Sex, drugs, gambling?it’s all in a day’s work for Harold Kester. He spends his days surfing the Internet for websites dedicated to pornography, racism and online gaming?sites that would get the average employee fired in a second. As the CTO of Websense, a San Diego-based Web filtering software developer, Kester’s job is to examine suspicious sites submitted daily by its clients. He and his staff classify sites according to 28 different languages (including Urdu, a language widely used by Muslims in Pakistan and India) as well as 78 content categories such as racism and hate, sex, gambling, violence, drugs and weapons. The newly categorized sites are entered into a master database, which can then block certain categories.Content management is old hat for Kester, the former CTO of Encyclopedia Britannica. “I’ve been looking at text classification for 17 years, and this is the most interesting application I’ve had for that background,” he says. That doesn’t make it easier to look at some of the things he sees. Some are truly strange, while others are deeply disturbing. “There was the site for people who are addicted to Chapstick,” he recalls. “Then there were the sites for people who are sexually interested in feet, stuffed animals, really obese women. There are also sites that advocate rape or extreme hate, and that’s hard to deal with.” Websense’s clients are often less interested in whether their employees are surfing the Victoria’s Secret catalog online than they are in maximizing bandwidth and managing productivity, Kester says. They just want to be sure people aren’t downloading huge, bulky sound files or playing Quake for hours when they’re supposed to be working. Related content News Amazon to lay off 9,000 more workers, including some at AWS The latest round of Amazon layoffs will impact AWS, Twitch, advertising and PXT, CEO Andy Jassy said. By Jon Gold Mar 20, 2023 3 mins Technology Industry Cloud Computing BrandPost What’s next for network operations Broadcom: 2023 Tech Trends That Transform IT By Serge Lucio, Vice President and General Manager, Agile Operations Division Mar 20, 2023 8 mins IT Leadership Networking BrandPost Digital transformation obstacles: Stubborn challenges, what to do about them Value Stream Management is an increasingly essential approach to strategic transformation initiatives. To help teams more fully capitalize on the opportunities it presents, Broadcom is holding its third annual VSM Summit. By Marla Schimke, Head of Product and Growth Marketing, Broadcom's Enterprise Software Division Mar 20, 2023 3 mins Devops Software Development Feature CEO directives: Top 5 initiatives for IT leaders As organizations change course with economic gyrations, collaboration between IT and business becomes priority No. 1 for CEOs. By Stacy Collett Mar 20, 2023 7 mins IT Leadership Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe