We are making important changes to the category hierarchy in your Smoothwall Filter Policy Blocklist. These changes are intended to improve the scope and flexibility around your ability to block or allow new services in the classroom environment. Specifically, we will:
- assign new terminology for each tier in our category hierarchy
- reduce the number of themes from 16 to 10
- deprecated some categories
- introduce 696 new signatures
The new structure will be released ahead of the 2023 Christmas break, and most changes will be automatically installed for you.
|
IMPORTANT If you use deprecated categories for reporting or filtering, you will need to manually update your category groups and web filter policies when directed to do so. We will contact you closer to the release date with additional information. |
New terminology
The first change we’re introducing is what we call the different tiers of our category hierarchy:
| From | To |
| Parent Category |
Theme |
| Child Category | Category |
| Signature |
Table 1: New category terminology
How the new tiers work
The category hierarchy consists of three tiers:
Fig. 1: Three tiers of the category hierarchy
Themes
Previously called Parent Category, Themes sit at the top of the category hierarchy, and cannot be used for filtering or reporting. Examples of themes include ‘Mature and Explicit’’ and ‘Information and Reference’. The number of themes we supply as part of the filter blocklist have been consolidated and reduced from 16 to 10.
Categories
Categories make up the second tier of our category hierarchy, and contain related signatures and always belong to themes. Examples of categories are Education, News, and Search Engines, all of which sit under the theme, Information and Reference. You can filter and report on Categories.
Signatures
Signatures form the third tier of our category hierarchy and target a single specific website or service. Examples include Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube which can be accessed as websites and applications. You can filter Signatures.
New consolidated themes
We’ve consolidated 16 parent categories into 10 themes.
| Current Top-Level Categories | New Themes |
| Business and corporate | Business and Government |
| Finance | |
| Medical | |
| Information and Reference | Information and Reference |
| Search Engines | |
| Gaming | Gaming |
| Entertainment | Arts and Entertainment |
| Multimedia | |
| Malware and Hacking | Malware and Hacking |
| Legal and Liability Issues | Mature and Explicit |
| Adult Themes | |
| Lifestyle | People and Society |
| Shopping and Travel | |
| Web Infrastructure | Web and Infrastructure |
| File and Image Hosting | |
| IT & Technical | |
| Files Types | |
| Social Media | Social Media and Communication |
Table 2: Top-level categories will be consolidated into new themes.
Deprecated categories
We’re moving some categories to other themes and removing a few.
| Deprecated Category | New Category Name |
| Restricted to Adults | Adult Mixed Content |
| Household and DIY | Business |
| Household Utilities | Business |
| Mobile/Cell Phones | Business |
| APIs and Web Libraries | Content Delivery |
| Magazines | Entertainment |
| Radio and TV | Entertainment |
| Time-wasting | Humour and Distractions |
| Desktop Customisation | Image Hosting: Unmoderated |
| Non-pornographic Nudity | Nudity |
| Adult Entertainers | Pornography |
| Secure Search | Search |
| Crowdfunding | Shopping |
| Online Auctions | Shopping |
| Collaboration Software | Software |
| Vacations | Travel |
Table 3: Selected subcategories are being merged into new categories
New signatures
We’ve created hundreds of new signatures that give you even more control over your content filtering.
