New Filter (June 2010)

[Arcath]

I got it insteafd I think... a teacher asked me to go onto e-marker.org.uk or something but the address doesn't exist (it's e-marker.org) yet NetSweeper insisted on scanning it fo about a minute... what was it scanning, there was nothing there!!!???!!!

 

I have found that when you do encounter it its much quicker to just press back and re-press the link than it is to wait for it to scan (the scanning page obviously waits a while before sending you over). Plus if the scanner forwarded you to a page that didnt exist you would see the scanner page whilst your browser did all it can before saying unable to connect.

[SimpleSi]

Well now that the dust has settled, I finding out 2 things

 

1. Research (pupil and teacher) using google is a bit down due to the way that netsweeper can end up blocking previously whitelisted sites but maybe 10-30% less useful than before - shame but not end of world.

 

2. A lot of technical resources are blocked as they are categorised as web chat or criminal skills and time taken to get these unblocked takes too long/isn't allowed

 

So, if we get control (and we'll find out what getting control reallys means!) of our filtering next Thursday, life might be OK again in the 1st Foot and Mouth (Technican) Division

 

What do others think now things have stabilised and the Internet has worked for 5 days in a row?

 

regards

 

Simon

[GrumbleDook]

Apparently my blog is categorised as a proxy anonymizer. Might have to ring up on monday and shout loudly ...

[Arcath]

Apparently my blog is categorised as a proxy anonymizer. Might have to ring up on monday and shout loudly ...

 

i doubt they'd put it on the whitelist. Mine has nothing wrong on it, some ruby code and html/css stuff aswell as some linux stuff. I was expecting "Criminal Skills" to popup but no apparently all blogs are blocked.

[SimpleSi]

My own Web 0.001 manual html site (using frames of course ) is not blocked

 

Must be too simple for the filter

 

http://www.siwalters.net

 

 

Simon

[buzzard]

From speaking with Martin @ Westfield a minute ago, they're planning on the local control sometime in July, not the first of July, the 1st July date doesn't appear on the LGFL filtering site, I'd pointed out that this is what it states on the filter block page, which will be updated to reflect the correct window of July not 1st July

[SimpleSi]

Explains the lack of any communication

 

Well - its off to tell my schools that normal service will NOT be resumed on Thursday

 

I was looking though another (non -lancs) schools website and Netsweeper checked every single link to every page of the website.

[browolf]

it's getting really annoying this netsweeper. tonnes of technical forums are blocked as webchat...

 

the problem is all the teachers and most of the support staff being academic domain users are restricted as pupils (webchat blocked), and only admin staff (15/150 of staff) have the staff access (webchat unblocked)

Edited July 1, 2010 by browolf

[buzzard]

we run on a single merged domain that uses the curric scope, so we have no choice, theres no way we'll be swapping to the admin range!!

[soveryapt]

it's getting really annoying this netsweeper. tonnes of technical forums are blocked as webchat...

 

Tell me about it, I've been sorting out some bits and pieces on our linux server and I've found myself browsing for advice using my iPhone instead of the school network as I can actually get to the sites, where as, like you said, tonnes of the technical forums are blocked as webchat!

 

Maybe that is on purpose though .. as in Westfield think if they block all technical forums that people will start phoning them to do the work again .. lol ..

[browolf]

we run on a single merged domain that uses the curric scope, so we have no choice, theres no way we'll be swapping to the admin range!!

 

I thought of a solution but im not sure how much west...you know who likes it.

 

2 proxies. one for staff & one for pupils.

 

for staff ~ a proxy with one card in the curric scope and another card in the admin scope connected to the admin network or admin port on the router..

 

we already have 2 proxies but both connect to the 10.x academic range on the back end. the isa pupil proxy has a load of bespoke internet controlling stuff on whereas the staff proxy is a generic squid server with no restrictions.

Edited July 1, 2010 by browolf

[soveryapt]

I thought of a solution but im not sure how much west...you know who likes it.

 

2 proxies. one for staff & one for pupils.

 

for staff ~ a proxy with one card in the curric scope and another card in the admin scope connected to the admin network or admin port on the router..

 

we already have 2 proxies but both connect to the 10.x academic range on the back end. the isa pupil proxy has a load of bespoke internet controlling stuff on whereas the staff proxy is a generic squid server with no restrictions.

 

They would probably not like that very much at all .. I know that they have strict rulings about being joined to the curriculum and having a backup ADSL connected at the same time, and I guess this would probably fall under a similar thing .. it's going to be interesting to see how they put all this into action that is for sure .. unless they are going to introduce new proxy details for staff so that it's down to us to use GPOs to set them correctly ..

[browolf]

They would probably not like that very much at all ..

 

the trouble is when they give us more control, we'll be forced to unsecure the academic filtering on the edge and have our own filtering internally to split up staff & pupils. that's stupid when the edge already has separate filtering capabilities...

[soveryapt]

the trouble is when they give us more control, we'll be forced to unsecure the academic filtering on the edge and have our own filtering internally to split up staff & pupils. that's stupid when the edge already has separate filtering capabilities...

 

Yup .. I just hope they've put some thought and testing into this one ..

[schoolsupport]

If you are unable to get any technical forums that you need access to, please let The Westfield Centre know about so that we can have the site reviewed to see if we can get it unblocked.

 

The reason some forums are being blocked is because they are classed as web chat by netsweeper. Anything that includes 2 way communication is regarded as web chat and is blocked for e safety reasons because of the potential for pupils using chat applications.

 

We do not deliberately block legitimate sites and if you make us aware of any specific problems you are having we can look into things and see if we can help. If we are not made aware of issues then we can't do anything about them

 

Thanks

 

 

Martin

[SimpleSi]

The web page containing the request form to get better control of our internet filtering is available

 

Filtering

 

Just starting off with my first school now.

 

regards

 

Sion