Blocked websites

FOI Acknowledgement

Thank you for your FOI Request reference 145235.

Please quote this reference in any further correspondence pertaining to
this request. The Council anticipates responding within the statutory
period of 20 working days following the date of receipt; in this case the
due date is 22/06/11.

Please note that our preferred email address to receive Freedom of
Information requests is [Lambeth Borough Council request email]

Thank you for your interest in Lambeth Council

Tracy Phillips

Information Compliance Advisor

Legal Services

Governance and Democracy (F&R Dept)

Phone - 0207 926 7717

Mobile- 07908 839 933

Email - [email address]

Room 205, Lambeth Town Hall, Brixton Hill, SW1 1RW

www.lambeth.gov.uk

Please send all Information Requests / draft responses to:-
[1][email address]

Making a difference

"This email (and/or attachment) may contain information that is legally
privileged. Please consult Legal Services if you wish to forward it to
any person outside of Lambeth Council"

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Our reference: 145235

Dear Mr Armstrong,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 24 May in which you
requested the following information:

"Please can you list all the website domains that are currently blocked
from access using the Lambeth Council IT network within the Town Hall."

Please find below our response to your request.

The Council uses Messagelabs web filtering tool to control access to the
internet over the Council's corporate network for all users (not just for
users accessing the Council's network in the Town Hall). The Messagelabs
product which Lambeth Council subscribes to contains a database of over 67
million websites. Having considered your request, we are refusing to
provide access to the actual website domains that are blocked using the
messagelabs product, as this information is part of Messagelabs commercial
offering and the disclosure of the website domains from their database
would prejudice their commercial interests. In refusing access we are
claiming the exemption provided by section 43(2) of the Freedom of
Information Act (where disclosure would prejudice the commercial interests
of any party). This exemption is subject to a public interest test,
however, we are of the view that the public interest here favours the
maintaining of the exemption, rather than the public interest in
disclosure (which centres on a broad transparency arguement). I can
however confirm under the Council's Using Systems and Data Policy users
are automatically blocked from accessing the following categories of
websites over the Council's corporate network:

Adult/sexually explicit

Auctions

Chat rooms

Criminal skills

Drugs, alcohol & tobacco misuse

Gambling (including information and advice on placing wagers)

Games (including game downloading sites)

Hacking- promotion, instruction or advice on use of equipment/software for
hacking purposes

Personals & dating

Share trading

Advocation of hate speech based on associations such as religion, race
nationality, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation.

Streaming media (any live or archived audio or video files).

Violence -portray, describe or advocate the use of violence or excessive
use of profanities.

Weapons - enable/encourage the purchasing of weapons or depict the use of
weapons.

Terrorist sites - sites advocating the use of terrorism.

Should you be dissatisfied with the way in which your Freedom of
Information request has been dealt with you can request an internal review
by emailing: [Lambeth Borough Council request email] (Please quote the reference number above)
or by writing to:

Freedom of Information Officer
Legal Services
Lambeth Town Hall
Brixton Hill
Brixton
SW2 1RW

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of the review you have a
further right to appeal to the Information Commissioner, who regulates the
implementation of the Freedom of Information Act. The Commissioner can be
contacted at the following address:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Enquiry line: 01625 545745

Thank you for your interest in Lambeth Council.

Yours sincerely

Ian Goodwin
Information Governance Manager
London Borough of Lambeth
ICT Services
Finance & Resources
tel: 02079262341
www.lambeth.gov.uk

3rd floor Ivor House, 1 Acre Lane, London, SW2 5BF.
Lambeth - Making a difference

Security breaches can result in large fines from the Information
Commissioner, see [1]http://www.ico.gov.uk/news/press_release... for
more information. For guidance on handling information securely see our 10
golden information security rules,
[2]http://intranet.lambeth.gov.uk/Informati....

[3]http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/ictstrategy

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