Arts and Entertainment
Movies and Film |
|
|
Box-office.com |
Roger Ebert |
|
IMDb |
Rotten Tomatoes |
Music and Audio |
|
|
Audible |
Noteflight |
| Audiomack | Pandora |
| GrooveShark | Podcastle |
| iHeart | SoundCloud |
| Last.fmd | Youtube Music |
| Lyrics Training | |
Sports |
|
| CBS Sports | SkySports |
|
ESPN |
Sportingnews.com |
| Fox Sports | Strava |
| Hudl | |
Streaming Media |
|||
| 9Now |
fubo |
pixellot | tubiTV |
| ABC iview | Giggl | Plex | Tunein |
| Bigo | HBO | PutLocker | TV3 On Demand |
| Brightcove | Hulu | SBS On Demand | TVNZ On Demand |
| Buffstream | JW Player | SkyGoSonos | Twitch TV |
| Crackle | Kaltura | Sproutvideo | upLynk |
| Crave | NeonTV | Stan | Vine |
| Crunchyroll | NZ On Screen | Streamable | Vudu |
| Dacast | Sling | streamhoster | Wistia |
| Dailymotion | Paramount Plus | Tenplay | |
| Foxtel | Peacock TV | THEOplayer | |
Business and Government
Business |
|
| Business | Promethean |
| Hometown Ticketing | Radix |
| Intercom | SquareUp |
Charity and Non-profit |
| World Vision |
Financial Services |
|
|
Alipay |
Patreon |
|
OpenSea |
|
Gaming
Educational Games |
|
| Blockly Games | EveryPlay |
| Chess | geoguessr |
| Cool Math Games | Typetastic |
| Elevspel | |
Game Stores and Publishers |
|
| Blizzard | Playstation |
| EA Games | Pokemon |
| Epic Games | Poki |
| GameMaker | Stadia |
| GDevelop | Steam |
| Ninja Kiwi | Ubisoft Connect |
| Nintendo | Xbox |
| Nvidia | |
Gaming Resources |
|
| Discord | Playvs |
| Mulvaney Studios | Welfg |
Video Games |
|
| Agario | Player Unknown Battlegrounds |
| Animaljam | PokemonGo |
| Call of War | Roblox |
| Clash Royal | Rocket League |
| Clicker Heroes | SlitherIO |
| Club Penguin | SMITE |
| Global Strike | Tanki Online |
| Harry Potter Wizards Unite | Wizard 101 |
| KrunkerIO | |
Information and Reference
AI Tools |
| Hugging Face |
Books and Literature |
| Goodreads |
Computing and Electronics |
| Itopia |
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias |
|
| Encyclopedia Britannica | Te Ara Encyclopedia of NZ |
| History Link | Wikipedia |
| National Encyclopaedia for Sweden | |
Education |
|||||
| ABCYA | Desmos | Hand Speak | Manga high | Play Posit | So-Rummet |
| Acellus | Digital Compass | Happy Numbers | Mastery Connect | PLTW | Socrative |
| Achieve3000 | Digital Experts Academy | Heggerty | Math Blaster | Popplet | Sora App |
| Active Learn Primary | DMAC-solutions | Heritage College | Math Nation | Prezi | SpanishDict |
| Active Teach | DOGONews | HiNative | Math Papa | Prodigy Game | SpeechStream |
| Adapted Mind | Dreambox | Hoodamath | Math Playground | Proquest | Spelling City |
| AES Education | DrFrostMaths | Hot Maths | Math XL | Proxlearn | Spelling Stars |
| Albert | Duolingo | How Stuff Works | Mathletics | Ptable | Splash Learn |
| Aleks | E Notes | IEP PRO | Maths Bot | Quavered | Sporcle |
| Almanac | EADMS Online Testing | IL Classroom | Maths Buddy | Quia | St Math |
| Amplify | Econ lowdown | Illuminate Education | Maths Facts Pro | Quizizz | Stapplet |
| Apex | Edia | Infinite Campus | Maths Genie | Quizzez | Starfall |
| arbolabc | Edify | Instructables | Maths is Fun | Quizzlet | Stats Medic |
| Arcademic | Edmodo | Interland | Maths Wizz | Rate My Teachers | STEM Scopes |
| arkansas | Educa | iStation | Mathspace | Read Naturally | Steps Web |
| Arkansas state parks | Education Network America | IXL | MathsPad | Read Theory | Storybird |
| Ascender | Education Perfect | Jake4maths | Matific | Reading A-Z | Studies Weekly |
| Autodesk | Educere | JavaLab | McGraw Hill Education | Reading Eggs | Studocu |
| Banqer | Educreations | K12 Insight | Membean | Reading Horizons | Study Island |
| Banzai | Eduhero | Kahoot | Mentoring Minds | Reading Plus | Study Ladder |
