Comments on: Kids outsmart Web filters

At schools around the country, tech-savvy teens are using proxy sites and software to get to prohibited Web destinations.

[lummy222]

why not

ok stop adult material but some kids use games and talking to people for a release as they get so much hassle off kids from there school that they desire to use the internet to speak to people from the games or msn messenger

[lummy222]

why not

ok stop adult material but some kids use games and talking to people for a release as they get so much hassle off kids from there school that they desire to use the internet to speak to people from the games or msn messenger

[rcrusoe]

Filters are a joke

Schools and governments are just kidding themselves by
advocating and installing filters. Filters can't stop all
"objectionable" material and make things worse by blocking
legitimate sites.

And like the article says most kids can bypass them at will. A
full web browser and the software needed to bypass most filters
can be loaded on and run from a USB drive. I know because a 14
year old showed me how to do it.

[rcrusoe]

Filters are a joke

Schools and governments are just kidding themselves by
advocating and installing filters. Filters can't stop all
"objectionable" material and make things worse by blocking
legitimate sites.

And like the article says most kids can bypass them at will. A
full web browser and the software needed to bypass most filters
can be loaded on and run from a USB drive. I know because a 14
year old showed me how to do it.

[rupert9999]

I don't get it!

Simply configure the school net as an intranet. Without internet access!

For specific needs, allow a restricted nr of computers with access. Computers where students have to login with user/password. Should make it straightforward to trace unwanted behaviour.

[zhoffmanster]

One problem...

The only problem with that is that many times, the whole POINT of giving students a laptop is so that they can use it to research stuff on the internet.

[rupert9999]

I don't get it!

Simply configure the school net as an intranet. Without internet access!

For specific needs, allow a restricted nr of computers with access. Computers where students have to login with user/password. Should make it straightforward to trace unwanted behaviour.

[zhoffmanster]

One problem...

The only problem with that is that many times, the whole POINT of giving students a laptop is so that they can use it to research stuff on the internet.

[SleepJunkie]

SSH Tunneling

The IT guy where we go to school is very smart and has taught me a lot. There is always a way to get around filters and blocks. And to whoever said "block port 80", you may as well just cancel the school's internet connection.

All of our internet at school goes through one proxy, and every port but 80 and 443 are blocked. I SSH to my home computer over 443, then connect through Privoxy, and walah. He did at one point block 443, so I set it up over 80 and had to mask what was being sent back and forth so he couldn't see, but it worked.

There is NO way at all to block access to everything at school. As long as you have smart competent people at the school, they will find a way out.

[zhoffmanster]

That, or...

That, or as long as you have teachers who seem like their afraid to use discipline and punishment, or who just don't know what the **** they're doing.

[Micah Fitch]

haha

That guy was being sarcastic when he said to block port 80. But you're right, you can use SSH or VNC or whatever.

[SleepJunkie]

SSH Tunneling

The IT guy where we go to school is very smart and has taught me a lot. There is always a way to get around filters and blocks. And to whoever said "block port 80", you may as well just cancel the school's internet connection.

All of our internet at school goes through one proxy, and every port but 80 and 443 are blocked. I SSH to my home computer over 443, then connect through Privoxy, and walah. He did at one point block 443, so I set it up over 80 and had to mask what was being sent back and forth so he couldn't see, but it worked.

There is NO way at all to block access to everything at school. As long as you have smart competent people at the school, they will find a way out.

[zhoffmanster]

That, or...

That, or as long as you have teachers who seem like their afraid to use discipline and punishment, or who just don't know what the **** they're doing.

[Micah Fitch]

haha

That guy was being sarcastic when he said to block port 80. But you're right, you can use SSH or VNC or whatever.

[ficklepickle]

Here's how you do it

Forget the filtering. Deploy Linux, disable X, and let them use Lynx. Youngsters will soon lose interest in surfing pr0n at school.

[SleepJunkie]

Unless...

Haha, great idea.

But they can still look at it! They just have to convert the picture to ASCII(http://text-image.com/)

I doubt they'd stoop that low, though ;)

[ficklepickle]

Here's how you do it

Forget the filtering. Deploy Linux, disable X, and let them use Lynx. Youngsters will soon lose interest in surfing pr0n at school.

[SleepJunkie]

Unless...

Haha, great idea.

But they can still look at it! They just have to convert the picture to ASCII(http://text-image.com/)

I doubt they'd stoop that low, though ;)

[eeimperial]

We did this in 2001 (not a new trick)

This proxy creation to serve as a mode to "trick" filters has been done since 1997. When we were in HS we also created web proxies through other websites, not a home website, therfore blocking one proxy did not matter and the school could not stop us. Hot new trick...hardly.

[eeimperial]

We did this in 2001 (not a new trick)

This proxy creation to serve as a mode to "trick" filters has been done since 1997. When we were in HS we also created web proxies through other websites, not a home website, therfore blocking one proxy did not matter and the school could not stop us. Hot new trick...hardly.

[jer2eydevil88]

VNC

Obviously they can't block everything especially if the school machines have java the kids can simply use free RealVNC software to bypass this ******** filtering.

My high school had one admin password on the network "adm1n" and every remotely intelligent kid knew of it and used it to do whatever they wanted.

[jer2eydevil88]

VNC

Obviously they can't block everything especially if the school machines have java the kids can simply use free RealVNC software to bypass this ******** filtering.

My high school had one admin password on the network "adm1n" and every remotely intelligent kid knew of it and used it to do whatever they wanted.

