Category List
Adult
Directed at adults, but not necessarily pornographic. May include adult clubs (strip clubs, swingers clubs, escort services, strippers); general information about sex, non-pornographic in nature; genital piercing; adult products or greeting cards; information about sex not in the context of health or disease.
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www.adultentertainmentexpo.com
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www.sincerelynot.com
Advertisements
Banner and pop-up advertisements that often accompany a web page; other advertising websites that provide advertisement content. Advertising services and sales are classified as “Business and Industry.”
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www.adforce.com
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www.doubleclick.com
Alcohol
Alcohol as a pleasurable activity; beer and wine making, cocktail recipes; liquor sellers, wineries, vineyards, breweries, alcohol distributors. Alcohol addiction is classified as “Health and Nutrition.” Bars and restaurants are classified as “Dining and Drinking.”
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www.samueladams.com
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www.whisky.com
Animals and Pets
Information about domestic animals, livestock, service animals, pets and their care. Veterinary services, medicines, and animal health. Pet and animal training, aquariums, zoos, and animal shows. Includes animal shelters, humane societies, animal centric charities, and sanctuaries, bee keeping, training, and animal husbandry; dinosaurs and extinct animals.
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wheaten.org.uk
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petmd.co
Arts
Galleries and exhibitions; artists and art; photography; literature and books; performing arts and theater; musicals; ballet; museums; design; architecture. Cinema and television are classified as “Entertainment.”
- www.moma.org
- www.nga.gov
Astrology
Astrology, horoscope, fortune telling, numerology, psychic advice, tarot.
- www.astro.com
- www.astrology.com
Auctions
Online and offline auctions, auction houses, and classified advertisements.
- www.craigslist.com
- www.ebay.com
Business and Industry
Marketing, commerce, corporations, business practices, workforce, human resources, transportation, payroll, security and venture capital; office supplies; industrial equipment (process equipment), machines and mechanical systems; heating equipment, cooling equipment; materials handling equipment; packaging equipment; manufacturing; solids handling, metal fabrication, construction and building; passenger transportation; commerce; industrial design; construction, building materials; shipping and freight (freight services, trucking, freight forwarders, truckload carriers, freight and transportation brokers, expedited services, load and freight matching, track and trace, rail shipping, ocean shipping, road feeder services, moving and storage).
- www.freightcenter.com
- www.ge.com
Cannabis
Websites that focus on the recreational and medicinal consumption of cannabis. Sites may include marketing, discussions about legal and regulatory issues, growth and production, paraphernalia, research, and investment in the cannabis industry. Dispensaries, cannabinoid (CBD oil, THC, etc.) based products are also included.
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oregonbc.com
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hightimes.com
Chat and Instant Messaging
Web-based instant messaging and chat rooms.
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www.e-chat.co
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www.icq.com
Cheating and Plagiarism
Promoting cheating and selling written work, such as term papers, plagiarism.
- www.bestessays.com
- www.superiorpapers.com
Child Abuse Content
Worldwide illegal child sexual abuse content. In Cisco ScanCenter, Cisco blocks all child abuse content for all customers without exception, and for legal reasons keeps no logs. This category is never displayed in Cisco ScanCenter.
![]() Note |
In the Cisco Web Security Appliance, when URL categorization is enabled, this category is logged in the access logs regardless of whether the content is blocked. |
Cloud and Data Centers
Platforms used to serve cloud infrastructure or data center hosting to support an organization's applications, services, or data processing. Due to the de-centralized nature of these domains and IP addresses, a more specific category cannot be applied based on content or ownership.
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oraclecloud.com
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s3.amazonaws.com
Computer Security
Offering security products and services for corporate and home users.
