Content Monitoring Technologies

Content monitoring technologies include deep packet inspection (DPI) and content filtering software.

DPI examines the inside structure of data packets to determine their contents. If the technology was to be deployed in internet service providers’ (ISPs) networks it could potentially help them to know more about their users and traffic. ISPs would be able to block, shape, monitor and prioritise that traffic—in any direction.

DPI could be used by service providers to control or ‘shape’ traffic data flows to cope with heavy traffic threatening congestion. Likewise, it would help to prioritise differentiated traffic. It can be used to scrutinise content to decide whether to let it go through.

Content filtering software can be used to block access to specific content or categories of web-delivered content. The technology can be deployed by the end-user on home computers or on service providers’ networks (known as ISP filtering). When filters are deployed on ISP networks they can have a costly impact on network performance if they use a large index or undertake dynamic analysis of content.

Examples of potential regulatory uses of DPI filtering systems are:

However, DPI has the potential to be significantly abused. On this score, the role of the regulator is to ensure a fair distribution of available bandwidth among all network users.  Such a fair bandwidth distribution can be achieved through bandwidth management mechanisms which uses DPI-based classification of application traffic.