NetSTAR

KDDI Corporation

KDDI Corporation uses NetSTAR's URL database for its "EZ Safety Access Service Category Restriction Course," a filtering service that uses the blacklist method. While allowing access to a broad range of general sites, it shuts out sites belonging to specific categories such as harmful sites, dating sites, adult sites, and bulletin boards, thereby providing an environment in which juveniles can use mobile sites safely and comfortably.

Mobile sites at risk of posing a danger or exerting a bad influence on juveniles, such as scam sites, dating sites, and bulletin boards, have been on the increase in recent years. In 2006, KDDI Corporation (hereafter, KDDI), a major mobile phone industry player, began offering the "EZ Safety Access Service Site Restriction Course," a filtering service using the white list method as a countermeasure for this problem. This service allows access only to approved mobile sites that have been judged suitable for juveniles, providing an environment in which guardians can let juveniles use mobile phones with peace of mind. However, as this service greatly limits access destinations owing to the nature of white lists of approved sites, KDD decided to introduce a new filtering service using the blacklist method that would allow access to general mobile sites and prohibit access only to sites belonging to specific categories. "First we introduced white lists as we pursued safety, but it was later decided to add a filtering service using the blacklist method, which allows a wider access range, in response to the diversification of customer needs," says Matsubara. KDDI used to compile in house databases of approved sites for its initial filtering service using white lists. However, when it came to a filtering service using blacklists, the necessity to cover an enormous number of general sites led to the decision to use URL lists supplied by specialized vendors instead of in-house sorting of sites. Regarding the situation at the time, Matsubara says, "When this topic came up, we came to the conclusion that couldn't possibly do this in house." After comparing the URL databases of a number of companies, NetSTAR was selected on account of the company's operational experience with companies in the same industry as ours, as well as its solid reputation for quality concerning its collection and classification of URL database through visual verification. "The classification of sites is extremely difficult due to the existence of gray zones. How to perform categorization is a challenge. Depending on automated processes leads to imbalance. In this regard, NetSTAR used its visual verification of sites as a selling point, and based on comprehensive evaluation including antecedent usage at other companies, we decided to use NetSTAR," says Kobayashi. KDDI's system construction work in preparation for the delivery of services covered a broad range of aspects, from changing the system for EZweb, the company's Internet connection portal service, to the introduction of filtering servers and the development of the interface for the acquisition of NetSTAR's URL database. KDDI has not released numbers regarding the estimated number of users, which was one of the premises for the system's construction, but the number of users can be easily imagined considering the number of children attending school, which is on the order of 7.5 million. "Due to large number of customers to be accommodated, the scale involved was very large, and system creation took a lot of time and expenses. This sort of system is not that easy to realize," says Kobayashi. In March 2008, one year and three months from the birth of the system concept, KDDI's new filtering service, "EZ Safety Access Service Category Restriction Course," was launched. As a result, in addition to the original "EZ Safety Access Service Site Restriction Course," KDDI's licensed users were given the option of selecting the new filtering service. The operation of the "EZ Safety Access Service Category Restriction Course" launched after much anticipation has been smooth, and the number of users of the service has been growing in line with expectations. Amid the rash of problems related to mobile juvenile sites, such as school back sites and dating sites, "filtering has been taken up by the media, and the currency of this topic is spurring the growth of users," says Kobayashi. KDDI offers a battery of filtering services, all free of charge, and Kobayashi says that "This being a service that serves a pressing public need, we consider it the responsibility of the company to ensure that customers are able to use it safely," stressing that social contribution is a more important aspect than profitability at this time. On the other hand, however, KDDI has been receiving a surprisingly large number of inquiries regarding this service from business users, and "the addition of filtering services for businesses in the future is a possibility," says Matsubara. The future undertakings of KDDI, which constantly leads the industry with new services, are sure to draw keen attention.

"Customers should talk with their children at home and select the best filter for their needs." (Matsubara Satoru:Senior Manager Mobile network service Section Network Service Planning Department Consumer Service & Product Planning Division) "The more literate customers become, the greater the demand for filtering service." (Kobayashi Daisuke:Assistant Manager Mobile network service Section Network Service Planning Department Consumer Service & Product Planning Division)

In order to maintain and raise filtering accuracy, NetSTAR operates a specialized team that collects and classifies URLs of mobile sites. The collection center, which features a large number of mobile phones for monitoring purposes, classifies sites through visual inspection done by full-time specialist staff. Highly accurate filtering of dating, adult, and other risky sites, which crop up and disappear very fast, is achieved through daily updates of URL database.

one of Japan's leading information and telecommunications companies, heads a group of companies with a broad range of operations, from mobile phone service operations known under the au brand, to fixed-line telecommunications centering on broad-band, and including contents and media businesses. On a consolidated basis, it has over 15,000 employees. It is a leader in the mobile phone market, where is continually introduces new services and innovative terminals, and its number of subscribers is nearing 30 million.

* Service names, the sections of the persons herein mentioned, their titles and other information are current as of the time of information gathering, and may have changed since.