AC blocked?

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nerdyrcdriver

AC Members
Sep 1, 2011
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Nick
What are some possible reasons that AC would be blocked at a public school?

It uses the same software as other forums that I visit after school while waiting to leave.
I have never seen anything considered inappropriate on AC.


My school uses shelterbelt by twotrees to block everything. Yes, there are several easy ways to get around it, but I would rather it just not be blocked. I talked to the tech guy and submitted a form to have someone check why it is blocked, but that could take until the end of the school year to figure out why. Usually the app for a specific site (ex youtube) will work, but the AC app doesn't work either.
 

Zaffy

Why would ******* be censored?
Jul 21, 2008
444
1
18
Canyon Country, Ca.
My school blocks this, and many other recreational forums, because they are distractions that keep you from doing school work. Depending on how your school is set up, if you needed something from here for school you might be able to use your teachers computer. My school computer can access this site, but students are blocked.

The different filtering services maintain lists of websites and assign them criteria based on the kind of website it is. I'd imagine that most schools choose to block hobby forums for students.
 

Ptrick125

Learning a lot everyday
Feb 2, 2012
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Georgetown(Near Austin) ,Texas
www.patrick.international
Real Name
Patrick
Your school probably has a list of popular non-school related forum URLs. The tech person probably could look up AC, and un-block it. I don't think it's worth the hassle of going to school employees... This website offers a web-browser proxy, so you can go anywhere on the Internet. They also provide some lower-quality IP proxies. (Lower quality because it can tell you have a proxy, but still "changes" your IP outlook.)

I have used their proxies to access sites in which I was having IP problems :)

http://www.hidemyass.com/


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Zaffy

Why would ******* be censored?
Jul 21, 2008
444
1
18
Canyon Country, Ca.
Don't get caught.
 

authmal

Pseudonovice
Aug 4, 2011
2,621
62
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Phoenix, AZ
Don't get caught.
In some schools and jobs, that's a *big* deal. Just think, *you* might be going to something as harmless as AC. Your friend could be using it to do something much more malicious. They've got to protect themselves from the risk you're creating by bypassing their security.
 

Ptrick125

Learning a lot everyday
Feb 2, 2012
2,165
0
36
Georgetown(Near Austin) ,Texas
www.patrick.international
Real Name
Patrick
Don't get caught.
...You don't get in trouble unless you get caught :)

If you use a web-browser proxy, you may want to find a way to disguise it so that it doesn't look like you are on HMA all day...

Here's my idea:
You should be able to fix that by making your own site with some sort of school-related name, then make an HTML iframe on your site directed towards HMA. That let's you browse HMA through a more appropriate URL which lets you browse AC :)

For those who don't understand:

Driver wants to see AC, school has software on their network that probably blocks AC's URL. A web-browser proxy makes it look like you are on site A's URL, but you could actually be on site B, which is blocked. If you don't want site A to be the only thing in your history, you need a different way of accessing it. One way to access a site without directly going to a URL is an "<iframe>" tag, it is kind of like a portal to another site.

My idea is that you make a little google sites thing that has a URL that seems like it is for school. Go into the HTML editor for the site and make it like this:

(No * in the code, I put that there in case I'm not allowed to write HTML on the forum) There's more variables you can add, but this is a good starting point. It is large, enables scrolling, and sends you to whatever site is within the src "".

*<iframe width="1000" height="1200 scrolling="true" src="webbrowserproxy'sURL.com"></iframe>*

I'm not sure it will work. As for a lot of computer things, test it with your own stuff on a small scale first. Never rush, and don't use it until it is flawless. I highly recommend going into YOUR router's settings, block a test site, and follow my steps and see if it works perfectly before applying it to a larger scale. Be sure you can't get in too much trouble before doing anything at school. :)


Sent from my iPod touch using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 

Zaffy

Why would ******* be censored?
Jul 21, 2008
444
1
18
Canyon Country, Ca.
You get in more trouble if you're caught trying to hide it. I've caught kids using proxies and hotspots to bypass the school filter, they get in more trouble than the ones who don't. I don't know how your school is, but everything you do online (proxy or not) is logged and we can look through it easily. We don't need to be in the room with you to be able to see what's on your screen.
 

authmal

Pseudonovice
Aug 4, 2011
2,621
62
51
Phoenix, AZ
Let's use a little hypothetical here. You're doing these things to bypass the security on the network. Let's say you're browsing some site. Let's say that while on that site, you click on a link (accidentally or not) that starts downloading malware or a virus. Hm. If *I* were an IT guy for your school, and found that malware/virus was downloaded that *should* have been blocked by the firewall, I would be *intensely* curious as to where that came from. After research, finding that you bypassed security to enable that to have happened, well, there would be repercussions.

My IT guy where I work trusts me to not do anything stupid, but upper management is a little less technically savvy than they should be. While he had no issues with me using an SSH tunnel to do stuff on my computer at home in my downtime, if anything hinky happened, management would blame me even if I wasn't at fault. That would cost me my job, and that's not an acceptable risk.

You may think that if fit hits the shan, being a minor protects you, and it may. Depending on the paperwork signed by your parents while registering you for school, *they* may bear the responsibility, instead. So, while you may well be able to bypass network security to visit blocked sites, is it *really* worth the risks entailed? Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
 

nerdyrcdriver

AC Members
Sep 1, 2011
1,156
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Real Name
Nick
I showed the guy ac on my phone and he logged on with his username and password for the district wifi and has been looking at the site. He probably read this vary thread. He said said that there is a list of sites that he plans to unblock over the summer, but he has to be at the district office (our school district has 4 campuses and a district office) to do that. He has been working closely with the computer club (which I am in) to help to improve the user experience through the high school.

My school has 3 wifi networks

D***(district number)
this is used for the school owned computers that are not wired into the network

Faculty
This is used for teachers who want to bring in their own computers and use them. It has less stuff blocked, including youtube.

Student
This is used for students who bring in their own devices (mostly phones and tablets). Each student uses their normal student log in to gain access and guests (such as college speakers) are given a temporary username and password. Almost everything that is blocked on the D*** network is blocked on this one as well. There are a few sites that are not, but they are pretty school related.

over the past couple years I have obtained passwords for all networks, but I do not wish to connect any of my devices to anything other than student. The technology rules in my school are pretty loose. Pretty much no cheating on tests, and then teacher specific rules apply. Most teachers encourage technology for educational use, and then check your work and allow you to do whatever you want when you are done with the material for the day in their class. I personally use my nexus 7 in history every day. The notes and other things are on the teachers website. If we don't have a device, a crappy dell laptop is provided for use during that class. I use it during study hall for just about anything, games, reading, or history stuff. I use it in English class to read my books. And last but not least I use it after school during computer club, science olympiad, or while waiting for traffic to clear up.
 

authmal

Pseudonovice
Aug 4, 2011
2,621
62
51
Phoenix, AZ
Glad to hear it. I'm glad you're trying to resolve it within the system. There's no fall out this way.
 
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