stuck at the doc right now, public wifi and firearms?

V

Venom1956

New member
I am stuck in the waiting room at a doctor's office while a family member is at an appt. My phone picked up their public WiFi so when I came to check out the forum it blocked my access to TFL. sending me a message that this was in approved content and it was censored. It's kinda disturbing and sad...

This is the first time something like that's ever happened to me on public WiFi anyone else have anything similar happen to them?
 
It's not that uncommon, but more than likely somewhat unintentional. The several hospitals I've worked in tried to block content unfriendly to children, I'm sure you couldn't access most forums in general.

I originally had the same problem with the ship's WiFi I'm on now. It blocked TFL and other gun related topics until I talked to the technicians. And this is basically a giant hospital ship.
 
Not personally, but at least one of the del.tacos around me has similar filters according to reports. Personally, I dont take issue with it. An establishment is providing a free service that is unrelated to their primary function. Its a private choice, similar to what magazines they may or may not provide.
 
Like what sigcurious said, its a private business providing a free service. While firearms a bit controversial right now, I'd be willing to say you were blocked because its a forum. They don't want their employees surfing forums instead of working and filters are usually universal across a business's access.
 
Different web filter systems/programs have different settings. It just depends on what is configured by the owners.

Sometimes some sites like TFL are blocked because they're firearms related. Not often, but I do occasionally see it. Other times forums in general are blocked- that's even more rare, but I did see it once (don't even remember where).

I don't often see firearms sites like TFL blocked. Most places just don't care. Some just set up the filter and checked the assorted boxes to block entire categories (as determined by the filter's makers)- they don't usually block individual sites.

If I find it annoying, well, now I have a tethering plan (aka "wireless hotspot") on my phone, so I'll just activate it and surf over my own, unfiltered, connection.
 
Many businesses subscribe to web filtering services, and depending on the configuration, access may be heavily restricted to things like major news sites, weather sites, etc. In some cases, a particular site may not be blocked, but a banner ad, embedded picture or link may be, in which case the entire page gets blocked. I run into this frequently at work, even on sites I go to numerous times each day - the site itself isn't blocked, but something triggers the web filter.
 
I was recently at a Culver’s restaurant with the grandkids. They eat slow so I connected to the free WiFi. Same thing, they blocked this forum. Reason said “Weapons related”.
 
My Mom's school WiFi blocked TFL and listed "weapons" as the reason, but it also blocked twitter and my fantasty baseball host forum and listed "social networking" as the reason.

So I spent my time windown shopping on Amazon.
 
My work blocks it if I log on directly to the site, but if I get on through tap a talk it doesent get blocked
 
mdcmn7 said:
My work blocks it if I log on directly to the site, but if I get on through tap a talk it doesent get blocked
Click to expand...

I was going to mention Tapatalk as well. Not only will it help you get around filters, it saves on your data plan when not using WiFi because you're only downloading text and not everything else contained on a website.
 
What I'd do if this was really important to me would be write a letter to the management and explain why they're losing me as a customer.
 
The private religious university I attended did the same. They blocked anything with weapons as violent. They had no problem with guns, they just didn't want us "wasting" our time. . . . . As they say though an idle mind is the devils playground. . . . .
 
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