- www.computersecurity.com
- www.symantec.com
![]() Caution |
Cisco ScanCenter is included in the Computer Security category. Therefore, any policies created for the Computer Security category will also apply to Cisco ScanCenter. For example, if you add a Web filter policy that blocks the Computer Security category, your access to Cisco ScanCenter will also be blocked. A workaround is to first add the Cisco ScanCenter URL to an allowed list before blocking the Computer Security category. |
Computers and Internet
Information about computers and software, such as hardware, software, software support; information for software engineers, programming and networking; website design; the web and Internet in general; computer science; computer graphics and clipart. “Freeware and Shareware” is a separate category.
- www.w3.org
- www.xml.com
Conventions, Conferences, and Trade Shows
Seminars, trade shows, conventions and conferences themed around a particular industry, market, or common interest. May include information about acquiring tickets, registration, abstract or presentation proposal guidelines, workshops, sponsorship details, vendor or exhibitor information, and other marketing or promotional material. This category includes academic, professional, as well as pop-culture events, all of which tend to be a short-lived or annual event.
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thesmallbusinessexpo.com
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makerfaire.com
Cryptocurrency
Online brokerages and websites that enable users to trade cryptocurrencies; information regarding cryptocurrencies including analysis, commentary, advice, performance indexes, and price charts. General information about cryptomining and mining businesses are included in this category but domains and IP addresses directly involved in mining activities are categorized as Cryptomining.
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cryptoultimatum.com
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coinbase.com
Cryptomining
Hosts that are actively participating in a cryptocurrency mining pool.
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give-me-coins.com
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slushpool.com
Dating
Dating, online personals, matrimonial agencies.
- www.eharmony.com
- www.match.com
Digital Postcards
Enabling sending of digital postcards and e-cards.
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www.greenvelope.com
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www.hallmarkecards.com
Dining and Drinking
Eating and drinking establishments; restaurants, bars, taverns, and pubs; restaurant guides and reviews.
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www.experiencethepub.com
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www.zagat.com
DNS Tunneling
Sites that provide DNS Tunneling as a service. These services can be for PC or mobile and create a VPN connection specifically over DNS to send traffic that may bypass corporate policies and inspection.
DoH and DoT
Encrypted DNS requests using either the DNS over HTTPS (DoH) protocol or the DNS over TLS protocol. These protocols are typically used as a layer of security and privacy by end-users, but the encryption hides the destination of the request and passes it through a third-party.
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cloudflare-dns.com
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rdns.faelix.net
Do It Yourself (DIY) Projects
Guidance and information to create, improve, modify, decorate, and repair something without the aid of experts or professionals.
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www.diy-tips.co.uk
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www.thisoldhouse.com
Dynamic and Residential
IP addresses of broadband links that usually indicate users attempting to access their home network, for example, for a remote session to a home computer.
Dynamic DNS Provider
Users may use dynamic DNS services to make certain applications or content accessible via the web from endpoints hosted on dynamically assigned IP addresses. Access is granted through a hostname on the domain owned by the dynamic DNS service.
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dyndns-server.com
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noip.com
Education
Education-related, such as schools, colleges, universities, teaching materials, and teachers’ resources; technical and vocational training; online training; education issues and policies; financial aid; school funding; standards and testing.
- www.education.com
- www.greatschools.org
Entertainment
Details or discussion of films; music and bands; television; celebrities and fan websites; entertainment news; celebrity gossip; entertainment venues. Compare with the “Arts” category.
- www.eonline.com
- www.ew.com
Extreme
Material of a sexually violent or criminal nature; violence and violent behavior; tasteless, often gory photographs, such as autopsy photos; photos of crime scenes, crime and accident victims; excessive obscene material; shock websites.
- www.car-accidents.com
- www.crime-scene-photos.com
Fashion
Clothing and fashion; hair salons; cosmetics; accessories; jewelry; perfume; pictures and text relating to body modification; tattoos and piercing; modeling agencies. Dermatological products are classified as “Health and Nutrition.”
- www.fashion.net
- www.findabeautysalon.com
File Transfer Services
File transfer services with the primary purpose of providing download services and hosted file sharing
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www.wetransfer.com
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www.yousendit.com
Filter Avoidance
Promoting and aiding undetectable and anonymous web usage, including cgi, php and glype anonymous proxy services.
