LightspeedSystemsCrawler

What is LightspeedSystemsCrawler?

LightspeedSystemsCrawler is a web crawler operated by Lightspeed Systems, an education technology company that specializes in providing web filtering and online safety solutions for K-12 schools. First seen in 2017, this bot is classified as a content classification crawler that scans websites to evaluate and categorize content for educational filtering purposes. The crawler works by visiting websites, analyzing their content, and then categorizing them according to Lightspeed's content filtering database, which helps schools maintain appropriate internet access for students.

When visiting your site, this crawler identifies itself with the user agent string LightspeedSystemsCrawler Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 9.0; en-US). In some cases, it may also appear as LSSRocketCrawler/1.0 LightspeedSystems, though this variant is less common in recent years. The crawler operates from a set of known IP addresses, primarily from Amazon AWS servers and Lightspeed Systems' own infrastructure in the United States.

Why is LightspeedSystemsCrawler crawling my site?

LightspeedSystemsCrawler visits websites to categorize their content for Lightspeed Systems' web filtering products used in K-12 educational environments. If this crawler is visiting your site, it's likely evaluating whether your content is appropriate for various age groups in educational settings. The crawler is particularly interested in analyzing text content, images, and other media that might need to be filtered in school environments.

The frequency of visits depends on various factors, including how popular your site is with educational users and whether your content has recently changed. Sites that are frequently accessed through Lightspeed-protected networks may receive more regular visits as the system updates its classification data. The crawling is typically authorized as part of Lightspeed's normal operation of its filtering services, though website owners are not specifically notified before crawling occurs.

What is the purpose of LightspeedSystemsCrawler?

The primary purpose of LightspeedSystemsCrawler is to support Lightspeed Systems' content filtering and student safety monitoring solutions for schools. These solutions help educational institutions comply with laws like the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in the United States, which requires schools to protect students from harmful online content.

The data collected by the crawler is used to categorize websites into content groups such as educational, entertainment, social media, adult content, etc. This categorization allows school IT administrators to set appropriate access policies for different student age groups. For website owners, especially those creating educational content, being properly categorized by this crawler can ensure your content remains accessible in educational settings. However, if your site contains content not suitable for minors, it may be blocked in these environments.

How do I block LightspeedSystemsCrawler?

LightspeedSystemsCrawler does not respect the standard robots.txt protocol according to available information. This means that traditional methods of controlling crawler access through robots.txt directives won't be effective for this particular bot.

Since robots.txt exclusions don't work, you'll need to consider alternative methods to control this crawler's access. One approach is to implement IP-based blocking at your server level. You can identify the LightspeedSystemsCrawler through its user agent string and known IP addresses, then configure your web server to restrict access. For Apache servers, this might involve using .htaccess rules, while Nginx users would modify their server configuration files.

Keep in mind that blocking this crawler may affect how your site is categorized in Lightspeed's filtering systems. If your site contains educational content that would be valuable in school settings, blocking the crawler might result in your site being miscategorized or defaulting to a blocked status in schools using Lightspeed products. Conversely, if you're concerned about privacy or server load, blocking might be appropriate for your situation.