N2H2 (BESS) filtering Shockwave.com

[Russell Smith <russell@RUSTYSMITH.COM>]

Crossposted to LM_Net and EDTECH:

BESS has apparently added http://www.shockwave.com to their offical list
of blocked sites. The installation of the Shockwave player requires
access to that URL to complete the installation. Many legitimate sites
have Shockwave applets that are now unavailable to machines using the
BESS filter (unless they were installed previously or find an alternate
way to install the Shockwave plug-in).

Anybody else hearing complaints from school users about this filtering
action? The BESS filter can be overidden by the network operators, but
this is a difficult request for most end users and requires a political
decision by administrators. I know the Shockwave site has Southpark
cartoons and other materials that are non-educational, but do we throw
out the baby with the bathwater? Should this site be left to user's AUP
policies? Or maybe Shockwave.com is such a distraction we should only
allow technicians to install Shockwave and then turn the blocking back
on for the main site? Any comments?

All the best,


Russell Smith
Edtech Consultant, Journalist
Region 14 Education Service Center
Abilene, Texas  915-675-8659
http://www.rustysmith.com

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