Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: stopthegop on September 03, 2007, 05:25:57 PM
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I just got back from Texas after a month long "training" class for my new job. The job is with a very large x86 hw manufacturer we've all heard of - for better or (more likely) worse. The company is known for microscopic surveilance of workers - both on and off the job. Rules about URLs are enforced by some nannyware program whose name I forget, but get this: amiga.org is explicitly banned and attempts to access the url bring up a stern message straight from big brother himself;
"future attempts...to...access this url...resulting...in...termination...escorted....by security....from...the premises". etc, etc..
For the record, I tried to go to amiga.org on my lunch hour. It occured to me later why amiga.org is banned, and its not the reason you might think. Remember, this company is HQ'd in Texas, which is next to Mexico. "amiga.org" might be just as likely a url for a spanish-speaking pedophile as for an enthusiast of Amiga Computers. Thats my theory, anyway.. "atari.org", for example, worked fine. Pretty absurd, huh?
This is an example of one of the inherant weaknesses of filtering software, and also with speach recognition -- the inability to understand things like context, emotion, nuance and, in a way, common sense. These are things that simply cannot be converted into numbers.
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Can't make your own website which links to amiga.org without actually showing amiga.org as an url?
f.i. http://www.benderrodriguez.com/bitemyshinymetalass/ which then redirects (in an Iframe perhaps) to amiga.org?
Or is the whole domain blocked (like some servers can block anything that start with "ad." or "adserver.")?
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Tunnel to a.org via ssh?
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Do what I do when I get those warnings at work and just go to the site by IP. My work's security system bans any site with dynamic DNS which I dont think applies to amiga.org, but I think many of these tools block sites by name and will allow IP traffic through without problem.
Better yet, find a job at a company not run by asses.
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Is Amiga.org parked at any other (sub)domains that could be used?
Can't find any myself by just typing in obvious things.
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http://www.amiga.org.nyud.net/
http://dijjer.org/get/http://www.amiga.org/ (requires some additional software)
Depending on the filtering used, these methods might not work.
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atari is japanese apparently. no problems with pedophiles there.
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amiga just means woman it has nothing to do with age or crimes...
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Yes, i always thought that japanese people are not pedophiles.
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When I hear people say that they can't get to a site at work because it has been blocked by websweeper like software, they always seem to think that IT maliciously stop them from looking at their pages. It peeves me that they think that's what IT people do all day - screen their emails and web pages. :crazy:
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Why not ask your sysadmin to white list Amiga.org since it's a tech/geek site based on a product from C=? I can't imagine any sysadmin not knowing C= reference even if he/she hasn't heard of an Amiga (maybe too young :)
Dammy
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Maybe it's because we value freedom of speech :-o
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Maybe Amiga Inc poses a huge threat with thier new computers from ACk.... oh yeah we aren't getting those lol
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golem wrote:
It peeves me that they think that's what IT people do all day - screen their emails and web pages. :crazy:
Your absolutly right - we save doing that till Friday afternoon :lol:
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gazgod wrote:
golem wrote:
It peeves me that they think that's what IT people do all day - screen their emails and web pages. :crazy:
Your absolutly right - we save doing that till Friday afternoon :lol:
Ha ha! Too right ;-)
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When I want to surf porno or harass people on the net at work, I just vpn into home and use remote desktop.
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by koaftder on 2007/9/3 18:14:11
When I want to surf porno or harass people on the net at work, I just vpn into home and use remote desktop.
Where I work at the IT people are using up all of the bandwidth doing this.
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The site has been banned a few times at my work too. But it's free now. I guess they sometimes check them out to see what they are and if they are not work related they block them. Common practice
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I'm an admin for medium-large operation so I can tell you a bit about the way our "net nanny" works. The vendor for our nanny software updates a database file periodically. This datafile contains sites and terms to block or allow. By default most sites with words that have been related to banned material are blocked. I have now idea, but say there's a site out there called hotamigababes.org with naughty stuff posted. By default our vendor's database is going to block most if not all domains with the words hot, amiga and babes. The vendor does some manual surfing and removes legit sites from their block list when they find them, other times they don't. When a legit site is blocked because of a flag word but shouldn't be, we contact them and ask them to update their database with the legit site to allow. In 1 to 2 weeks we get and up dated datafile that stops flagging the good site.
The message you're getting is generated automatically. At our place you get a similar warning. If your IP and the blocked site start hitting a threshold count, you show up on a list that some one is going to be checking. At our place if the threshold is hit, some one will do some investigating. A user trying to hit a legit site blocked by mistake isn't going to get in much if any trouble once the facts are known. However, I have heard stories of places where it doesn't work that way. You hit a site repeatedly that you were told not to, HR was flagged and you pink slip is being spat out on the nearest laser printer.
You say you're at a new job, so you probably can't call up an admin buddy and have them update the site filter. At our place users can request a site be unblocked. We check it out, and if it's clear we send an update to our vendor. Until you know the policy at your place it's probably best you wait until you get home to hit that evil amiga.org :-)
Plaz
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It peeves me that they think that's what IT people do all day - screen their emails and web pages.
I feel your pain... and who has time for such nonsense anyway. I can barely keep up with my own inbox.
BTW, we had a candidate interview for an open admin position from another department once. When ask what he thought the typical daily tasks of an IT admin was he answered .... "probably mostly thinking up new rules for the users" :lol: Yeah, thanks for coming......
Plaz
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Yeah, if you're allowed to run putty (or better yet, can run linux at work), and have a linux box at home you can proxy through your home box.
linux command line:
ssh -ND 8080 user@your.host.com
Then setup browser to use localhost:8080 for a proxy.
It should be noted that DNS may not go through the proxy, I know you have to change a config option on firefox for that.
Test it before trying it at work, browsing isn't worth losing a nice job over... if it's a nice job that is.
odin wrote:
Tunnel to a.org via ssh?