Adult Content Filtering Overview

Adult content filtering on an MR prevents a wireless client from accessing sites that contain pornographic, sexual, or other objectionable adult material.

There are three possible options with regards to adult content filtering:

1. Don't filter adult content
2. Use Meraki's custom built-in adult content filtering ('Block adult content'), and
3. Use a custom DNS server.

When option #1 is chosen, no content filtering is performed and all websites will be displayed as-is. Use this option if you do not wish to restrict any traffic for your users.

When option #2 is chosen, filtering is performed at the AP level with pre-populated lists of common adult sites. If a user tries to access a blocked site, they will see a splash page stating that the site is blocked by Meraki, and that they should contact their administrator for more details. This feature provides basic adult content filtering for applications in which advanced filtering techniques are not required (e.g., filtering for guests in the office lobby). If more advanced filtering is required, a separate content filtering solution is recommended, such as content filtering on the Meraki MX product line.

Option #3 allows for the specification of a third party DNS server, if the user wishes to leverage solutions such as DNS Redirector or OpenDNS Enterprise. If a DNS IP address is specified, the AP will query the specified DNS server for DNS queries sent by a client. More information on this flow is available here.

Prior to October of 2012, Meraki's adult content filtering functionality relied on OpenDNS' free DNS servers for dynamic adult content filtering via DNS lookups. In October of 2012, OpenDNS transitioned to a paid enterprise model, and in order to continue to provide free content filtering, Meraki implemented its own proprietary custom filtering lists for enhanced performance and optimization.