proxy bypass sites

[webman]

I completely respect what you admins do, and my site isn't there to annoy you and defeat what your doing

 

You clearly dont, and the site clearly is; I don't know how you can justify that it doesn't defeat what us techies do.

[ChrisC]

And you also have to think about the consequences of the students using your site.

 

The fact here is if a student is found using a proxy, their network access is revoked and action is taken by SMT (dependant on the content they were using the proxy to gain access to), it is a serious breach of all internet usage policies from schools. So then the student is made to look bad and is punished for using your site.

 

Chris

[Guest]

Concerning examstudies.com

 

Just think about it for a second

colleges block certain websites to protect the kids and to protect the college, you have setup a website to bypass these controls and allowing others to access websites you shouldn’t,

just imagine if a student gets caught on a porn website, the college would then be taken to court as happened a couple of years ago.

another student goes to a malware website and gets his pc infected, then infects several other pcs, causing the network is grind to a halt, whose fault is that?

its always a nice challenge/game trying to beat systems but when you are risking college systems, do you think its still a good idea.

I know you know your way around a pc but does every other student using your website, would they know not to install activex controls from a russian site and would they care knowing its not their pcs.

You seem clever why not work with the IT chaps, they are there to safe guard students and the college, you may be working in IT yourself soon.

You have setup a website to allow students to go anywhere and download what they want, on computers they don’t care about. Do you think they are bothered if they wreak them and infect the network.

You’re a bright lad , grow up

[Friez]

O

Friez: The blame will be soley upon the user, if it is their intention to do something illegal then they should face the blame. I monitor my logs regularly and nothing like that happens, but if it were IP's are logged and they would be reported. To be fair, the only sites that are accessed are myspace, bebo and ebay really.

 

Tell it to Napster.

 

File sharing: Perfectly legal, almost all networks everywhere share files in some form or another. However, this particular service was used primarily to distribute copyrighted MP3's.

 

Napster totally in the right and the end-user is to fault would you not agree? Funny how Napster got totally dragged down by the RIAA for providing the means of illegal activity.

 

Your site also provides the means of allowing the end-user to go places they should not, so would you not say you're in a similar boat?

 

Logically you'dd think only the end-user is only to blame, but sadly reality tells us this is not the case. You're lucky that you had the foresight to keep accurate logging (or at least so you tell us), because (as someone previously mentioned) if they followed the trail back and it stops at you, who do you think gets incriminated?

 

Sure, you may be 'innocent' and not accessing that content, only providing the means.... but it still puts you at risk, and ultimately you're held responsible for your actions.

[examstudies.com]

Ok alot of replies, you are all assuming that the sole use of my site is to commit illegal offenses, which it's not; online communities is all that is accessed.

 

I know you know your way around a pc but does every other student using your website, would they know not to install activex controls from a russian site and would they care knowing its not their pcs.

Through proxies, ActiveX can not be installed, also I assume you block downloads based on extension (exe, mp3 etc) so really there isn't a way for malicious things to get onto a computer.

 

Like I said there are thousands of other open proxies out there, why not complain to each of them instead of seeing to just be bullying me. If you don't like it then please block it, I can't control if your students go on it.

[CyberNerd]

File sharing: Perfectly legal, almost all networks everywhere share files in some form or another. However, this particular service was used primarily to distribute copyrighted MP3's.

 

Napster totally in the right and the end-user is to fault would you not agree? Funny how Napster got totally dragged down by the RIAA for providing the means of illegal activity.

 

 

Your site also provides the means of allowing the end-user to go places they should not, so would you not say you're in a similar boat?

 

By that rational, your saying MS are providing end-users the means to illegal activity by facilitating zero day exploits in word. Thats not illegal though.

[GrumbleDook]

Ok alot of replies, you are all assuming that the sole use of my site is to commit illegal offenses, which it's not; online communities is all that is accessed.

 

I know you know your way around a pc but does every other student using your website, would they know not to install activex controls from a russian site and would they care knowing its not their pcs.

Through proxies, ActiveX can not be installed, also I assume you block downloads based on extension (exe, mp3 etc) so really there isn't a way for malicious things to get onto a computer.

 

Like I said there are thousands of other open proxies out there, why not complain to each of them instead of seeing to just be bullying me. If you don't like it then please block it, I can't control if your students go on it.