- www.bypassschoolfilter.com
- www.filterbypass.com
Finance
Primarily financial in nature, such as accounting practices and accountants, taxation, taxes, banking, insurance, investing, the national economy, personal finance involving insurance of all types, credit cards, retirement and estate planning, loans, mortgages. Stock and shares are classified as “Online Trading.”
- finance.yahoo.com
- www.bankofamerica.com
Freeware and Shareware
Downloads of free software and shareware .
- www.freewarehome.com
- www.shareware.com
Gambling
Casinos and online gambling; bookmakers and odds; gambling advice; competitive racing in a gambling context; sports booking; sports gambling; services for spread betting on stocks and shares. Websites dealing with gambling addiction are classified as “Health and Nutrition.” Government-run lotteries are classified as “Lotteries.”
- www.888.com
- www.gambling.com
Games
Various card games, board games, word games, and video games; combat games; sports games; downloadable games; game reviews; cheat sheets; computer games and Internet games, such as role-playing games.
- www.games.com
- www.shockwave.com
Government and Law
Government websites; foreign relations; news and information relating to government and elections; information relating to the field of law, such as attorneys, law firms, law publications, legal reference material, courts, dockets, and legal associations; legislation and court decisions; civil rights issues; immigration; patents and copyrights; information relating to law enforcement and correctional systems; crime reporting, law enforcement, and crime statistics; military, such as the armed forces, military bases, military organizations; anti-terrorism.
- www.law.com
- www.usa.gov
Hacking
Discussing ways to bypass the security of websites, software, and computers.
- www.gohacking.com
- www.hackthissite.org
Hate Speech
Websites promoting hatred, intolerance, or discrimination on the basis of social group, color, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity; websites promoting racism, sexism, racist theology, hate music, neo-Nazi organizations, supremacism; Holocaust denial.
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www.aryanunity.com
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www.kukluxklan.bz
Health and Nutrition
Health care; diseases and disabilities; medical care; hospitals; doctors; medicinal drugs; mental health; psychiatry; pharmacology; exercise and fitness; physical disabilities; vitamins and supplements; sex in the context of health (disease and health care); tobacco use, alcohol use, drug use, and gambling in the context of health (disease and health care); food in general; food and beverage; cooking and recipes; food and nutrition, health, and dieting; cooking, including recipe and culinary websites; alternative medicine.
![]() Caution |
After February 8, 2021, this category will be split into “Recipes and Food” and “Health and Medicine” designed to provide more granular context for sites and more accurate management of web traffic. Thereafter, “Health and Nutrition” will be available only for the reporting of previously generated traffic. |
Health and Medicine
Health care; diseases and disabilities; medical care; hospitals; doctors; medicinal drugs; mental health; psychiatry; pharmacology; exercise and fitness; physical disabilities; vitamins and supplements; sex in the context of health (disease and health care); tobacco use, alcohol use, drug use, and gambling in the context of health (disease and health care).
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webmd.com
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health.com
Humor
Jokes, sketches, comics, and other humorous content. Adult humor likely to offend is classified as “Adult.”
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www.jokes.com
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www.pun.me
Hunting
Professional or sport hunting, gun clubs and other hunting related sites.
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bulletsafaris.com
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www.mfha.org
Illegal Activities
Promoting crime, such as stealing, fraud, illegally accessing telephone networks; computer viruses; terrorism, bombs, and anarchy; websites depicting murder and suicide and explaining ways to commit them.
- www.ekran.no
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www.pyrobin.com
Illegal Downloads
Providing the ability to download software or other materials, serial numbers, key generators, and tools for bypassing software protection in violation of copyright agreements. Torrents are classified as “Peer File Transfer.”
- www.keygenguru.com
- www.zcrack.com
Illegal Drugs
Information about recreational drugs, drug paraphernalia, drug purchase, and manufacture.
