Introduction - Cisco ASR 5000 series Product Overview

▀ Introduction

Introduction
Content Filtering is an in-line service available for 3GPP and 3GPP2 networks to filter HTTP and WAP requests from
mobile subscribers based on the URLs in the requests. This enables operators to filter and control the content that an
individual subscriber can access, so that subscribers are inadvertently not exposed to universally unacceptable content
and/or content inappropriate as per the subscribers' preferences.
The Content Filtering service offers the following solutions:
URL Blacklisting:
In the URL Blacklisting solution, all HTTP/WAP URLs in subscriber requests are matched against a database
of ―blacklisted‖ URLs. If there is a match, the flow is discarded, redirected, or terminated as configured. If
there is no match, subscribers view the content as they would normally.
URL Blacklisting may/may not be a subscriber opt-in service, operators can enable URL Blacklisting either for
all subscribers or for a subset of subscribers. Typical cases include applying a blacklisted database of child
porn URLs to all subscribers so that they are inadvertently not exposed to such universally unacceptable
content.
Category-based Static Content Filtering:
In Category-based Static Content Filtering, all HTTP/WAP URLs in subscriber requests are matched against a
static URL categorization database. Action is taken based on a URL's category, and the action configured for
that category in the subscriber's content filtering policy. Possible actions include permitting, blocking,
redirecting, and inserting/altering content.
Important:
Typically Category-based Content Filtering is an opt-in service, subscribers self-choose a content-filtering policy or
plan, such as Teen, Child, Adult, etc., and are subjected to content filtering as per their chosen plan. Also, the content-
filtering policies of different subscribers may be different, enabling differential access of content to them. This solution
provides maximum flexibility, and is also referred to as the Policy-based Content Filtering.
Both URL Blacklisting and Category-based Content Filtering support can be concurrently enabled on a system.
Content Filtering uses Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) feature of Enhanced Charging Service (ECS) / Active Charging
Service (ACS) to discern HTTP and WAP requests.
▄ Cisco ASR 5000 Series Product Overview
Category-based Static-and-Dynamic Content Filtering feature is not supported in this release.
Content Filtering Support Overview
OL-22938-02