[***UPDATE: THIS MATTER HAS BEEN RESOLVED TO MY SATISFACTION. :) STILL, I CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER WHY I RAN INTO THIS PROBLEM IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!***]
Well, here we go. I went to check on one of my favorite websites, Les Visible's Smoking Mirrors (and another one of his to make sure, Petri Dish) and this is what I got:
Access to this web page is restricted at this time.
Reason:
This Websense category is filtered: Sex.
In accordance with the provisions of CIPA*, access to this website has been blocked by the library's filter. If you believe this site is blocked in error, or if you are an adult and have a legitimate need for unfiltered access to the internet, please see a staff member.
CIPA -- Children's Internet Protection Act
URL:
http://www.smoking-mirrors.com/
I immediately told the lab monitor the site doesn't have anything to do with pornography. There might be swear words on it, but it's a political blog. The lab monitor said he didn't have the authority to type in the password to bypass the block. I told him I wanted to talk to whoever did have that authority. He made a call and got her to remotely access my computer, but "it wouldn't take the password." Case closed? Um, not for me. I take my first amendment rights a bit more seriously than that, as you can imagine. The lab monitor won't give me a contact address for the IT dept., and neither will the IT dept.'s web page. But I guess I *can* email a regular librarian using this address: ask@acpl.info
I'm going to politely ask them why one of my favorite websites is blocked, obviously for political reasons, and isn't that a violation of my rights as a citizen? Let's see what they say ...
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3 comments:
You can fight this or simply post on the library bulletin board the fact that they denied you access to whatever websites they are denying access to and post the website urls on the bulletin board.
That may cause enough stir to get some people to see what all the controversy is about.
Did you try http://smokingmirrors.blogspot.com?
Be a hoot if that worked - meaning that the goons have blocked just plain smoking mirrors. Hmm, and smoking, and mirrors, too:-)
Thanks for your support, apparently they bypassed the block for me.
I'm thinking they may have just put up one of those filters that automatically blocks off a web site if it has certain key words in it, and Les (or his commenters) tend to use those words. The post on smoking mirrors had some of Les's colorful language about a-holes, so I could see that, but then I had to scroll down to find the likely culprit for the words on Petri dish ("climax?") ... whatever ... I just didn't like the way it was handled in the beginning because I'm literally in here *all the time* and these guys know I don't look at pornography.
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