 

Jak ... calm down ... it is only a proxy bypass site.

 

We are just trying to make you realise that although you may have had good intentions there is no guaranteeing that the site you have will only be used for forums, myspace or general chat.

 

This is why people are up in arms about it ... and in a few years time you will probably come to the same conclusion. As for bullying ... that is a strong word to use. Would I go and investigate another site if I was aware that it was doing similar? Yes ... if I could get it permanently closed would I ... hell yes ...

 

Do I think that this is just something you have to say "oh well ... I'm not going to be able to do that again and it isn't worth the hassle" ... yes I do ... and I hope that irregardless of how you feel about the Network Manager or Techies at your college, or any other college / school / business ... it is never anything personal unless you have done something personal first, and you haven't ... you have merely been unaware that what you had been doing can have such serious repercussions. You are now aware ...

[Ric_]

I can't control if your students go on it.

 

Actually... you can control who uses it... simple password mechanisms exist for any website!

 

That's beside the point though... if you agree to use somebody elses computer system, you agree to abide by their rules. If the owner of the system says you can't do x, y and z there is probably a reason and by doing x, y or z you are breaking the agreement and must face the consequences.

 

Also, don't forget that most of us work in schools where open access to sites that potentially contain pr0n can lumber us in deep sh1t and it is illegal for schoolies to view this material.

[Friez]

By that rational, your saying MS are providing end-users the means to illegal activity by facilitating zero day exploits in word. Thats not illegal though.

 

You missed the point though: People get hunted for providing the means even if they're legally ok. Read up on the entire Napster thing.

 

As for Microsoft.... Ever wonder why MSN treats mp3 files as 'harmful'? I'm fairly confident Microsoft got some flak from a certain third party. Mind you these days Microsoft get a lot of flak fullstop...

 

So even they have been chased about because of providing 'the means'. It might not be illegal, but as history has proven it can still bring in legal problems nonetheless.

 

I agree that the blacksmith should not be blamed because someone else committed a murder with the knives they made, but the point stands that people really do get legal action taken for providing the means.

[examstudies.com]

There is a password on the site, which has been passed around.

 

If I recall correctly from my studies; I believe my college and the complainte maybe in breach of the Data Protection Act; one for the later asking if I attend the college and the former, for my college confirming this. Although I'm not going to take that any further I just wanted to point it out.

 

I have already set up a blacklist of sites which I don't want people going on so porn shouldn't be able to be accessed (lol the irony).

 

As for bullying ... that is a strong word to use.

To me it does, if you read some of the comments in the thread, for e.g people laughing and mocking at the fact they though my site had been taken down.

 

I'm just going to leave this all now as my college have let me off with a formal warning, and don't want it going any further.

Thanks for all your input and advice tho, it's all been taken on board

[Friez]

If I recall correctly from my studies; I believe my college and the complainte maybe in breach of the Data Protection Act; one for the later asking if I attend the college and the former, for my college confirming this. Although I'm not going to take that any further I just wanted to point it out.

 

That's rich.

 

Lets see here:

You post your name on your website(public domain).

This makes it really easy to find your Bebo (also public domain).

 

And on your Bebo you make it public information as to what college you attend.

 

You offer up that information voluntarily I'm afraid to say. Unless I'm missing something here, It's probably unlikely the college let loose any of your personal information.

 

You're only digging yourself a deeper hole.

[examstudies.com]

But by the college confirming that I do indeed attend there than that maybe. Like I said anyway I'm not bothered by it, it was just something a friend mentioned.

 

Hopefully this all blows over now.

[GrumbleDook]

There is a password on the site, which has been passed around.

 

If I recall correctly from my studies; I believe my college and the complainte maybe in breach of the Data Protection Act; one for the later asking if I attend the college and the former, for my college confirming this. Although I'm not going to take that any further I just wanted to point it out.

 

PM in the post ... I want to chat with you first before you say anything you may regret.

 

I have already set up a blacklist of sites which I don't want people going on so porn shouldn't be able to be accessed (lol the irony).

 

As for bullying ... that is a strong word to use.

To me it does, if you read some of the comments in the thread, for e.g people laughing and mocking at the fact they though my site had been taken down.

 

I'm just going to leave this all now as my college have let me off with a formal warning, and don't want it going any further.

