Modern Vespa

So, I work at school late a lot, and often on weekends. I need a break from correcting papers for hours on end, so sometimes check a few web sites, then go back to those exciting teenagers' essays. First they blocked my meetup group this summer, as a "socializing network." Now they blocked this one for "language." WTF? I can still get the Bastards web site. Humm . . . What I want to know is, who is it at my school district that is searching the web for these sites? Sounds like more fun than correcting essays on Sunday afternoons.

Ask Jess nicely, and it might be available though a different (un-molested) port. If it's not a SMOP that is.

if you have a pc at home which is left on for whatever reasons (e.g. downloading, web server), you can try this: www.logmein.com

create an account and you can access your computer at home remotely

what you then do, is surf the internet through remote access - so your computer at work will be sending requests for logmein.com, but its actually your home pc which is navigating to the websites you need.

my advice, if that website too, gets blocked, is to speak to the department in your work responsible and see if they can unblock either the websites you need, or unblock logmein (if they deem it bad a month or two into using it or something) for the purposes of accessing work at home. there is monitoring software out there which shows administrators what youre seeing on the screen, but in honesty, i doubt many organisations use this stuff (i might be wrong so dont take my word on it.)

Often the blocking happens through a service. Most of the services err on the "safe" side, blocking anything that might remotely have anything to do with anything.

They also block sites that are critical of blocking software as a matter of routine.

[quote="Junglizt1210"]if you have a pc at home which is left on for whatever reasons (e.g. downloading, web server), you can try this: www.logmein.com /quote]

having worked at a district, this would be frowned upon and could be grounds for termination. They don't know why you are using forwarders and may assume the worst.

I work for the County Public Health Department. Our administrators are so an-- retentive, that they have the web locked down tight. I can't even access the CDC (Center of Disease Control) Federal website to get updates without it locking up my computer and sending a message to administration that I'm trying to cross firewalls!!! Shish!

Well, God forbid. There could be something on the CDC website with the word breast or penis in it, particularly concerning cancer or some other health issue. We wouldn't want to be using the correct terminology or even discussing human body parts

That is so unfair, you need to take your lap top computer to work just for this purpose.

If she uses her school's internet access, either wired or wirelessly, their blocking software on the network would still block it. Happens to me at work for some sights with my own personal laptop. The only way to get around it would be to have your own wireless/cellular internet on your laptop, to use a secure shell into your home network (if that's allowed), or an anonymizer like was previously mentioned.

My vote would be not to work at, um,... work, on any day you don't HAVE to!! Like Saturday and Sundays!!! (Hope you at least got to ride your scoot there.)

I don't even think terminology has anything to do with it..... I think they just don't want anyone to get any work done at all! When H1N1 fully hits this fall, they won't have anyone in the building anyway, so WTH....

You could use an iPhone or something similar and connect through your mobile service rather than their Internet. That's what I do!

They may not be looking through all the sites on the web for objectionable material, but they may be scanning the cache on school owned computer for often visited sites, and blocking those they find objectionable?

I'm not so sure. The Teacher's Union or CTA local would get involved real quick-like, especially if the technology use or applicable policy papers don't specifically say that a forwarder is against the rules. I've had my district un-block YouTube temporarily so I could access a video on the site for a lesson. All it took was am email. Maybe the in-house nerds are like-minded, or even scooterists. It's worth a shot...

My guess is that they blocking the site based on the rough language that can be found here. The images are pretty safe for the work place and for children... but not all.

At my school district, the filtering only occurred on the "student" side of the network. Computers that were used by students, wireless users, and teachers with insecure terminals/computers were filtered. Administrators and teachers with secure workstations could have unfiltered web access. workstation security was via RFID security tags. Even with unfiltered access, tall sites visits were logged (by username and RFID tag number)and all sites were checked.

I work in a school too. This site isn't blocked, but if they do block it I'll just stop checking it at school. The iPhone is the way to go if you wanna get around the district's server.

I agree Danny. MV is not blocked in our system either, but if they ever did I would stop checking. I'm pretty sure if our system blocks a site and we try to circumvent the system they would frown upon it heavily; I don't have an iPhone, but my cell phone gets Internet service.

My experience with school district web access is that they use a third party to police\block sites. This way, they don't have anny responsibilty (an issue locally)! If you talk with your tech dept., they might take it off the list.

This may be an unpopular post...but the computer at the workplace is for, well, work.

Why should anyone feel entitled to use the school equipment for anything other than school related tasks?

Most of the teachers and staff at our schools put in countless hours "off the clock." Plus, they put up with our children. If they need a little break on their lunch or in this case, on their weekend, a few minutes on the web are well deserved. In addition, these little breaks help them relieve stress and refresh themselves so they are better prepared to serve their students. How do you feel about "power naps?" Reading the newspaper? Between meal snacks?

Naps, reading the paper, snacks, when done on your break or lunch time is fine. You don't expect the school to furnish a paper, a bed, or snack food.

