They Blocked Snopes!

[Lord Krunk]

For those who don't know what I'm talking about (which I'm assuming that all of you are at the moment), let me provide you with a little info on my dreary little story:

I am a high school student in Australia, New South Wales in particular, and as a result, I am one of the many people who have to deal with our Department of Education's depressingly bad internet filter, which pretty much blocks all sites, except for Wikipedia and Google (both of which have been blocked at one point by said system).

Anyway, me, and many people like me, no longer have the utility of the school internet as a result, and it generally results in most of us seeking sites that have not been blocked. The Escapist was not blocked at one point, but alas, that day is no more.

Anyway, site after site began to disappear, until there are only a handful of non-Wikipedia sites that are accessible. Xkcd is one, although I do not expect it to last, and the other was Snopes, a site that I turned to in periods of great boredom, providing me with something interesting to look at.

Unfortunately, Snopes is blocked as well now, and I am quite enraged at this fact. Now only Wikipedia (a site that the Department of Education, the people who created this filter, do not consider a viable source) is left as any form of a useful site.

I could be exaggerating here, but if I am, I am not by much. Many people on these forums have already vented on the said system, and I know for a fact that nearly every teacher in my school agrees.

Anyway, I'm done ranting, so I pose this discussion towards you all:

Have you had any problem with internet filters, whether they be home, school, workplace or other? What is your opinion on them?

P.S. In reference to my previous thread, I give to you....

My new avatar! You like?

I hope it individualises me as much as my last one did. I wanted to bring out my inner Tim Schafer Fanboy, so I did.

 

[Reaperman Wompa]

A) Catholic school so we don't have filter (yet)
B) You really like green don't you>
C) No...Escapist...at...school?...but what else is there to do?

 

[Lord Krunk]

A) Catholic school so we don't have filter (yet)
B) You really like green don't you>
C) No...Escapist...at...school?...but what else is there to do?

A) Lucky.
B) You're looking at the wrong one.
C) I know.

I have way too much technical knowledge for mere filters to stop me, heh.

Oh yeah? Well you obviously haven't seen how thorough a job they've done with this filter. IP addresses, using translation sites to bypass the block, anonymous proxies and various other tactics have all fallen under this wall of FAIL.

 

[Graustein]

Our whole school bypassed the filter by using the account of this primary school kid whose school didn't have a filter. I forget the username but the password was "hackedbitch".

 

[Fraught]

My school blocked pretty much half of the internet too. Well, mainly the sites that my country has made, with the .ee extension, but xkcd, cyanide & happiness, Penny Arcade, Escapist, all those kind of sites aren't blocked. So me lucky!

 

[Saskwach]

Have they blocked ftunnel? If not, go to that. It's like a google that gets you past filters if those filters were to lazy to block the crazy number filled URLs that all sites have (that's the technical term I assure you). Also, DO NOT TELL ANYONE. Ftunnel got blocked in my school the same reason a site always is: idiots passed it on to bigger idiots who got caught.

 

[Brett Alex]

A) Catholic school so we don't have filter (yet)
B) You really like green don't you>
C) No...Escapist...at...school?...but what else is there to do?

A) Lucky.
B) You're looking at the wrong one.
C) I know.

I have way too much technical knowledge for mere filters to stop me, heh.

Oh yeah? Well you obviously haven't seen how thorough a job they've done with this filter. IP addresses, using translation sites to bypass the block, anonymous proxies and various other tactics have all fallen under this wall of FAIL.

If you get technical enough you still can get past them. I know just yesterday my friend spent his free period setting his laptop up to bypass the filters, so now when he's stuck in library he can get anyway, and is using the Department of Educations bandwith. Cop that, shitty filters.

 

[Lord Krunk]

Have they blocked ftunnel? If not, go to that. It's like a google that gets you past filters if those filters were to lazy to block the crazy number filled URLs that all sites have (that's the technical term I assure you). Also, DO NOT TELL ANYONE. Ftunnel got blocked in my school the same reason a site always is: idiots passed it on to bigger idiots who got caught.

I'll remember that.

However, you wouldn't believe how thorough a job they've done with this thing. It isn't a school filter, it's a filter for all Public Schools in NSW.

And they take a weird approach to blocking as well. I mean, there are categories for Pornography, Profanity, etc., but it gets weirder.

Some of the "must be blocked" categories include Bulletin Boards (The Escapist was banned under this), Wikis (Every wiki except for Wikipedia has been blocked under this), DET Blocked Sites (Snopes was blocked under this; it's really a personalised Permablock), and -my personal favourite; EVERYTHING is blocked under this- Uncategorised.

Yep, they don't even bother to find a reason to block it; they block it anyway. It's like they have the motto: "When in Doubt - Block It!".

I hate this filter. I really do.

 

[Reaperman Wompa]

Well at least there is still counterstrike, halo, and DOW + Winter Assault on USB's.

 

[Piemaster]

Yeah, they do go overboard with the blocking, even some of my teachers get annoyed by it. It actually gets in the way of schoolwork sometimes too.

 

[Lord Krunk]

It actually gets in the way of schoolwork sometimes too.

Oh, all the time.

 

[Ultrajoe]

It actually gets in the way of schoolwork sometimes too.

Oh, all the time.

I recall when i was a school-pit demon that 'humor' was banned.

What was one of the topics at the time? Well, that seems to be a slight problem.

