GB2358319A - Modem able to detect access to prohibited internet data - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a modem having an intelligent interface with a telephone line or fibre optic port, for monitoring the communication between a user's PC or interactive television and the Internet, and regulating Internet access based on the results of that monitoring. A list of prohibited words and optionally a list of permitted words is held in memory. Text sent from the PC/TV to the WWW is compared first with the words in the first list and then with words in the second list. If the outgoing text includes one or more prohibited words, the connection to the WWW is aborted for example by the generation of a control sequence of ASCII characters at the modem. If the outgoing text includes no permitted words, then the text header of information transmitted from the Internet site to the PC/TV via the modem is monitored, and the connection to the specified Internet site is terminated before display at the PC/TV of the text and/or graphic information from that site. When the monitored outgoing text contains one or more words contained in the list of permitted words, then there is no monitoring of the text header from the Internet site. The modem provides a reliable source of protection against the deliberate or inadvertent display of information from undesirable Internet sites.

Description

2358319 TITLE Intelligent Modem

DESCRIPTION Field of the Invention

The invention relates to modems for permitting computers to access the Internet and the world-wide web (WWW), and provides a modem With an intelligent interface for regulating Internet access.

Background Art

There is a great concern that access to the Internet can be morally damaging especially to the young, who are able either intentionally or accidentally to download undesirable salacious or pornographic material. One way in which such material can be accessed accidentally is if a user receives an unsolicited e-mail inviting him/her to click on a hyperlink. If that hyperlink takes the user to a pornographic web site, then undesirable material may be downloaded and displayed before the connection can be broken.

There are filtering search engines available, which are intended to prevent access to dubious sites. There are other programs which are not search engines but which monitor the output of the computer to the WWW and which block any requests to access sites known to be unsuitable. But all of those known programs have to be resident in computer memory and are therefore vulnerable to abuse by hackers who may access them and disable or by-pass them.

The modems through which users both send data to and receive data from a telephone or fibre optic network are currently available as internal or external modules. An internal modem would typically be plugged into an expansion slot of the PC or the motherboard of an interactive television or set-top box or hard-wired to the motherboard of the device. An external modem would typically be contained in a housing and sited along ide the PC or television, being connected to the PC/TV b a.,i umbilical connection to an output port of the device. Both internal and external modems communicate witl-,. the PC/TV in ASCII code, but communication is very limited, being restricted to identification of the modem on the on hand and programming it to perform different functions o,.1 the other.

No modem is known which has inbuilt intelligence to monitor the information being sent to the K-' o: -interactive television and to control Internet access in response to that monitored information.

The Invention The invention provides a modem having an intell:iglninterface with a telephone line or fibre optic port, fo monitoring the communication between a user's PC or interactive television and the Internet, and regulating Internet access based on the results of that monitoring, comprising: memory means within the interface, comprising a list of prohibited words; means for monitoring the text header of information transmitted from the Internet site to the PC/TV via the modem; and means for terminating the connection to Lhe specified Internet site before display at the PC/TV of th text and/or graphic information from that site, when th( monitored text header contains one or more words contii e( in the list of prohibited words.

The term "word" as used above and elsewhere in tiis Specification includes dictionary words and slang and invented words as well as phrases and identif:l,a:)lt sequences of symbols, including numbers. The term thus embraces all dictionary words and Internet addresses.

The term "telephone line" as used above and elsewhere in this Specification includes any transmission network used by telephones, mobile phones, video phones and pagers, and any other route for accessing the Internet or the WWW.

The term "TV" as used above and elsewhere in this Specification includes interactive television, cable television, televisions with set-top boxes and portable televisions.

The term "PC" as used above and elsewhere in this Specification includes personal computers, laptop computers, handheld computers, network computers and servers with modems or other devices for accessing the Internet.

The intelligent modem of the invention is unique in that it monitors the text information in the text header sent from the Internet site to the PC/TV, comparing the text in that text header with the prohibited words in the memory. All other filtering search engines and similar programs resident in computer memory have examined the outgoing stream of data from the PC/TV to check for suitability. This invention is based in part on the observation that the text headers of all Internet sites contain key words which reliably and truthfully identify the content of the site. Even sites which contain all-graphic information are preceded by a text header which elaborates on the information to be found in that site. Such information is an accurate reflection of the site content and is, for example, used by the Internet search engines to identify relevant subject matter when a user is browsing through the WWW trying to identify subject matter which will be useful of interest to him/her.

The Internet access may be broken if even one word in the text header preceding the downloading of information from a web site is found to match a prohibited word in the register of prohibited words. Alternatively t, ie connection may be maintained until a specified numbef f words from the monitored text header page has been mat::hqd with words from the register of prohibited words. For example three or four matches may be needed bef ore tl e Internet access is terminated.

