An internet filter (also known as an internet nanny) is a piece of software, controlled by some authority (such as government or parents), that filters by keyword or blocks by URL what a web browser will display, usually for the benefit of children. There may be a many criteria for which the filter works, pornography, alternative lifestyles (homosexuality, adultery) and others. Filtering software is usually used in conservative and enclosed countries by conservative people.

If a legitimate site is blocked you may wish to bypass a filtering system, here are a few ideas. Some software may be bypassed sucessfully by using alternative protocols, such as ftp, searching for things in a different language, using proxy and others. You can usually gain a shell account, telnet into it, use the text-mode browser to read pages on how to bypass your particular system and implement this. You can also install/use a more professional operating system, such as unix variants which sometimes come with live distributions and use them. More information can be found here for windows users [[1] (http://www.peacefire.org/bypass/)].

See also censorship, Image retrieval, internet pornography, censorware, Net Nanny (http://www.netnanny.com), DeriveIt (http://www.deriveit.com/)