Dennis Olson
New member
Mike.... Bad boy! (spank)
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TFL banned at work, what to do?
- Thread starter Bam Bam
- Start date
Actually, since these are in a library area, they may have simply installed one of the filtering software packages as it came (with no specific changes). Many of these block sites for absolutely no valid reason. I would try to find out just what sites are blocked (such as HCI, etc.) and ask if these are intentionally blocked, or simply blocked due to oversight by the software installer.
The hospital you work for may not even know gun sites are being filtered. A company I worked for last year used the WebSense service for filtering URLs. That service provides the filter rule database and does periodic updates. Someone at that service has an anti-gun slant and filters everything related to guns. Anonymizer.com used to work, but now they filter even that site. You could approach management and ask why the sites are filtered but since they aren't work related you aren't likely to get any sympathy.
One reliable way around this is to setup a CGI proxy service on a web site you have control of outside of the hospital (look for a service that lets you create your own web pages). You can get the proxy script here: http://www.jmarshall.com/tools/cgiproxy/
I did this and it works well because WebSense only looks at the hostname in the URL to decide whether to filter it or not. Assuming they don't have your private proxy in their database (and why should they?), you can connect to your proxy, give it the URL you want to access, and slip right past the filtering. This is very easy to setup but you have to be careful because you probably don't want the whole world using your proxy. There is a reason why there are few public proxies available on the net anymore.
One reliable way around this is to setup a CGI proxy service on a web site you have control of outside of the hospital (look for a service that lets you create your own web pages). You can get the proxy script here: http://www.jmarshall.com/tools/cgiproxy/
I did this and it works well because WebSense only looks at the hostname in the URL to decide whether to filter it or not. Assuming they don't have your private proxy in their database (and why should they?), you can connect to your proxy, give it the URL you want to access, and slip right past the filtering. This is very easy to setup but you have to be careful because you probably don't want the whole world using your proxy. There is a reason why there are few public proxies available on the net anymore.
I had the same problem on my current contract. Since I am away from home I made arrangements to use my computer and connections at my office for my own personal use. Porno, hate speech, and internet gambling sites would still be off limits to limit the company's liability. They used a blocking software by SURFWATCH. Last Dec. SURFWATCH had lumped guns into a 'violence' catagory with bomb making and hate speech. This meant no gun sites. I found our company acceptable internet use policy and found that SURFWATCH software was in violation of the policy. I went to the legal department and explained what I wanted, either I get access to gun sites, can the software for policy violations, or rewrite the acceptable use policy to permit derogatory and defaming statements. I was permitted access to gun sites.