When an Internet page is downloaded to a PC/TV it is always preceded by a text header which is not normal2y displayed on the PC screen. The text header contairs ASCII text or coding that can be transformed into A CII text, and that text includes a summary of the subject-matter of the Internet site. The subject -mat ter of all Internet sites is included accurately in the text headers, as it is accessed by the search engines used tD browse the web and identify sites of interest. Beczusa the text header is transmitted before the display rzag from the specified Internet site, the above monitoxin enables any offensive, pornographic or salacious sites t) be disconnected before their content is displayefl on- screen. As a generality, the download time of ail Internet site is sufficiently slow that the offen1sive content can be identified, and the access to that site terminated, before anything offensive starts to appear ot the screen.

In a preferred aspect of the invention, the intellignt modem interface is capable of monitoring both data fl(DwLn from the PC/TV to the Internet and data flowing from hE Internet to the PC/TV. The data f rom the PC/TV to hE Internet is address data, specifying the address of hE Internet site, or search data, specifying hE subject-matter for which the Internet is being searched. In this preferred form of the invention, the memory m(pans within the interface comprises both the list of prohibte(5 words in a first register and, in a second register, a list of permitted words. The latter is Used exclusiVEly for a comparison of words contained in the outgo:nq address data or search data sent from the PC/TV to the WWW via the modem for permitted word content. The former is used both for the examination of words contained in the outgoing address or search data and words contained in the text headers of web pages for prohibited word content.

If during the monitoring of the outgoing data, it is found that the address or search data being monitored contains one or more prohibited words from the first register, then the connection to the =s=x--e:w is aborted for example by the modem generating a termination code to stop the connection.

If during the monitoring of the outgoing data, it is found that the address or search data being monitored contains no prohibited words from the first register, then the comparison passes to the list of permitted words in the second register. If the address or search request contains one or more specifically permitted words from that second register, then access to the Internet site is allowed with no further monitoring. The second register may contain words from certain specifically allowed search request strategies, such as "education/history/math" or "biology/plants/insects" or "art/rembrandt/renoir", or may contain a number of specifically allowed web addresses. If any one of those words is identified, or alternatively if a predetermined number of those words in combination is identified, then the website is deemed to be one with an acceptable content, and there is no need further to monitor the text header of information received from the website as it is downloaded into the PC/TV.

If during monitoring of the transmitted web address or search request no words are identified which are prohibited words from the first register or permitted words from the second register, then the monitoring continues as monitoring of the text header of the web page as it is downloaded into the PC/TV through the intelligent modem of the invention, exactly as described above. if the text header is found to contain one or more prohil),i,.ed words, the connection to the Internet site is aborted] 101 example by the modem generating a termination code to s,ol the connection.

If the Internet is being searched for offensive 01 salacious material then if the list of pro hibited wo.-dE has been properly compiled the subject-matter should bE identifiable as being prohibited subject-matter and hE search would then be aborted. If desired a counter may bE included in the intelligent modem interface, and a c i l, er number (for example three) aborted searches in a sin 1E on-line session or a given number (for example threE) Of sequential aborted searches is preferably effective tC disconnect the telephone line connection by forcing a "hang up" command sequence. If desired, the same courl:er may include a timer function to prevent reconnection fo- a given time, thereby discouraging a determined user fropi seeking by trial and error to identify the words on:he list of prohibited words so that they can be avoided.

Thus for example a user searching for Internet si,:e!, dealing with pornographic material, and using as his/-1e:search term llpornll or "pornography" or "sex" or "sexy"; c:searching for non-pornographic but totally unsuita:)l. material such as "explosives" or "bomb-making" would fai.. to obtain access to any site if the above words were included in the list of prohibited words.

Whether the modem is the internal or external modem oE a PC/TV, the lists of words held in memory in the rncclein interface are preferably held on the output side of the interface, so that the memory and intelligence of: th interface are isolated as far as possible from the user. If the memory is reprogrammable to update or othe:t5YAis vary the contents of the lists, then that reprogramming ig preferably attainable only by accessing the memory down the telephone line.

The lists held in memory at the interface may be pre-compiled by a service provider and downloaded over the telephone line into a reprogrammable memory of the interface, or may be contained in a readonly memory in the interface. The lists may be based on a single commercially available and used dictionary or thesaurus or translator chip provided that each dictionary word could be flagged to show that it is permitted or prohibited. Alternatively the lists may contain the prohibited and permitted words in separate registers. Because of the comprehensive system of cross-indexing information in the text header files of Internet sites, the lists would not need to contain every single prohibited word or phrase in order to be very effective.

Multiple lists of permitted words may be provided, to define different areas of study which are permitted to different users. For example in an educational establishment different students may be empowered to access different lists of permitted words in the second register, thereby allowing some students less restricted Internet access than others.

