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Joe_L
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Jan 24, 2020

URL Category Database Useless

I have been struggling with the extremely worthless WebSense URL Category database. I say this because categories like "Information Technology" have several sub-categories within it. The problem with categories like these comes with creating and implementing Filters. It appears that with a filter you must allow ALL sub-categories in order for the main Category to be allowed. This is a problem with say.....Business & Economy, because the two sub-categories are "Hosted Business Applications" and "Financial Data & Services". So in order to get the main category of "Business & Economy" to be allowed (because Websense DOES categorize sites into the main categories) via a filter, I must allow BOTH "Hosted Business Applications" and "Financial Data & Services". This is a problem, because "Hosted Business Applications" is arguably NOT really "Business & Economy", but more appropriately falls under "Information Technology". The concept of having sub-categories is great, but that means your Main Categories become useless, if you aren't allowing ALL sub-categories, and if that is how it truly does work with filtering, then it sort of NEGATES having sub-categories. It may have been better to either make everything its own category, or just simply stick with the 40+ main categories only.

 

On a side note, it appears as though many of the major Social Media platforms have got their own main category, but again if WebSense categorizes anything from Facebook, Twitter, etc. as "Social Web - Facebook" or "Social Web - Twitter", and you aren't allowing ALL of the sub-categories wihtin those respective main categories, it will get blocked.

 

Am I way off base on this assessment of how all this works; am I missing something? Has anyone else run into these same issues?

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