Given the proliferation of new-generation internet capable devices in our society, they are now commonly used for a variety of purposes and by a variety of ages, including young children. The vast amount of new media content, available through these devices, cause parents to worry about what their children have access to. In this thesis we investigated how parents and children can work together towards the goal of content control and filtering. One problem to the current content control filtering tools and approaches is that they do not involve children in the filtering process, thus missing an opportunity of educating children about content appropriateness. Therefore, we propose a kid-in-the-loop approach to content control and filtering where parents and children collaboratively configure restrictions and filters, an approach that focuses on education rather than simple rule setting. We conducted an exploratory qualitative study with results highlighting the importance that parents place on avoiding inappropriate content. Building on these findings, we designed an initial kid-in-the-loop prototype which allows parents to work with their children to select appropriate applications, providing parents with the opportunity to educate their children on what they consider to be appropriate or inappropriate. We further validate our proposed approach by conducting a qualitative study with sets of parents and children in the six to eight year-old age group, which revealed an overwhelmingly favorable response to this approach. We conclude this thesis with a comprehensive analysis of our approach, which can be leveraged in designing content control systems targeting both parents and children.

School districts have implemented filtering and safety policies in response to legislative and social mandates to protect students from the proliferation of objectionable online content. Subject related literature suggests these policies are more restrictive than legal mandates require and are adversely affecting information access and instruction. There is limited understanding of how filtering and safety policies are affecting teaching and learning because no comprehensive studies have investigated the issues and trends surrounding filtering and safety policy implementation. In order to improve existing safety policies, policymakers need research-based data identifying end user access issues that limit technology integration in the kindergarten-12th grade (K-12) educational setting. This study sought to examine Internet filtering and safety policy implementation issues in South Carolina's K-12 public schools to determine their influence on information access and instruction. A mixed methods research design, which includes both quantitative and qualitative approaches, was used to investigate the research problem. Quantitative data were collected from information technology (IT) administrators who were surveyed regarding filtering and safety policy implementation, and school library media specialists (SLMS) were surveyed concerning the issues they encounter while facilitating information access in a filtered environment. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with a subset of the SLMS population, thereby providing further insight about Internet access issues and their influence on teaching and learning. School districts' Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) were analyzed to determine how they addressed recent legislative mandates to educate minors about specific Web 2.0 safety issues. The research results support the conclusions of previous anecdotal studies which show that K-12 Internet access policies are overly restrictive, resulting in inhibited access to online educational resources. The major implication of this study is that existing Internet access policies need to be fine-tuned in order to permit greater access to educational content. The study recommends Internet safety practices that will empower teachers and students to access the Internet's vast educational resources safely and securely while realizing the Internet's potential to enrich teaching and learning.

This diploma thesis deals with the topic of proxy servers and firewalls and considers other associated technologies and network techniques. It systematically describes the general issues of firewalls, with a special focus on proxy firewalls and their safety. Additional systems mentioned in this document are intrusion detection systems (IDS), antivirus systems and content control filters – as these are also connected with safety of networks, servers and workstations or with limiting various Internet sources. IDS systems can be typically supplemented with various additional applications or tools that enrich them and increase their potential – including graphic additions. This part is remembered too. Some systems can communicate with each other, which is successfully utilised (FW & IDS co-operation, for example). The purpose of the first large chapter is to present firewall technologies, to list firewall types, their basic functionality and to present the final comparison. It marginally mentions firewall applications in practice. Chapter two explains the theory of network address translation (NAT), deals with its functionality, safety and with limiting the NAT mechanism. Chapter three brings a comprehensive presentation of proxy servers. It explains their principle from the point of view of functionality and the specification of application areas. The chapter is complete with a clear list of proxy server types and their descriptions. The last chapter named Linux Proxy Firewall is the key part of the work. It deals generally with the Linux platform, the Debian GNU/Linux distribution, principles of safety policy, network configuration, network server safety, Linux firewalls (Netfilter framework, Iptables tool) and with the Squid proxy server. The following subchapters respect the previous structure: they describe the theories of intrusion detection systems, antivirus checks and content filtering based on different methods. All this is presented similarly to the previous chapters. A proxy firewall solution built on the Linux operating system has been proposed in the practical part. The Debian GNU/Linux distribution has been chosen, being very suitable for server use due to its features. This environment is also used for additional safety software contained in the proxy firewall: antivirus protection, content filtering and an intrusion detection system. The priority is the most comprehensive computer network security, which requires detection abilities with the broadest possible coverage in the area of network safety. The purpose of this diploma thesis is not only to describe the principle of operation of proxy servers and to compare them with other types and other systems, but it also brings my own proposed free solution, which increases network safety and has the ambition of comparing it with clearly commercial products available on the market.