- www.cocaine.org
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www.shroomery.org
Infrastructure and Content Delivery
Content delivery infrastructure and dynamically generated content; websites that cannot be classified more specifically because they are secured or otherwise difficult to classify.
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www.control.akamai.com
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www.webstat.net
Internet of Things
Domains used to monitor the general health, activity, or aid in the configuration of Internet of Things (IoT) and other network-aware electronics. Additionally these sites may provide software or firmware updates or allow remote access to administer the device. IoT exists in both consumer and professional segments, in products such as printers, televisions, thermostats, system monitoring, automation, and smart appliances.
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samsungotn.net
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transport.nest.com
Internet Telephony
Telephonic services using the Internet.
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www.getvoca.com
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www.skype.com
Job Search
Career advice; resume writing and interviewing skills; job placement services; job databanks; permanent and temporary employment agencies; employer websites.
- www.careerbuilder.com
- www.monster.com
Lingerie and Swimsuits
Intimate apparel and swimwear, especially when modeled.
- www.swimsuits.com
- www.victoriassecret.com
Lotteries
Sweepstakes, contests, and state-sponsored lotteries.
- www.calottery.com
- www.flalottery.com
Military
Military, such as the armed forces, military bases, military organizations, and anti-terrorism.
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www.goarmy.com
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www.todaysmilitary.com
Mobile Phones
Short Message Services (SMS); ringtones and mobile phone downloads. Cellular carrier websites are included in the “Business and Industry” category.
- www.cbfsms.com
- www.zedge.net
Museums
Museums and exhibits, both online and physical, dedicated to preserving information regarding subjects that could be of general interest or highly specialized. Subjects could range from art, history, science, or be of cultural importance.
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ushmm.org
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museodelasmomiasdeguanajuato.negocio.site
Nature
Natural resources; ecology and conservation; forests; wilderness; plants; flowers; forest conservation; forest, wilderness, and forestry practices; forest management (reforestation, forest protection, conservation, harvesting, forest health, thinning, and prescribed burning); agricultural practices (agriculture, gardening, horticulture, landscaping, planting, weed control, irrigation, pruning, and harvesting); pollution issues (air quality, hazardous waste, pollution prevention, recycling, waste management, water quality, and the environmental cleanup industry); animals, pets, livestock, and zoology; biology; botany.
![]() Caution |
After February 8, 2021, this category will be split into “Nature and Conservation” and “Animals and Pets” designed to provide more granular context for sites and more accurate management of web traffic. Thereafter, “Nature” will be available only for the reporting of previously generated traffic. |
Nature and Conservation
Sites related to natural resources; ecology and conservation; forests; wilderness; plants; flowers; forest conservation; forest, wilderness, and forestry practices; forest management (reforestation, forest protection, conservation, harvesting, forest health, thinning, and prescribed burning); agricultural practices (agriculture, gardening, horticulture, landscaping, planting, weed control, irrigation, pruning, and harvesting); pollution issues (air quality, hazardous waste, pollution prevention, recycling, waste management, water quality, and the environmental cleanup industry).
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nature.org
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thepottedgarden.co.uk
News
News, headlines, newspapers, television stations, magazines, weather, ski conditions.
- news.bbc.co.uk
- www.cnn.com
Non-Governmental Organizations
Non-governmental organizations such as clubs, lobbies, communities, non-profit organizations and labor unions.
- www.panda.org
- www.unions.org
Non-Sexual Nudity
Nudism and nudity; naturism; nudist camps; artistic nudes.
- www.artenuda.com
- www.naturistsociety.com
Online Communities
Affinity groups; special interest groups; web newsgroups; message boards. Excludes websites classified as “Professional Networking” or “Social Networking.”
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www.igda.org
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www.reddit.com
Online Document Sharing and Collaboration
Cloud-based software used to create, convert, or edit documents. Collaboration and sharing features may be available with access permissions typically configured by the author. Documents may be stored online or available to download.
