[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Computer Security For Dummies / Shaun's school

[Shaun Hately]

On 4 Sep 2003 at 13:59, Kirstini wrote:

> Shaun:
> >> Just something else to consider - many block a lot of stuff 
> *deliberately* besides 'smut'. 
> <snip> [M]any block sites for political and/or religious reasons - 
> for example, some of this software has been known to block sites that 
> contain the word 'evolution' or the word 'Allah'. It would not 
> surprise me at all to find some now block the term 'Harry Potter' as 
> well.
> <snip> Just for the record - some sites blocked by various blocking 
> software have included:
> The Illinois Federation for Human Rights
> The Institute of Australian Psychiatrists
> Mother Jones Magazine
> Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention
> The Traditional Values Coalition
> The War Resisters League
> What Is Memorial Day?
> Hillary For President>> 
> 
> Are the software developers of the world in George Bush's pocket too? 

No, I don't think so - I think it's a bit more complicated than that. 
What needs to be considered is that the type of person who will set up a 
company that will develop software to block pornography, and the type of 
person who will choose to work for such a company, are probably more 
likely than the population in general to have deeply held religious 
beliefs. They also need to consider that their customers are most likely 
to be people who hold specific religious beliefs - and any company will 
tend to cater to its customers. And most companies keep their lists of 
blocked sites secret - which means a particular developer with an axe to 
grind could take a decision to add a particular site without anybody 
else knowing.

Republican political candidates have found their sites blocked nearly as 
often as Democratic ones - The Traditional Values Coalition has found 
itself blocked alongside Gay Pride sites - the blocking doesn't appear 
to be *gnerally* based on pushing any particular ideology - if it did, 
I'd be very concerned, especially when there are moves to force such 
software to be on public library and similar systems.

Individual sites do seem to get blocked based on particular political 
beliefs - but it seems to be nearly as likely to be a left wing 
developer blocking a right wing site, as vice versa. That certainly 
stinks - that people would seek to censor political beliefs they 
disagree with, whatever side of politics they come from - but it does 
seem to be a fairly even playing field.

> There's not wanting your kids to be exposed to dirty photos, and then 
> there's censoring every thought ever expressed not in agreement with 
> your own. I really don't want to offend anyone on list, because you 
> are all lovely and I don't care which way any of you vote, but the 
> power of the American right really scares me a bit. I may have to go 
> out and cause some civil disobediance to get over this one.
> Incidentally, does anyone get unsolicited MSN pop-ups? I am 
> continually amazed how many 22-year-old girls there are out there who 
> have just installed web cams so that they can chat and show off their 
> bodies at the same time... ;)

Yep - although I get them mostly over ICQ as I rarely use MSN Messenger.

> Completely OT - Shaun, have you mentioned on list which school you 
> went to? Which school was it? Because I was watching Priscilla, Queen 
> of the Desert a couple of nights ago, and Guy Pearce's character 
> mentioned which school he'd gone to and it sounded very familiar. I 
> emailed my Aussie cousin, who replied, somewhat scathingly, "No, of 
> course I didn't go to that school. I live in Perth. Do you have *any* 
> idea of Australian geography, woman?" (no, I don't. But I don't have 
> any idea of English geography either, and I was shocked when I 
> started university and someone pointed out to me that Florida and 
> California aren't on the same coast. I can, however, point out where 
> the five Scottish cities are on a map. So can my five year old step-
> niece.)
>  So, squashed, I brooded for a few days, and then thought that 
> perhaps it might have been your school. However, Yahoo is playing 
> tricks today, and won't let me access any messages I've already 
> checked, so I can't get into your prefect" post. I know it's a 
> ridiculously tiny point, but these things assume an enormous 
> significance when you've got something else you really should be 
> getting on with.  

I don't think I've mentioned the name of my school - because I generally 
don't without a reason. This is because I had incredibly bad experiences 
with bullying at one particular school, and if I mentioned it's name 
online, coupled with some of the things I've said about it in the past, 
I'd be worried about lawsuits (-8. So I rarely mention any of the 
schools I attended by name. But for the record, the school I've talked 
about most on this list (not the one where I was horribly, horribly, 
bullied) was Xavier College, Kew, Victoria - one of the 'Six Great 
Schools' of Victoria.

Now, you've got me thinking I need to rent Priscilla, Queen of the 
Desert just to see what school Guy Pearce's character mentions - I doubt 
it was Xavier, because I would have expected to hear about that!


 
> Kirstini, who might march to London and throw eggs at Tony Blair 
> tomorrow. 
> 
> 
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Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia