Safer Internet - Completed Projects - Filtering & Rating

ACTIVITIES :: Safer Internet Programme :: Closed projects :: SIP-BENCH

SIP-BENCH

Background

The SIP-Bench study is an expert, vendor/supplier-independent, objective assessment of the filtering software and services currently available. The study was carried out through an annual benchmarking exercise of approximately 30 parental control products or services repeated over 3 years.

The study aims at providing guidance to parents and educators, in particular at improving awareness of solutions and promoting best practices. In addition, the study provides recommendations for future products in order to steer vendors and service providers.

The focus of the benchmarking was on effectiveness, performance, usability, configurability, transparency and suitability for the European cultural context. The benchmarking was segmented in two age brackets of children (below and over 10 years old) in order to cope with the different risks and requirements specific to each age.

According to the Eurobarometer survey 2008, fifty nine percent of parents declared that they using filtering or monitoring software. The benchmarking study provides essential results and recommendations to empower parents and educators to choose and use adequate filtering solutions, being aware of their capabilities and limitations.

>> See the new SIP-BENCH II study page for more information on benchmarking of parental control tools

Results for the 2008 benchmarking exercise are available to download:

Overview of the scores of 26 filtering solutions and to learn about general observations
Synthesis report (PDF 1MB)
Detailed evaluation of each of the 26 filtering solutions in the benchmark 2008
Detailed Report (PDF 2.6MB)
Methodology applied to obtain the test results and scores
Test and Scoring Methodology (1MB)
Summary Results Table 2008
(PDF 120kb) (MS Excel 90kb)