[advs89]

Yeah

My high school "rents" Dell Latitude D600's to each student for the year (although its pretty much required of you). We take our tests and quizzes online, take notes on the laptop, do homework on them... just about everything that used to involve a pen and paper now involves our laptops. As far as games and internet go, they are completely locked down. The group security policy restricts programs that are not already installed on the computer from running (unless you rename the program to an allowed name, like 'notepad.exe'), and the internet has a content filtering server called "lightspeed" which filters inappropriate web sites. But of course, many people use online proxy servers to reroute their traffic through an allowed site, (some were mentioned in this article), although ultimatly, they all end up getting blocked. But new ones appear, and old ones are blocked... its just a back and forth battle between the students and the two admins. However, the school has seemed to find that the best content filtering tool is not a software application, but yet, a special tool called "detention". Basically, they monitor students' traffic to inappropriate websites, and give them anywhere from, up to 3 hours of asd (after school detention), to suspention. Typically that seems to be what works the best for them, but even with that, sometimes some people get detention for stupid things.

[advs89]

Yeah

My high school "rents" Dell Latitude D600's to each student for the year (although its pretty much required of you). We take our tests and quizzes online, take notes on the laptop, do homework on them... just about everything that used to involve a pen and paper now involves our laptops. As far as games and internet go, they are completely locked down. The group security policy restricts programs that are not already installed on the computer from running (unless you rename the program to an allowed name, like 'notepad.exe'), and the internet has a content filtering server called "lightspeed" which filters inappropriate web sites. But of course, many people use online proxy servers to reroute their traffic through an allowed site, (some were mentioned in this article), although ultimatly, they all end up getting blocked. But new ones appear, and old ones are blocked... its just a back and forth battle between the students and the two admins. However, the school has seemed to find that the best content filtering tool is not a software application, but yet, a special tool called "detention". Basically, they monitor students' traffic to inappropriate websites, and give them anywhere from, up to 3 hours of asd (after school detention), to suspention. Typically that seems to be what works the best for them, but even with that, sometimes some people get detention for stupid things.

[chelecamaron]

we do it because school admins suck.

I've given up on trying to use my school's computers for anything.

Ever tried to do a research project on renaissaince art? I couldn't even get a friggin' picture of the statue of David! Oh, how about the biography for a photographer that took hundreds of beautiful black and white images, including a few nudes? How about that paper I had to write about archery that got blocked because I was "looking for weapons"?

Hell, how about the fact that in Miami-Dade county, students can't even use their E-mail, which has always been to me a mainstay method for backing up and transferring files? I just sent it to myself, and if something happens, it's in my inbox. No harm done.

School admins take filtering way too far. The school's internet is completely inusable.

Me? I just take my laptop with my little Verizon Wireless Broadband PC card. Screw them.

[chelecamaron]

we do it because school admins suck.

I've given up on trying to use my school's computers for anything.

Ever tried to do a research project on renaissaince art? I couldn't even get a friggin' picture of the statue of David! Oh, how about the biography for a photographer that took hundreds of beautiful black and white images, including a few nudes? How about that paper I had to write about archery that got blocked because I was "looking for weapons"?

Hell, how about the fact that in Miami-Dade county, students can't even use their E-mail, which has always been to me a mainstay method for backing up and transferring files? I just sent it to myself, and if something happens, it's in my inbox. No harm done.

School admins take filtering way too far. The school's internet is completely inusable.

Me? I just take my laptop with my little Verizon Wireless Broadband PC card. Screw them.

[chelecamaron]

we do it because school admins suck.

I've given up on trying to use my school's computers for anything.

Ever tried to do a research project on renaissaince art? I couldn't even get a stupid picture of the statue of David! Oh, how about the biography for a photographer that took hundreds of beautiful black and white images, including a few nudes? How about that paper I had to write about archery that got blocked because I was "looking for weapons"?

Hell, how about the fact that in Miami-Dade county, students can't even use their E-mail, which has always been to me a mainstay method for backing up and transferring files? I just sent it to myself, and if something happens, it's in my inbox. No harm done.

School admins take filtering way too far. The school's internet is completely inusable.

Me? I just take my laptop with my little Verizon Wireless Broadband PC card. Forget them.

[rbrown72002]

school admins haven't changed much

I took my first programming class in 1972 using an ASR33 teletype, a paper tape punch and a 110 baud modem. Every afternoon the HP2000 would crash, wiping out every saved file. One of the other schools had a bad program that would crash the machine. They ran it every afternoon after they were through using the machine AND after they had asked the admin to backup their area to tape.

They told the administrators they were causing the crashes, but the admins didn't believe they could do it. So they kept running the program, every day.

[chelecamaron]

we do it because school admins suck.

I've given up on trying to use my school's computers for anything.

Ever tried to do a research project on renaissaince art? I couldn't even get a stupid picture of the statue of David! Oh, how about the biography for a photographer that took hundreds of beautiful black and white images, including a few nudes? How about that paper I had to write about archery that got blocked because I was "looking for weapons"?

Hell, how about the fact that in Miami-Dade county, students can't even use their E-mail, which has always been to me a mainstay method for backing up and transferring files? I just sent it to myself, and if something happens, it's in my inbox. No harm done.

School admins take filtering way too far. The school's internet is completely inusable.

Me? I just take my laptop with my little Verizon Wireless Broadband PC card. Forget them.

[rbrown72002]

school admins haven't changed much

I took my first programming class in 1972 using an ASR33 teletype, a paper tape punch and a 110 baud modem. Every afternoon the HP2000 would crash, wiping out every saved file. One of the other schools had a bad program that would crash the machine. They ran it every afternoon after they were through using the machine AND after they had asked the admin to backup their area to tape.

They told the administrators they were causing the crashes, but the admins didn't believe they could do it. So they kept running the program, every day.