Filtering wars update

[Gordon Riley <gdriley@HOTMAIL.COM>]

I went to ALA to look for a better job, having decided not to let filtering
be a litmus test.  That's to say, I decided to consider and weigh all the
elements of the position - not to only limit myself to positions where there
was no filtering just because I am opposed to filtering.  So I would up in
charge of computing and the library, with a staff of 4 full-time and a good
salary, in a pretty-well-funded progressive public school, in a high
quality-of-life location - with site-based filtering imposed from above.

I can live with Yahoo Games being blocked, but not one of a gazillion other
gaming sites.  I can live with half the sex-ed sites recommended by YALSA
being blocked, because the other half are available.

I did get annoyed when, while doing a class demonstration of what I thought
would be an innoccuous search, I found a Yahoo site with vegetarian barbecue
recipes was blocked.  So I figured this would be a good test case and I
inquired as to the reason this site was blocked.

Y'all might find the reply to be interesting.



Gordon Riley, Coordinator of Information & Technology
Mitchell High School, Colorado Springs, CO
The opinions expressed are my own!
                      *******
"Unity.  It doesn't always mean agree, it doesn't always mean the same.  But
it sure doesn't mean burnin' books and brains and Jews in Jesus' name."
Holly Near in the song Unity


___________________________________________________________________

I received your request from the Help Desk (Ticket #3166) to unblock
http://www.vegsoc.org .

This site is not being blocked specifically.  What I mean by that is, the
filtering software we use comes with a database that is updated and
downloaded to our server nightly.  This database is created by the sofware
company (Websense) and sites are block by categories.

Here is the link to the list of categories
http://www.websense.com/products/about/database/version3.cfm . We have no
way of knowing for sure why they included a particular site to the filter.
My guess would be Activist Group????

The good news is, we do have the capability of removing a site from the
database thus unblocking it here locally.

I will take a look at this site and see if it is a candidate for unblocking
and get back to you, probably on Monday.

Pat Crosbie
Web Administrator
Colorado Springs School District 11
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at
http://profiles.msn.com.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=
All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law.
To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST), send email to:
listserv@listserv.syr.edu   In the message write EITHER:
1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST
4) SET LM_NET MAIL  * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv.
For LM_NET Help see: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
Archives: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.html
 See also EL-Announce for announcements from library media vendors:
    http://www.mindspring.com/~el-announce/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=