Deja.com is blocked b/c of access to all newsgroups - or at least it used to
be.
I use WebNot, it fulfills my needs, and it is relatively easy to manage -but
now to the griping.
WebNot uses a list generated by Mattel for a browser blocking product aimed
at parents/schools/libraries.
WebNot includes a number of categories for blocking but when a site is
blocked the product doesn't provide even the basic information on why it is
blocked, like what category have they blocked it under.
The blocking is IP based and many sites are blocked erroneously.
Tripod, GeoCities, et al are all blocked - appropriately given some of the
stuff that gets thrown up on these sites - but better information to users
trying to access these sites would be useful.
Mattel is reticent in removing old, now erroneous blocks. There is an
argument that this is because removing old blocks would lower the number of
blocked sites in its list, a number which is used as a selling point for the
product.
The product has been blasted by some free speech advocates, and it has been
reverse-engineered as a part of that discussion.
The main things for me would be getting old, erroneous blocks off the list,
finding what sites are classified as when they are blocked, adding a
classification for innocuous content - right now I classify it all as
"Search Engines", which isn't accurate, having sites content classified for
adults - I'm not using the product to protect children, and telling me at
least what a site is classified as when it is blocked.
"There are seldom good technological solutions for behavioral problems."
-Ed Crowley
One tip - Go under the Raptor Bin folder and dig for the HTML errors. One
of these is the 403-forbidden message. Rewrite with a mailto link that
throws the URL in the subject or body of the message so users can click to
send a request to open a site, rather than dealing with you having to guess
the URL or hunt through the logs to find the URL.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: kos [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Friday, April 28, 2000 1:46 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: site blocking testimonials
>
>
> Sean,
>
> Webnot on Raptor firewall is decent. The database itself is fetched
> daily by your firewall and is an outsourced service for Axent.
>
> It seems to be largely automated because predominant problems with
> it have to do with blocking too much, for example www.deja.com but
> they are easily overcome. See http://www.bastard.net/~kos/raptor
> for a script that can be used to whitelist sites.
>
> Later,
> Kos
>
> | Has anyone here had some real-life experiences (good/bad) with
> | firewall-based WWW site blocking programs? I'm interested in the
> | obvious issues:
> | * acceptance
> | * effectiveness
> | * whether or not sites are improperly blocked
>
> --
> -
> [To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
> "unsubscribe firewalls" in the body of the message.]
>
-
[To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
"unsubscribe firewalls" in the body of the message.]
