- Monday, February 22nd, 2010
- Written By Luke Gilkerson
- Categories: Accountability Software, Criticisms and FAQ for Covenant Eyes Back to Blog Home
Reading Accountability Reports: Crash Course in the Covenant Eyes Scoring System
The information in this post is outdated. For a detailed description of how our new Web rating system works, visit here.
If you receive a Covenant Eyes accountability report, you may have questions about what the little numbers mean. Our service dynamically scores every part of every website for objectionable/mature content, and then assigns a numerical score. By “dynamically,” I mean we score each URL (Web address) in real time: as you visit the site we scan the page for objectionable material in context. In context means, for example, a medical anatomy site will score lower than a pornographic site—even though many of the words might be the same.
We have a score team that works at our headquarters. Their job is to tweak and refine our scoring system. I love visiting them because they have one of the most unique jobs in the world. Talking to them you don’t get the impression they just sit in cubicles and work with numbers. They are engaged in a war: the porn industry (as well as thousands of porn-loving nerds out there) loves to try to make their job hard to do, trying to find new ways to get around our system. Thankfully, the scoring team works week in and week out to stay ahead of the curve.
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“What do the scores mean?”
The scores on a report range from 0 to 67. It is important to understand some of the basics if you are going to read a report accurately.
0-9: The Normal Range
Scores that fall in the 0-9 range are considered normal. Generally speaking, these scores would probably not concern the average adult Internet-user.
10-29: Somewhat Objectionable
Scores that fall in the 10-29 range are considered somewhat objectionable. Sites in the lower end of this range should probably not be viewed by children, and sites in the upper end are questionable even for adults. Do these sites contain pornography? Generally speaking, no. But these sites do contain mature content (words, subject matters, information, or pictures).
Sites near the 28 range might also be torrents or other file sharing programs. Torrents are files shared across networks. They can be just about anything—pictures, movies, games, applications. While not all such sites are mature in nature, some are. If you notice that a torrent has been accessed, talk to the person you are holding accountable.
30-67: Highly Objectionable
Sites in the 30-67 range are meant to be mature or highly objectionable. Pornography (soft- or hardcore) falls in this range. This might include nude or partially nude photos. This can also include sites with profane language. If you’ve been with Covenant Eyes for a while now, you may remember scores that went into the 100s. Recently we capped the scores at 67, so make sure you carefully investigate any score that is 30+.
Not all sites that score 30+ are necessarily “bad,” but they probably contain “mature” material. Proactive Accountability Partners should look into each high score and use the report as a starting place for discussion. On rare occasions, a website in this range may be too highly scored; please let us know if this happens (see below).
False Positives and False Negatives
The Internet is a rapidly changing place and, as such, we are always adapting. If you see a site that you believe has an incorrect score (either too high or too low), please request a score change. Our members are a huge help to us as we continue to tweak our scoring system.
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“Why is this score so high?”
We are often asked, “Why is the score so high for this particular site?” For instance, an Accountability Partner might notice the popular video-sharing site YouTube.com on a report and see a score of 38 for one of the addresses in that domain. If they check out the video they may not see anything obviously objectionable. So why the high score?
Sites like YouTube are dynamic, two-way communication sites. Users of these sites can post a wide variety of content, including comments on other people’s content. At times these comments can include profanity or other key words that drive the score up for the site. Remember, on a site like YouTube, we’re not just scoring the videos; we’re scoring all the information in that page. This applies to any dynamic site such as blogs or social networks like Facebook or Myspace.
When you get a report, make use of the comments we provide. For example, on my last report, under the “High Scores per Site” section, I saw YouTube on there. The comment indicated that “Video site may contain objectionable videos, but even good videos may score high reflecting user-submitted comments and/or links to related objectionable videos.” This comment helps me to understand why the score might be high, but further investigation is still important.
What I appreciate most about the CE system is it doesn’t play any games. It’s not afraid to flag content you surf, but it’s also flexible if you deem it to be unreasonable. I would rather my partners be aware of what my daily websites contain, even if most of it is perfectly harmless.
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I strongly suggest any Covenant Eyes accountability partners also sign up to get their own accountability report, because it’s an eye-opener.
Plus, it’s a good idea for everyone to be accountable to someone about what they’re looking at online. My reports go to both myself and my husband.
My Internet usage reports come back “Review Suggested” on a regular basis, and even sometimes “Close Review Suggested,” and I’m not looking at any suggestive pictures.
As a wife, it helps me to see how my own Internet usage scores, so I’m not overly hyper about my husband’s reports.
I’m in college, so I use the Internet for research. Apparently, the accountability software is very sensitive. Even though I don’t care about any content besides pornographic content, the reports flag a whole lot more than that. Just FYI, to help keep things in perspective.
@Mariah – Wise insight. We have a lot of people choose to get their own reports because it helps them understand the reports better. We do flag a lot more than just blatant pornography. We do this because we know there is a fairly large “gray area” online, thousands of sites with questionable conversations and sensual images, not to mention all the links that can easily take you down tempting paths on fairly benign sites. Allowing accountability partners to see all of these gray areas helps them to get a fuller sense of how the Internet is being used.
How does one receive their own reports? I have tried to request it, but it never happened… What do I need to do?
@David – Okay, here’s how you do that. (1) Log in to the Member Center using your username and password; (2) Click the link that says “Accountability Partner(s)”; (3) On the bottom of the screen is a field to add an accountability partner: fill in your name and e-mail address and then click “Add Accountability Partner.” That should do it.