What did they do before computers and the web to relieve the stress of the career that they chose?

Weekends are often slow, but Modern Vespa really perks up when the modern workforce clocks in Monday through Friday. I have a feeling that a lot of people are looking at MV on company time.

Boobs.

There, I've probably ruined it for someone else now

I power nap in my chair, when needed. It's provided by the company. What difference does it make what they did before computers? Now in addition to leisure use of the web, a high school shop teacher will be blocked from looking up technical data on this website that might be very supportive to the student that shows up with a '62 VBA he found in the barn. I am opposed to censorship out of laziness.

My guess is that this thread is getting closer to politics than the OP had intended. Talking politics (and related policies) will get this thread shut down fast.

Just a thought.

Back when I had a job, I used to listen to NPR online as I worked. I couldn't use a radio because the building was concrete and we had no reception. The IT guys blocked NPR because it used up too much capacity. It didn't have anything to do with content, but I guess it slowed the whole system somewhat.

[quote="TechGuy9707"] Point taken, I edited my post.

We use Integrity Online at the church where I minister and at first they blocked MV so I submitted a request and they opened it up within two hours. Either they found nothing worthy of blocking or one of their techs is a Vespa owner.

Smoked. But that's banned now too. Although, I do agree with the no smoking policy.

In my industry, a lot of the older workers smoked while waiting for jobs and simulations to finish. Now we browse the internet. I sit in front of a computer the whole day at work and cannot do my job without a computer. I don't consider meetings work

I work for a church as well, and so glad we don't block anything!

Most companys and employors are trying to limit bandwith. I have a friend that works for a big company and his web access has been cutback big time. come on guys no need to dis the OP were just chatting here.

+1

Windows remote for you PC types is a good remote desktop option. Plenty of options for Mac and Linux users too. Use either an encrypted tunnel to a proxy or a remote desktop that uses encryption (such as Windows').

I work for a large company that likes not only to block, but also to snoop. When I use remote desktop, they can see what I type (unless I'm feeling particularly sneaky and use a mouse-based virtual keyboard on the remote desktop), but not where I navigate via bookmarks, etc. And they have zero control.

Checked with my tech dept. They won't unblock site if not school related, that I could use the site on my own time - which by the way, I was - sometimes at lunch, but usually in the afternoons for a short when I'm there till 5 or 6, after getting there at 6:15 every morning, and working there every other weekend. Oh well! I have used my Dare phone for the internet but it eats up battery time like crazy.

I don't know if they are willing to do this but are they willing to unfilter MV during certain "non-school day" hours? M-F 4 pm to 7 am and weekends?

Yes, but your comparison doesn't work. In this case, the school HAS provided the computer. OP is simply wanting to use it in her own time to do some browsing of harmless sites.

There are plenty of jobs which dion't involve clocking on, working solidly for x hours, clocking off, and then going home.

At the end of the day, my take on this is that if you don't do your work to the timescale necessary, then you'll get fired. Given those parameters, I'd expect my employer to give me a choice as to how I do that work, and how I fit it in with e.g. the small amount of personal phone calls which can only be done in the daytime, or a little personal internet use.

In bust times at work, I'll be there from early morning to late evening. There's no argument that I'm not clearing a lot of work. And if I choose to bring a sandwich to my desk at lunchtime and eat in while browsing for half an hour, rather than go outside, wander round the block a little, do some shopping, have lunch in a cafe, etc, then I don't see anything wrong with that and I don't think it's unreasonable for my employer to let me use the internet-enabled PC on my desk to browse reasonable websites.

Sorry to hear that the tech dept. wouldn't reconsider. It has been interesting to see so many opinions. Although I am not a teacher (or employed at a school), I am there on a regular basis as a volunteer and see many, many like yourself that put in long hours. I know it makes a difference for the kids and I appreciate your efforts.

For us it was a decision of being pro active, but I have to admit sometimes it's a pain. For instance, our Children's Minister was doing a skit that needed very and I mean VERY large underwear. (Funny skit for the kids too) And the gag site where you buy this kind of stuff was blocked. It almost took a note from Jesus himself to get it unblocked. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled posts.

edited for sanity...

Everyone "wastes" time at work. Just think of those toilet breaks, time spent getting a coffee, taking to workmates, etc.

I've worked with two kind of people: I remember one guy who would arrive at work at 8:55 every day, worked from 9am to 12:30 (on the dot, even if he was in the middle of something), then went for lunch. At lunch he made sure that he took exactly 60 minutes away from work (whether he had anything to do, or not. This guy would walk around the block for 60 minutes, just to make sure he took the full hour he was "entitled" to), and would then work until 5:30 on the dot, at which point he would be out of the building and on his way home.

The other type of person is the one who works until the job is done, which may mean starting early, or finishing late, or just taking 10 minutes at lunch to grab a snack. Conversely, they are also the people who may take a short break to do some 'net browsing during the day, or who will take a longer lunch-break on the odd quiet day.

I know which one I find to be the most productive, and most human.