Thanks for all your input and advice tho, it's all been taken on board

 

Good to see that you are taking this in the general feeling of the community ... and then getting on with life.

[Guest]

But by the college confirming that I do indeed attend there than that maybe.

i may be wrong here but i believe the recent freedom of information act requires certain places to have such info available to anyone that asks

 

Like I said anyway I'm not bothered by it, it was just something a friend mentioned.

good learn from it and move on

Hopefully this all blows over now.

does that mean your taking the proxies down and working on something esle

[kickarse]

Many accusations hold, though, no water.

 

Firstly, a proxy service is NOT illegal. Using it to bypass security setup IS illegal.

 

It's mostly interpretation of the law that you guys are up in arms about.

 

Even a in-depth knowledge of the Uni's network security would mitigate bypassing it quite easily.

 

Take for instance him having that knowledge. He finds security holes in the system, although never using them himself, he posts his findings on a personal website. Obviously, not hosted by the Uni. He never mentions the network or clues as to where it is. He gives that it's for security reasons, he's a white hat.

 

BUT, some people happen upon it from the university, some students. They use this information to bypass the security measures in place. The IT folk happen to find that some people are bypassing security and end up finding the site has some info related to how to do this.

 

Simply, though, he can't be fined/punished by his findings. Not more than the man who invented the gun for everyone who's been killed by one.

 

It's a similar case. Just because he has a personal site that has ways of bypassing a certain type of security doesn't mean he should get in trouble for it. Nor do the laws stipulate that to be true.

 

He's not at fault for his actions and he could keep the site up legally. If your university's network is so easily bypassed with a simple proxy your begging to be bypassed and hacked.

 

Anyone who wants will just find the many thousands just like his and use that information instead. So instead of punishing a student, find ways to fix the whole and thank him for his ingenuity.

 

.... such political bullshit.

[_Bat_]

@Kickarse...

 

I'm not sure it was ever stated that it was illegal, which is why i'm sure he just got away with a warning.

 

It's mainly the fact that he was encouraging others to do illegal things with his proxy. As you said yourself, using it to bypass security is illegal according to T&C of the educational facility they are at.

 

If you would like quotes, here are some:

 

Im response to

 

alevelwork.com’s proxy no longer works for myspace. ne1 got any clues?

(my school uses Lightspeed filters)

 

He replied

 

Hey, yeah alevelwork proxy is down because my host had to disable it, I gotta new site tho

http://www.examstudies.com

click portal and the username is random and password is random1

 

For another similar question on a different forum, the response was:

 

Hey that's my site just saw rock-forums from the referrer logs.

The proxy on that site has been disabled by my host (dreamhost) but I've found a new one and set it up http://www.examstudies.com click portal username: random password:random1

 

Hope it works for you!

Jak

 

Am sure more has happened through word of mouth. He even admitted he knew he was bending the rules:

 

To be fair I have to "bend the system" my college has pretty much all pages except a select few blocked, which doesn't seem fair considering

 

This was edited out earlier today by examstudies.com to protect himself, but what he originally said still remains in a quote from GrumbleDook just afterwards.

 

He may not have done anything illegal, but encouraging others to do so is just as morally wrong in my opinion, and he knew it because he admitted it in above quote. Not only do the T&C of just about every educational facility I know of make bypassing the filter illegal, but it allows students full access to the internet which puts the network managers job is a dodgy position because he is the one that is supposed to have locked this down. Can you now see why people are annoyed?

 

As for there being thousands of other proxies out there... I didn't know that because a lot of people are doing something that it makes it morally right.

 

None of this would have happened anyway if he hadn't come to this forum to "bragg" about his other domains that we didn't know about. This too has been edited out I believe, but we all saw it. He simply got picked on because he made himself an easy target by doing this.

[MkII]

@ka

 

If you are actively aiding an illegal act that makes you an accessory. It is beholdant upon you to prevent the illegal act.

 

The person is a student at the institution. He is bound by that institutions rules. That institution has a duty to protect it's users.

 

The purpose of the technology is to circumvent rules knowingly, wether the intent was innocent; harmful; illegal etc., is of no consequence - the act is still a contravention of the rules.