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docs.google.com
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pastebin.com
Online Meetings
Online meetings, desktop sharing, remote access, and other tools that facilitate multi-location collaboration.
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www.join.me
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www.teamviewer.com
Online Storage and Backup
Offsite and peer-to-peer storage for backup, sharing, and hosting.
- www.adrive.com
- www.dropbox.com
Online Trading
Online brokerages; websites that enable the user to trade stocks online; information relating to the stock market, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, brokers, stock analysis and commentary, stock screens, stock charts, IPOs, stock splits. Services for spread-betting on stocks and shares are classified as “Gambling.” Other financial services are classified as “Finance.”
- www.scottrade.com
- www.tdameritrade.com
Organizational Email
Websites used to access business email (often via Outlook Web Access).
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mail.zoho.com
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webmail.edmc.edu
Paranormal
UFOs, ghosts, cryptid, telekenesis, urban legends, and myths.
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www.ghoststudy.com
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www.ufocasebook.com
Parked Domains
Websites that monetize traffic from the domain using paid listings from an ad network, or are owned by “squatters” hoping to sell the domain name for a profit. These also include fake search websites which return paid ad links.
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www.cricketbuzz.com
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www.domainzaar.com
Peer File Transfer
Peer-to-peer file request websites. Using this category in a web filter does not track the file transfers themselves.
- www.bittorrent.com
- www.limewire.com
Personal Sites
Websites about and from private individuals; personal homepage servers; websites with personal contents; personal blogs with no particular theme.
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www.blogmaverick.com
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www.stallman.org
Personal VPN
Virtual private network (VPN) sites or tools that are typically used for personal use and may or may not be approved for corporate use.
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www.openvpn.net
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www.torvpn.com
Photo Searches and Images
Facilitating the storing and searching for, images, photographs, and clip art.
- www.flickr.com
- www.photobucket.com
Politics
Websites of politicians; political parties; news and information on politics, elections, democracy, and voting.
- www.politics.com
- www.thisnation.com
Pornography
Sexually explicit text or depictions. Includes explicit anime and cartoons; general explicit depictions; other fetish material; explicit chat rooms; sex simulators; strip poker; adult movies; lewd art; web-based explicit email.
- www.redtube.com
- www.youporn.com
Private IP Addresses as Host
Private IP addresses which are used as the host part of a URL. Private IP addresses are meant for internal use behind border routers only, so they are not publicly routable.
Professional Networking
Social networking for the purpose of career or professional development. See also “Social Networking.”
- www.linkedin.com
- www.europeanpwn.net
Real Estate
Information that would support the search for real estate; office and commercial space; real estate listings, such as rentals, apartments, and homes; house building.
- www.realtor.com
- www.zillow.com
Recipes and Food
Sites dedicated to sharing or discussing information about cooking, recipes, and food or non-alcoholic beverages; cultural aspects of cuisine and food; diet descriptions and adherence tips, general nutrition information about foods. Use and instruction on cooking appliances and utensils. Food celebrity, lifestyle, and enthusiast blogs.
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tastyfamrecipes.com
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taste.co.za
Reference
City and state guides, maps, time, reference sources, dictionaries, libraries.
- www.wikipedia.org
- www.yellowpages.com
Regional Restricted Sites
A new set of categories which contain URLs that are restricted in a particular country due to content which may be unlawful as determined by the regional government. We are unable to share the contents of most of these lists. Poland is an exception as this list is public.
Regional Restricted Sites (Poland)
URLs that are restricted in Poland due to content which may be unlawful as determined by the regional government. Further details may be found here: Ministerstwo Finansów.
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casino-x526.com
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esportgaming.co
Religion
Religious content, information about religions, religious communities.
- www.religionfacts.com
- www.religioustolerance.org
SaaS and B2B
Web portals for online business services; online meetings.