| Basic Facts Maths Practice | Edulastic | Kamar | MindPlay | ReadWorks | Study Spanish |
| Bedford, Freeman & Worth | Eduphoria | KCTC | MobyMax | Remind | StudySync |
| Benchmark Universe | Edutyping | Kerboodle | Moodle | Renaissance Learning | Stukent |
| Big Blue Button | ELS | Kid Explorer | Mosa Mack Science | Responsive Learning | Sumdog |
| Big Ideas Learning | Encyclopaedia of Arkansas | Kiddom | Mr Nussbaum | Room Recess | Summit Learning |
| BirdBrain Technologies | eSpark learning | Kids Discover | My Signing Time | Sadlier Connect | Sunshine Online |
| Blackbaud | Etap | KidzType | My VR Spot | Sapling Learning | Te Kete Ipurangi NZ |
| Blooket | ETS Org | Kite Assessments | MyMaths | Savvas EasyBridge | Teach TCI |
| Boom Learning | eTV | Kiwi Kid News | MyOpenMath | Sc-Alt Portal | Teach Your Monster to Read |
| Braining camp | Every Culture | Languages Online | NAPLAN | Scholastic | Teachable |
| Brainpop | Explain Everything | Learn Zillion | Naviance | Scholastic NZ | Teachers Pay Teachers |
| British Council | Explore Learning | Learning | Nessy | School Links | Teaching Strategies |
| British Physics Olympiad | Eza Test | Learning a-z | Net-Ref | School Messenger | Teachtown |
| Cambium Assessment | FACTS | Learning Ally | Newsela | SchoolTalk | That Quiz |
| Carnegie Learning | FastBridge | Learning Blade | NoRedInk | SchoolTube | The Mind Lab |
| Cellsalive | Fevtutor | Learning Express Hub | NWEA Map | Sci-Rally | Theatrefolk |
| Chemguide | First in Math | Learning Without Tears | NZCER | Science Buddies | Tinkercad |
| ClassCalc | Flocabulary | Learnosity | NZQA | Science Kids | Transferology |
| ClassVR | Focus eLearning | Let’s Go Learn | Orange County Department of Education | sciPAD | Transum |
| Code Avengers | Fun4thebrain | Lexia Powerup | Otus | Scratch MIT | Tumble Books |
| CodeHS | Galileo | Lexia Reading Core | Our Hero | Second Step | Turning Technologies |
| Codesters | Gallopade | Life Print | Oxford Owl | Seesaw | Turnitin |
| College Board | Garbanzo | LINC-ED | Panorama Education | Seneca | Twig Science |
| Commonlit | GCSEPod | Lingua Scope | PBIS Rewards | Sentence Builder | Twinkl |
| Compass | Get More Math | Literacy Planet | PebbleGo | Show My Homework | Tynker |
| Conjuguemos | Glosor | Literacy Shed | Peergrade | Sketchup | Typing |
| CPM | Gmetrix | Little Alchemy | PhET | Skoolbo | Typing Club |
| Cummins | Goedustar | LocoRobo | Phonics Hero | Smart Music | Ultranet |
| DawnSign | Grammarly | Lumos learning | Physics and Maths Tutor | SmartPass | |
| DeltaMath | GSE Online | Mad4Maths | Pixlr | Snowflake | |
Environment |
| Electric Garden |
Knowledge Sharing |
|
| Fandom | Quora |
| Giphy | Stack Overflow |
Maps |
|
| Life 360 | MapChart |
News |
|
| Al Jazeera | FoxNews |
| AOL | Gizmodo |
| Arirang TV News Korea | Huffington Post |
| Axios | MSN |
| BBC | New York Times |
| Bloomberg | NZ Herald |
| Buzzfeed | RNZ |
| Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | Sina |
| CNBC | Spiegel |
| CNN | Stuff.co.nz |
| Daily Mail | TechCrunch |
| Designboom | Tech News |
| Forbes | |
Search Engines |
|
| Baidu | DuckDuckGo |
| Bing | Yandex Search |
Translation |
| SayHI |
Malware and Hacking
Proxies and VPNs |
|
| AI-IP Detected Proxy | Opera VPN |
| Analytic VPNs | Puffin Browser/VPN |
| BetterNet VPN | SkyVPN |
| Brave | Tor Traffic |
| Chrome VPNs | VPN Proxy Master |
| Free VPN Planet | VPN Tunnels |
| Hoxx VPN | Warp VPN |
| M247 Cloud Services | Web Proxies |
Mature and Explicit
Academic Dishonesty |
| Quillbot |
Adult Mixed Content |
|
| Camsurf | Omegle |
Piracy |
|
| 123movies | y2mate |
People and Society
Health and Fitness |
|
| Dexcom | Suicide Prevention |
Shopping and Travel