If the modem is at the server end of the telephone line or fibre optic network, the possible interference from the users is further reduced.

Example A user is to be prevented from deliberately searching for and accessing pornographic material.

Supposing the user enters the subject-matter "penis" or "cock" or "bestiality" as a subject to be searched using a search engine. As soon as that search data is sent downline by the search engine, it is compared by the intelligent modem of the invention with prohibited words in the first list. As soon as the search request pasi,es through the modem, the modem identifies a prohibited wor and terminates the search by generating the appropriatE cancellation codes. Optionally the user may at this St_LgE be redirected to the front page of the search engine, with or without a message to explain why the search had beer. aborted.

Supposing the user knows the address of a pornograplic site or activates a hyperlink, and thus is able to Entex the WWW address directly rather than by using a SEaXch engine. The web address will probably not be in eit1ex list, and access to that site will therefore be permitted. However when that Internet site starts to download it will send its text header information first. This informatior can be analyzed while the rest of the graphic and taxt files are being downloaded. If words are recognized ffoTr the 'prohibited' list, then access is aborted well bEfore the graphic/text files are ready to display.

If the same user were to enter a web address or activate a hyperlink to a web address that is not a word in the list of prohibited words in the first list, then t 1he intelligent modem compares that address (or the words ir the corresponding search request) with the permitted I words in the second list. If there is a match, indicat..ng that Internet access should be permitted, the monitcrlnC, of the received web page does not take place and the pAgE is displayed on the PC/TV screen in its entirety.

If the above real-time comparison of the outgoing an incoming data is unable to keep up with the speed of thE data transmission through the modem, then the interface of the invention may incorporate a buffer so that the strean of data to be interrogated is held temporarily in thE buffer while the comparison with the words in the first and second lists is performed.

In a modification of the invention, the two lists may be held not in an intelligent interface of the modem of the PC/TV but in an intelligent interface of a modem at the;central switch or switching network of the server. In this modification the modem would need to carry sufficient intelligence to carry out the above control functions for multiple users.

In another modification the modem could automatically slow down its receive speed if additional time was needed to analyze the text header information.

In another modification the modem could be disabled if there was no information in either list, thereby reducing the possibility of tampering.

If there was a perceived need for the monitoring function of the intelligent modem interface to be disabled, then to avoid deliberate bypassing of the protection afforded by the system, that is preferably a security-coded option. That is to say, a PIN would have to be entered before the interface could be disabled. For maximum security the disabling signal would have to come down the telephone line from the server after transmitting a disable request and PIN to the server. Preferably there is auto reset to active on power down.

Claims (9)

1. A modem having an intelligent interface with a telephone line or fibre optic port, for monitoring thE communication between a user's PC or il i1v television and the Internet, and regulating Inte et access based on the results of that monitoz---i g, comprising:

memory means within the interface, comprising a list of prohibited words; means for monitoring the text header of informat. 0 transmitted from the Internet site to the PC/TV via. the modem; and means for terminating the connection to he specified Internet site before display at the PC/TV ol -he text and/or graphic information from that site, whei-):;he monitored text header contains one or more words contaiied in the list of prohibited words.

2. A modem according to claim 1, wherein the mean.,-) Eor terminating the connection comprises means for terminat.Lnq the Internet access if even one word in the text hEa er preceding the downloading of information from a web s t is found to match a prohibited word in the register oJ prohibited words.

3. A modem acording to claim 1, wherein the means E03terminating the connection comprises means for terminatLncr the Internet access if a specified number of words f ori the monitored text header page has been matched with wo-dz: from the register of prohibited words.

4. A modem according to claim 3, wherein the specif-ed number is three.

5. A modem according to claim 3, wherein the spec.-Lf I ed number is four.

I

6. A modem according to any preceding claim, wherein the memory means within the interface further comprises a list of permitted words, and further comprising means for monitoring information transmitted to the WWW from the PC/TV, including a first comparison means for comparing text sent from the PC/TV with the words in the list of prohibited words, and a second comparison means for comparing text sent from the PC/TV with the words in the list of permitted words; means for terminating the connection to the WWW when the first comparison means indicates that the data being sent by the user to the WWW contains one or more words from the list of prohibited words; means for passing control to the second comparison means when the first comparison means indicates that the data being sent by the user to the WWW contains no words from the list of prohibited words; and means for disabling the means for monitoring the text header of information transmitted from the Internet site to the PC/TV via the modem when the second comparison means indicates that the data sent by the user to the WWW contains one or more words from the list of permitted words.

7. A modem according to any preceding claim, wherein the memory means is accessible only from the output side of the interface, remote from the user.

8. A modem according to any preceding cl;aim, wherein the memory means is reprogrammable.

9. An intelligent modem according to claim 1, substantially as described herein.