- www.netsuite.com
- www.salesforce.com
Safe for Kids
Directed at, and specifically approved for, young children.
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www.discoverykids.com
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www.nickjr.com
Science and Technology
Science and technology, such as aerospace, electronics, engineering, mathematics, and other similar disciplines; space exploration; meteorology; geography; environment; energy (fossil, nuclear, renewable); communications (telephones, telecommunications).
- www.physorg.com
- www.science.gov
Search Engines and Portals
Search engines and other initial points of access to information on the Internet.
- www.bing.com
- www.google.com
Sex Education
Factual websites dealing with sex, sexual health, contraception, pregnancy.
- www.avert.org
- www.scarleteen.com
Shopping
Bartering; online purchasing; coupons and free offers; general office supplies; online catalogs; online malls.
- www.amazon.com
- www.shopping.com
Social Networking
Social networking. See also “Professional Networking.”
- www.facebook.com
- www.twitter.com
Social Sciences
Sciences and history related to society; archaeology; anthropology; cultural studies; history; linguistics; geography; philosophy; psychology; women’s studies.
- www.anthropology.net
- www.archaeology.org
Society and Culture
Family and relationships; ethnicity; social organizations; genealogy; seniors; child-care.
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www.childcareaware.org
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www.familysearch.org
Software Updates
Websites that host updates for software packages.
- www.softwarepatch.com
- www.versiontracker.com
Sports and Recreation
All sports, professional and amateur; recreational activities; fishing; fantasy sports; public parks; amusement parks; water parks; theme parks; zoos and aquariums; spas.
- www.espn.com
- www.recreation.gov
Streaming Audio
Real-time streaming audio content including Internet radio and audio feeds.
- www.live-radio.net
- www.shoutcast.com
Streaming Video
Real-time streaming video including Internet television, web casts, and video sharing.
- www.hulu.com
- www.youtube.com
Terrorism and Violent Extremism
Terrorist or extremist websites that promote death or violence as part of their ideology. Sites may contain graphic or disturbing images, videos, and text. Some sites may not advocate terrorism but share first-hand material of a violent nature.
Tobacco
Pro-tobacco websites; tobacco manufacturers; pipes and smoking products (not marketed for illegal drug use). Tobacco addiction is classified as “Health and Nutrition.”
- www.bat.com
- www.tobacco.org
Transportation
Personal transportation; information about cars and motorcycles; shopping for new and used cars and motorcycles; car clubs; boats, airplanes, recreational vehicles (RVs), and other similar items. Note, car and motorcycle racing is classified as “Sports and Recreation.”
- www.cars.com
- www.motorcycles.com
Travel
Business and personal travel; travel information; travel resources; travel agents; vacation packages; cruises; lodging and accommodation; travel transportation; flight booking; airfares; car rental; vacation homes.
- www.expedia.com
- www.lonelyplanet.com
Unclassified
Websites that are not in the Cisco database are recorded as unclassified for reporting purposes. This category may include mistyped URLs.
URL Shorteners
Domains used to shorten long URLs, brand URLs, or may obscure the final destination of a hyperlink.
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bit.ly
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tinyurl.com
Weapons
Information relating to the purchase or use of conventional weapons such as gun sellers, gun auctions, gun classified ads, gun accessories, gun shows, and gun training; general information about guns; other weapons and graphic hunting sites may be included. Government military websites are classified as “Government and Law.”
- www.coldsteel.com
- www.gunbroker.com
Web-Based Email
Public web-based email services. Websites enabling individuals to access their company or organization’s email service are classified as “Organizational Email.”
- mail.yahoo.com
- www.hotmail.com
Web Cache and Archives
Cached or archived web content often stored for preservation or to decrease load times.
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cachedview.com
-
archive.org
Web Hosting
Website hosting; bandwidth services.
- www.bluehost.com
- www.godaddy.com
Web Page Translation
Translation of web pages between languages.
- babelfish.yahoo.com
- translate.google.com