 

[Saskwach]

Have they blocked ftunnel? If not, go to that. It's like a google that gets you past filters if those filters were to lazy to block the crazy number filled URLs that all sites have (that's the technical term I assure you). Also, DO NOT TELL ANYONE. Ftunnel got blocked in my school the same reason a site always is: idiots passed it on to bigger idiots who got caught.

I'll remember that.

However, you wouldn't believe how thorough a job they've done with this thing. It isn't a school filter, it's a filter for all Public Schools in NSW.

And they take a weird approach to blocking as well. I mean, there are categories for Pornography, Profanity, etc., but it gets weirder.

Some of the "must be blocked" categories include Bulletin Boards (The Escapist was banned under this), Wikis (Every wiki except for Wikipedia has been blocked under this), DET Blocked Sites (Snopes was blocked under this; it's really a personalised Permablock), and -my personal favourite; EVERYTHING is blocked under this- Uncategorised.

Yep, they don't even bother to find a reason to block it; they block it anyway. It's like they have the motto: "When in Doubt - Block It!".

I hate this filter. I really do.

Our school had a filter system made by the head librarian (also a computer nut). Eventually we drove him crazy with sites that weren't kosher but didn't actually fit into any other heading: he blocked them under "Get back to work".
Looking back, the constant search for new fun sites while he got around to blocking them was good fun. We were always a few weeks ahead of him, but then we had to move on.

 

[Lord Krunk]

It actually gets in the way of schoolwork sometimes too.

Oh, all the time.

I recall when i was a school-pit demon that 'humor' was banned.

What was one of the topics at the time? Well, that seems to be a slight problem.

Yeah, I was recently doing my Commerce in-class project (Buying A Car), which involved us getting the best deals on a car off the internet, under a particular budget. The better the car, insurance, specs etc., the better the mark.

Only problem is, just about all of those sites are either blocked under "Uncategorised" or "Online Shopping", which made our lives significantly harder.

 

[Sayvara]

Decisions to block Wikipedia is usually based on ignorance what Wikipedia actually is and how it is supposed to be used.

The main argument of its detractors is "Anyone can edit it, therefore it is not reliable" is nonsense at best. While it is true that anyone may edit it, this in itself says nothing about the quality of the articles. The obvious counter-question is: "what makes single-editor articles any more reliable?". Answer: nothing. A high number of editors does not lessen the quality.

On the contrary, the only thing a large number of editors can mean is that peer review [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_review] becomes an integral part of the editorial work. Peer review is absolutely essential in academics, and Wikipedia is built on it. Not only that but Wikipedia defeats some of the most common problems with peer review, of which one is the problem of it being slow and cumbersome. A paper dictionary usually has no peer review at all beyond letters to the publisher. Wikipedia can achieve review and correction of errors in times less than one minute.

Wikipedia also offers something special: transparency. With a paper dictionary, you have no idea who edited an article or why. Wikipedia on the other hand keeps a complete record of how an article has grown over time, and who made each edit. It makes it very easy to see exactly who made changes and what those changes were. Paper dictionaries do not offer this transparency.

Wikipedia is also not a one-stop shop for information. It was never intended to be this and must not be used in this fashion. Wikipedia is extremely clear in this point: Wikipedia does not publish original research or original thought [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Original_research]. Everything in Wikipedia, I mean absolutely everything must have a verifiable source and people are encouraged to look up the sources and check for themselves. I know of no paper dictionaries that do this. Few publish their sources to begin with, and even fewer say "Don't take our word for it... go see for yourself". Wikipedia teaches critical viewing and source review. No other dictionary does this.

Wikipedia is not without its caveats. But for a school to block it is nothing but ignorance on the school's part. Preventing students from gathering information cannot be seen as anything but counter-productive. Wikipedia and similar open compendiums of knowledge are here to stay and the students must be allowed to use them, with approriate caution.

/S

 

[Beefcakes]

Well I read in the Herald Sun (for all you fellow Victorians out there) that soon, there may be some international website bans, as in no one in Australia will be able to access them.
They are only blocking off websites linked with illegal activities, which is a great thing, but they are doing so with out a vote, and as such, will they take it too far? Even without our say?
Now, it wasn't a big article, and haven't heard much in the news, so it may be hear-say, but none the less disturbing. Maybe thread worthy in itself...

BACK on topic....
My high school (well not my high school, the principals high schools... Which actually belongs to the Education department...) have blocked all websites with 'game' in the URL, and many other random websites, but they aren't hard to get around...
Not that i would! Or anything...

 

[742]

yes, say nothing and it will work.

 

[Whiskyjakk]

Yeah, they do go overboard with the blocking, even some of my teachers get annoyed by it. It actually gets in the way of schoolwork sometimes too.

Yeah, I studied Nazi Germany at A level. You got very used to seeing 'Blocked for violence, hate speak, rascism and/or genocide' when trying to get through to any potentially useful source. Funnily enough they don't seem to mind all that ... so long as it is on the curriculum.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Snopes has some pretty annoying advertising there, with pop-unders and zappy-gifs and the like. I can see a school system just blocking it rather than dealing with the ads... which is a shame, because Snopes is otherwise a great site.

-- Steve

 

[spazzattack]

You have to find a good proxy that your school doesn't know about. It is important to find the proxy ahead of time though, because schools will find out if your looking em up on google while your there.

Also, take computer programming classes. Our school allowed the few students who took it to have administrator login's to do certain things in C++, Java, etc.