Shopping |
|
| Alibaba | Shopify |
| Amazon | Shutterfly |
| Costco | Tickertmaster |
| Ebay | Tmall |
| Etsy | Trademe |
| Greeting Cards | Walmart |
| IKEA | Wish |
| Nextdoor.com | |
Travel |
|
| Expedia | Kayak |
| Hotels.com | Orbitz |
| Hostels.com | TripAdvisor |
| House of Travel | Uber |
Blogs |
|
| Spark Notes | Wordpress |
Dating |
|
| Bumble | Hinge |
| Grinder | Tinder |
Social Media and Communication
Messaging and Conferencing |
|
| 2 Degrees Wifi Calling | TeamSpeak |
| Bluejeans Video Conferencing | Telegram |
| Go To Meeting | Twilio |
| Group me | Vonage |
| Line | Webex |
| Monkey.cool | WiFi Calling |
| Slack | |
Social Network |
||
| 9gag | imvu.com | Saturn App |
| Ask.fm | Kik | Skout |
| Band.us | Likee | Tagged |
| BeReal | Tumblr | |
| ByteDance | Momentumdash | Twoo |
| Candid | Momo | VK |
| Digg | MySpace | Wattpad |
| Disqus | Neighbourly | WeApp |
| Douyin | Ning | |
| Facebook Graph | OK | Whisper |
| Flicker | Pearl Trees | Wink |
| Giggle | Photobucket | Yelp |
| Gravator | Pic-Collage | Yik Yak |
| Houseparty | Yubo | |
| Image Shack | Pixkie | Zhihu |
| Img.ly | ||
| Imgr | Sarahah | |
Web and Infrastructure
Content Delivery |
|
| Akamai | Google App Engine |
| Amazon AWS | Google CDN |
| Azure | Huawei Cloud |
| Bootstrap CDN | Netlify |
| CloudFlare | Scaleway |
| CloudFront | Vidible |
File Sharing |
|
| 4Shared | Google Photos |
| Apple iCloud | Hotfile.com |
| Box | Massmirror.com |
| Constant Contact | Mediafire.com |
| Diwbkiad.cin | Microsoft OneDrive |
| Dropbox | Padlet |
| Easel.ly | PCloud |
| Easyshare | Rapidshare |
| Filestube | Survey Monkey |
| Gigeshare | Upload.com |
Portals |
|
| Naver | |
Remote Access Tools |
|
| Anydexk | Atera |
| ConnectWise | |
Web and Infrastructure |
|||
| Apple | Github | Mailchimp | Replit |
| Atlassian | GoGuardian | Microsoft | Responsive Voice |
| Bitly | Miradore | Ring | |
| Bigmoji | google Chrome | Mote | Snapengage |
| Captive Portal | Heeroku | Moxtra | Unity Real Time Development |
| CS First | Hubspot | MT Captcha | Vend |
| Dell | iCivics | Onshape | Vistab |
| Embed.ly | Intranet Servicers | PaperCut | Yahoo |
| Filestack | LastPass | Powtoon | Yammer |
| Fortinet | Loopster | PUsher | Zscaler |
Software Updates |
|
| Aerohive | Meraki |
| Avast Antivirus | Symatec |
| Bitdefender | Windows Updates |
| Certificate Authorities | |
Tracking |
|
| Flurry | Privy |
FAQ
What happens to deprecated categories?
Deprecated categories will have their names appended with the text - [Deprecated]. These categories will be removed from the blocklist by January 30, 2024. Until that time, they will continue to work as they did before but will no longer receive updates. Check the fill list of our deprecated categories here.
Will my existing category groups be affected?
Yes, if your category group(s) contain deprecated categories, you will need to update them when directed to do so.
Will I need to change my web filter policies?
Yes, if your filter policies contain deprecated categories, you will need to update them when directed to do so. However, Categories marked for removal will continue to work as before until they are removed.
How will categorisation be affected?
Only categories which are having content added to them from a deprecated category will be affected. These changes should not have a negative impact on your filtering expectations and you don’t need to take any action about them
What do I do if something is incorrectly categorised?
If you encounter a domain or URL which is incorrectly categorised contact Smoothwall Support to provide blocklist feedback. Your feedback will go directly to our Categorisation team, and we will aim to resolve mis-categorisations within 24 hours.