variety of internet content and the need by professional users. The question become who will authorize the exceptions. Most PC oriented software schemes have a master password which allows modification or temporarily overriding the filter settings. Some newer versions of internet filters do not even allow the installer to change his settings without logging his changes "publicly" at an associated website. Many of the early schemes were able to be "cracked" and thwarted, but most of these problems have been solved and the more expensive packages are relative secure in this respect. But all these schemes do not satisfy the requirement for "Externally verifiable compliance" meaning that individuals are not trusted[3] to decide for themselves whether their usage qualifies as allowed usage. So some "kosher internet" ISPs provide a 24 hour phone service where you may request a modification, but requires some sort of approval process before authorization is granted. In summary most modern internet filters combine the above schemes to provide an integrated approach. Some are PC based, with enhanced security to prevent tampering, and some are ISP based with a 24 hour hotline. Even though security has been enhanced, due to the increased question whether hareidi families, particularly children, really benefit from the internet - there has been no change in Rabbinical ruling forbidding the internet for casual use. Theoretically individuals who are required and permitted to use the internet for parnasa reasons could make use of these services, however they are often too cumbersome to be practically used in the workplace. These service can help a lot with people working in areas of Jewish outreach, who are producing (not consuming) internet content and look for some kind of solution against unwanted advertisements and objectionable material.addictive aspects==

==Visual It is recommended that a hareidi Jew use a content and addictive aspects==URL filter, and most importantly an image filter that will still provide access to the majority of material required for the workplace, or other professional purposes. Hareidi.org's Kosher Internet add-on software is one such filter.

* [http://www.thejnet.com The Jnet], a company that offers filtering with its own dial-up and DSL service in New York area. * [http://www.ayinroah.com Ayinroah], meaning a watchful eye, and is based on the hevrusa system of Talmud study. As their website states, "עין רואה Rabunim say a computer is user byichud" or prohibited to use alone. It is a service wherein clients have a hevrusa, or an internet "accountibility partner," who receives an email report of all sites you have visited. * [http://www.yeshivanet.com YeshivaNet] Developed initially to provide yeshivas with limited access to the internet in order to purchase books and supplies, YeshivaNet’s services are also available to businesses and individuals. YeshivaNet provides what is called a "whitelisted web," or access only to sites approved by the company's internet mashgikhim. * [http://www.neto.net.il/ 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<ref>It is not known whether these rabbonim give their approval for general use, or only in pressing situations.</ref> and encouragement of leading Rabbonim, including: Harav Mordechai Eliyahu, Harav Yig'al Kaminetski, Harav Yehoshua Shapira, Harav Yaakov Ariel, Harav Elyakim Levanon.

* [http://moreshet.co.il Moroshet] - Available in Israel. מורשת רשת האינטרנט הבטוחה. http://moreshet.co.il. "מורשת - רשת האינטרנט הבטוחה", קהילה שהיא סביבה חינוכית ערכית.