[webman]

Hehe, just shows what sort of a person this Jak is - found this "interesting" photo on his Bebo page

 

Photograph removed - Come on folks ... he has had his wrists slapped but a little less of the this sort of thing, please. GrumbleDook

 

Point taken

[_Bat_]

Hehe, just shows what sort of a person this Jak is - found this "interesting" photo on his Bebo page

 

Thats very interesting indeed, haha.

 

Incidently, is kickarse a college friend of Jak by any chance?

 

Anyone who wants will just find the many thousands just like his and use that information instead. So instead of punishing a student, find ways to fix the whole and thank him for his ingenuity

 

Wow. If you can do this with 100% accuracy short of blacklisting all sites except those in a whitelist, you are in the money mate.

 

ingenuity is the wrong word to select in my opinon. It's not difficult to create a proxy and as he said, he just jumped on a bandwagon. Not a wise decision, but I admit I may have made the same decision before I matured and got a job.

[webman]

It certainly is. And yes, kickarse probably is a friend (or Jak signed up with another account to try and make it seem he has some support).

 

I think his biggest mistake was letting other people use it and advertising the service. He could have saved himself a lot of bother by not telling anyone about it

[_Bat_]

It certainly is. And yes, kickarse probably is a friend (or Jak signed up with another account to try and make it seem he has some support).

 

I think his biggest mistake was letting other people use it and advertising the service. He could have saved himself a lot of bother by not telling anyone about it

 

Lol. Incidently he also has google ads on his website. Yet in their T&C it says certain websites are not allowed including:

 

Any other content that promotes illegal activity or infringes on the legal rights of others

 

I think that his website both promotes illegal activity and infringes on the legal rights of the colleges etc. to sensor material. I wonder if google know the "backend" part of his website exists, especially for the purpose he designed it for?

[GrumbleDook]

It is unlikely to be Jak, but quite possible that it is someone who has used his site and is not happy now.

 

Yes, most of us don't agree with what he did and have told him, in no uncertain terms, but let us not let things get out of hand and get too personal. I would not appreciate my details being pushed around so let us be reasonable.

[_Bat_]

It is unlikely to be Jak, but quite possible that it is someone who has used his site and is not happy now.

 

Yes, most of us don't agree with what he did and have told him, in no uncertain terms, but let us not let things get out of hand and get too personal. I would not appreciate my details being pushed around so let us be reasonable.

 

I apologise, I agree with you completely.

[examstudies.com]

I find it quit unreal that some of you guys seem to be spending your time digging up personal information upon and posting photos of me trying to make me out as a bad person. I presume the photo was of the ID because this yes would make it even more easier to make me to look bad.

 

Secondly, i'll take the proxies down; no not because I feel I'm being pressured or bullied or doing anything wrong, but I can't be bothered with someone trying to pinpoint something on me and wrecking my career. It will be a loss to me considering I've paid upfront for hosting etc, i'll have to sort through tons of e-mails asking as to why I've took them down.

 

As for the Google ads, do a search find another proxy and check if they have ads, my guess would be yes, i've seen other proxy sites with them as the site does not promote illegal activity, as I've said proxies are legal and people are free to use them (maybe not at your institution, but they are legal for use.)

 

Kickarse is not an alto ego, have GrumbleDook do an IP if need be. I asked for insight from another forum and he was good enough to try and take off some of the pressure from me.

 

 

None of this would have happened anyway if he hadn't come to this forum to "bragg" about his other domains that we didn't know about. This too has been edited out I believe, but we all saw it. He simply got picked on because he made himself an easy target by doing this.

Do I not have the right to defend myself? I found a site mocking me and the use of my site as if everyone who uses them are up to no good. I did indeed edit them out because at the time of writing I was pretty frustrated at the thread, but when re-reading did not want it to seem if I was indeed bragging.

but I admit I may have made the same decision before I matured and got a job.

You don't even know, please don't assume that you do. Just because I have a site that you disagree with does not make me immature.

 

As I said proxies will go, hope this provided you with a bit of fun for a while.

[MkII]

But you ARE doing something wrong

 

A basic point you have yet to successfully counter.

 

I don't wish to upset you by retaliating to what you've said, there would be no point. I don't wish to humiliate you. If you were to become more entrenched in your views that would hinder you reaching a balanced viewpoint.

 

Your pride has been hurt. Not a nice feeling. You also must have pride from pier recognition. Those are dangerous waters.