CIPA Web Filtering API

A fast API built only for web filtering. It checks the page itself, not only the website it is on, and answers whether the page is safe under CIPA and for K-12 students. Pages with explicit content, such as an article with nude photographs on a news website, are identified as Adult.

Median response about 1 secondMost visited domains in milliseconds10 school categories$500 per 1 million calls

How a check works

1. Domain onlyAn address without a page of one of the most visited websites, such as foxnews.com, is answered straight from our database. Every other address is checked live.

2. PageThe page is loaded and checked for the 10 categories. If the first way of loading it fails, other ways are tried until the page can be read, for up to 10 seconds.

3. Page cannot be loadedThe answer is based on the website's categories in our database, and page_read is false. The page address can add a category, but never removes one.

4. UnverifiedWhen the page could not be loaded and the website is not in our database, unverified is true and the page is treated as not safe, unless you send unverified=allow.

Most of the response time is the time it takes the page itself to load, so the check runs about as long as the student's own browser needs to open the page.

Pricing

$500 per 1 million calls ($0.50 per 1,000 calls), from prepaid packs starting at $99. Calls to this API are counted separately from the credits of our other API plans. It is priced below our standard API because it returns web filtering answers only, without IAB categories and enrichment data. To buy calls, contact us at [email protected].

Endpoint

GET or POST https://www.websitecategorizationapi.com/api/filter/cipa.php

Parameter	Required	Description
`url`	yes	The address to check: a full page address or a domain, with or without `https://`.
`api_key`	yes	Your API key from your account.
`unverified`	no	`block` (default) or `allow`: what to answer when the page cannot be loaded and the website is not in our database.

Response fields

Field	Type	Meaning
`cipa_safe`	true / false	`false` when the page has content that CIPA requires schools and libraries to block (obscene, child pornography or harmful to minors: our Adult category) or is a VPN / proxy tool that gets around the filter. CIPA itself does not cover weapons, drugs, gambling or the other categories.
`k12_safe`	true / false	`false` when any of the 10 categories below is flagged: the categories schools usually block under their own internet safety policy.
`flags`	list	The categories that were found, for example `["Adult"]`. Empty when nothing was found.
`scores`	object	A score from 0 to 1 for each of the 10 categories for this page. A category is flagged from 0.5. `null` when the answer came from the database.
`root_domain_categories`	list	The categories of the root domain (the whole website) from our database, for example `["News/Media"]`. An adult or gambling website stays flagged on every one of its pages.
`page_read`	true / false	Whether the page itself was loaded and read.
`checked_from`	text	`page`, `website` (domain-only address), `website_and_address` (page could not be loaded) or `address` (page could not be loaded, website not in our database) or `dns` (the domain does not exist).
`unverified`	true / false	`true` when the page could not be loaded and the website is not in our database.
`domain_exists`	true / false / null	`false` when the domain is not registered (checked when no page could be loaded), `null` when it could not be checked.
`response_ms`	number	Time the check took, in milliseconds.
`filtering_taxonomy`	list	All categories (page and website) in the same format as our other web filtering endpoints.
`status`	number	`200` when the check succeeded.

Example: a page on a news website

curl "https://www.websitecategorizationapi.com/api/filter/cipa.php?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY&url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/kim-kardashians-full-frontal-pics-hit-the-web"

{ "url": "https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/kim-kardashians-full-frontal-pics-hit-the-web", "status": 200, "cipa_safe": false, "k12_safe": false, "flags": ["Adult"], "scores": {"Adult": 0.79, "Gambling": 0.02, "Illegal Drugs": 0.02, "Weapons": 0.01, "Violence": 0.05, "Hate/Discrimination": 0.04, "VPN / Proxy / Anonymizers": 0.02, "Alcohol": 0.02, "Tobacco": 0.02, "Dating": 0.02}, "root_domain_categories": ["News/Media", "Political"], "page_read": true, "checked_from": "page", "unverified": false, "domain_exists": true, "response_ms": 730, "filtering_taxonomy": [["Category name: Adult", "Confidence: 0.79"], ["Category name: News/Media", "Confidence: 1.0"], ["Category name: Political", "Confidence: 1.0"]] }

Example: a domain only

curl "https://www.websitecategorizationapi.com/api/filter/cipa.php?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY&url=foxnews.com"

{ "url": "foxnews.com", "status": 200, "cipa_safe": true, "k12_safe": true, "flags": [], "scores": null, "root_domain_categories": ["News/Media", "Political"], "page_read": false, "checked_from": "website", "unverified": false, "domain_exists": true, "response_ms": 0, "filtering_taxonomy": [["Category name: News/Media", "Confidence: 1.0"], ["Category name: Political", "Confidence: 1.0"]] }

The 10 categories

Category	A page is flagged when it contains or mainly offers	Counts for
Adult	pornography, nudity, nude or topless photos, or sexually explicit material, including news or gossip articles about nude or explicit photos	CIPA, K-12
VPN / Proxy / Anonymizers	VPNs, web proxies or tools that hide identity or get around a web filter	CIPA, K-12
Gambling	betting, casinos, poker, lotteries or sports betting with money	K-12
Illegal Drugs	buying, selling, using or promoting illegal or recreational drugs, including cannabis	K-12
Weapons	selling or promoting guns, ammunition, knives or weapon making	K-12
Violence	graphic violence, gore, killing or serious assault shown or described	K-12
Hate/Discrimination	content attacking people for race, religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation	K-12
Alcohol	selling or promoting alcoholic drinks	K-12
Tobacco	selling or promoting cigarettes, vaping or tobacco	K-12
Dating	dating sites or apps for finding romantic or sexual partners	K-12

Errors

Status	Meaning
`400`	The `url` parameter is missing or is not a web address.
`401`	The API key is missing or invalid.
`403`	Your prepaid web filtering API calls are used up.
`503`	The check could not finish. Please retry the request.

Try it on your own pages: Web Filtering Check demo, up to 15 free checks a day. For volume pricing and a database licence for your filter, contact us at [email protected]. Other endpoints are in the API documentation.