Internet Censorship Question

[Grillsy]

I work for a Christian University and I live in an apartment building owned by them. Today I log on to my internet to find that they have blocked a LOT of sites.

1. I love the Civil War but when I try to read about the Confederacy (who were right by the way) a message appears telling me the site is blocked because of "hate" speech.

2. Cannot visit gun websites for the same reason.

3. Cannot visit certain theological websites for "other". Coincidentally these particular sites are sometimes critical of said schools denomination.

4. Puritan Board is curiously fine.

What should I do? Should I let it be? Write a letter?

I have thought about bringing it up to the president. We work in the same building. We are pretty tight. But i'm not sure.

 

[Zenas]

Rather than talking this out, I would propose you handle the situation like one would handle it in Modern Warfare: 2. Turn on marathon, lightweight, and commando perks, catch the guy when he's walking the other way, run up behind him and melee him.

100 points.

 

[Andres]

It would seem that if you explain your reasons for wanting to visit some of those sites, they might be able to unblock them for you. Sounds like they just do a general block over pretty vague standards. Just let them know your business in visiting those sites is legit and you don't plan on spewing hate speech or speaking out against their college.
Do you get some kind of perk by living in their apts, such as discounted rent, free utilities, etc. If i knew I could someone to pay some of my bills, I would gladly let them block some sites on my computer.

 

[Wayne]

Willie:

Andrew clearly missed your point. Josh was too general in his reply. I see what you are after.

The answer is simple, and with a quick note to the campus webmaster, I'm sure you can get the Puritan Board added to the blocked list.

 

[Berean]

The webmaster is obviously using DispyFilter v3.7.

3.8 contains the blacklist with the PB on it.

 

[VictorBravo]

Well, if your agreement with them allows such restrictions, and/or the internet service is provided by them, the advice to ask for changes is probably the only option.

Or you could hang out in one of the free wifi locations in your area.

 

[Grillsy]

Wayne...you have discovered my plot!

But seriously the issue is an academic one really, we cannot research because of some type of Orwellian filter. That being said this filter has only been applied in the last day or so. I don't get any perks for living in these apartments so I really want my internet access to be something I can use.

The fact is that most people on this internet system are adults and as such ought to be trusted. Perhaps the best way to protect these people is through solid Biblical instruction and not some computer nanny.

That being said, I think I understand their reason for doing this, but cannot agree with it.

 

[wbmccarty]

It's unlikely that the school has specifically decided what Internet sites should be blocked, as the related scope of effort would quite high. Instead, the school has most likely subscribed to a service that blocks Internet sites according to some classification scheme devised by the company offering the service. Given a reason for accessing a site, I suppose that it's likely that you can persuade the school to "white list" the site so that it's not blocked by the censorship software. I suggest that you make your case and see what occurs in response.

 

[Rich Koster]

If they decline change, is it worth about 20 bucks a month to get your own service? That is assuming getting your own service doesn't violate their housing policy.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Wayne...you have discovered my plot!

But seriously the issue is an academic one really, we cannot research because of some type of Orwellian filter. That being said this filter has only been applied in the last day or so. I don't get any perks for living in these apartments so I really want my internet access to be something I can use.

The fact is that most people on this internet system are adults and as such ought to be trusted. Perhaps the best way to protect these people is through solid Biblical instruction and not some computer nanny.

That being said, I think I understand their reason for doing this, but cannot agree with it.

Exactly. The USMC uses a system called Websense that categorizes websites. The problem is the massive number of sites it has not categorized - especially since many legitimate sites use dynamic content that is nigh impossible to categorize. It is possible that they simply block both all Adult and "Other" content and a bunch of stuff is in the Other category. We have a process to unblock needed content but that is very time consuming.

 

[sastark]

I work in an I.T. department. We get requests all the time to unblock sites that get lumped into the "Other" category based on who-knows-what criteria (the criteria is not set by us, but by who ever we buy our filtering software from). Write to your I.T. department and clearly explain why you use certain web sites. If they are level headed, it should be no problem to allow access to them.

Just FYI- There are ways around most filters that require only a minimum level of technical know-how.

 

[SolaScriptura]

.. but just a hint... It probably won't go over well if you say, "I want to read about the Confederacy because they were right."