Today’s increasing information supply raises the needfor more effective and automated information processing whereindividual information adaptation (personalization) is onepossible solution. Earlier computer systems for personalizationlacked the ability to easily define and measure theeffectiveness of personalization efforts. Numerous projectsfailed to live up to the their expectations, and the demand forevaluation increased. This thesis presents some underlying concepts and methodsfor implementing personalization in order to increase statedbusiness objectives. A personalization system was developedthat utilizes descriptions of information characteristics(metadata) to perform content based filtering in anon-intrusive way. Most of the described measurement methods forpersonalization in the literature are focused on improving theutility for the customer. The evaluation function of thepersonalization system described in this thesis takes thebusiness operator’s standpoint and pragmatically focuseson one or a few measurable business objectives. In order toverify operation of the personalization system, a functioncalled bifurcation was created. The bifurcation functiondivides the customers stochastically into two or morecontrolled groups with different personalizationconfigurations. Bygiving one of the controlled groups apersonalization configuration that deactivates thepersonalization, a reference group is created. The referencegroup is used to measure quantitatively objectives bycomparison with the groups with active personalization. Two different companies had their websites personalized andevaluated: one of Sweden’s largest recruitment servicesand the second largest Swedish daily newspaper. The purposewith the implementations was to define, measure, and increasethe business objectives. The results of the two case studiesshow that under propitious conditions, personalization can bemade to increase stated business objectives. Keywords:metadata, semantic web, personalization,information adaptation, one-to-one marketing, evaluation,optimization, personification, customization,individualization, internet, content filtering, automation. / <p>QCR 20161027</p>

<p>Today’s increasing information supply raises the needfor more effective and automated information processing whereindividual information adaptation (personalization) is onepossible solution. Earlier computer systems for personalizationlacked the ability to easily define and measure theeffectiveness of personalization efforts. Numerous projectsfailed to live up to the their expectations, and the demand forevaluation increased.</p><p>This thesis presents some underlying concepts and methodsfor implementing personalization in order to increase statedbusiness objectives. A personalization system was developedthat utilizes descriptions of information characteristics(metadata) to perform content based filtering in anon-intrusive way.</p><p>Most of the described measurement methods forpersonalization in the literature are focused on improving theutility for the customer. The evaluation function of thepersonalization system described in this thesis takes thebusiness operator’s standpoint and pragmatically focuseson one or a few measurable business objectives. In order toverify operation of the personalization system, a functioncalled bifurcation was created. The bifurcation functiondivides the customers stochastically into two or morecontrolled groups with different personalizationconfigurations. Bygiving one of the controlled groups apersonalization configuration that deactivates thepersonalization, a reference group is created. The referencegroup is used to measure quantitatively objectives bycomparison with the groups with active personalization.</p><p>Two different companies had their websites personalized andevaluated: one of Sweden’s largest recruitment servicesand the second largest Swedish daily newspaper. The purposewith the implementations was to define, measure, and increasethe business objectives. The results of the two case studiesshow that under propitious conditions, personalization can bemade to increase stated business objectives.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>metadata, semantic web, personalization,information adaptation, one-to-one marketing, evaluation,optimization, personification, customization,individualization, internet, content filtering, automation.</p>

Innehållsfiltrering av internettrafik har kommit upp till diskussion i olika sammanhang sedan de första skolorna kopplade upp sig. Men frågan är hur arbetet med detta ser ut inom svenska grundskolor.En enkät skickades ut till Sveriges samtliga kommuner där personer med god insikt i denna verksamhet fick svara på olika frågor kring innehållsfiltrering. Avsikten var att få en bild av om innehållsfiltrering används och i sådana fall hur denna användes.Av totalt 290 kommuner var det 75 som svarade på enkäten. Resultatet visade bland annat att runt två tredjedelar av kommunerna använder någon form av innehållsfiltrering och att tillgången till pornografiskt material var en av den största anledningen, men även våldsbejakande extremism och bedrägerier. / Content filtering has come up for discussion in various contexts since the first schools connected to the internet. The question is how these issues are being addressed in the Swedish primary and secondary schools.A survey was conducted where questionnaires were sent out to all municipalities where subjects with good insight into this area were asked to answer various questions about internet content filtering. The intention was to get an idea of whether content filtering is used and in such cases how this was used.Of a total of 290 municipalities there were 75 participants. The results showed, among other things, that around two thirds of the municipalities use some form of content filtering and that access to pornographic material was one of the largest reasons, but also violent extremism and fraud.