[wplug] Internet filter

[Rob Nelson]

>anyone, the school needs to take the 'safe' stance.  Anywho, tell me how to
>get around it :)  Just kidding.  

It's a proxy. Go into your browser and turn the proxy off.

And here's how to fix that...Install a program called "Fortres Grand" (yes,
it only has one S in it) which allows you to lock down desktop attributes
and overall behavior (like, when you click on the start button, it only
shows Reboot and Logoff, and it can force people to log into the network).
Then install Cooler, (from the same company) which allows you to lock down
menus in programs. Like, you can make it so that everything but Print and
Exit on the File menu is grayed out. So you gray out stuff that lets them
change the proxy. This stuff costs I think <$50 per seat, and that's if you
do it legally (hey, I worked in a school district once, so I *know* that's
not always the case ;)

Oh, and set your router to *only* accept HTTP and HTTPS connections from Bess.

Aside from Bess (I work at a county government now), we've implemented
Fortres Grand and Cooler at client sites and even into some of our turnkey
solutions (remote access=type stuff) and, to the best of our knowledge, it's
never been circumvented.

>It seems to make the most sense to filter at the proxy so all content is
>filtered through the same rules to all the computers, and it will limit people
>poking at around the filter.

Yes. There are certainly proxies other than Bess, Bess is just an incredible
deal for what you get - it does limited caching, url restrictions, and even
content restriction. And, on top of that, I believe it DOES allow you to see
those naughty words on a search page, so it doesn't screw up your yahoo
search if you happen to type in words like "fetish" or "bra" or maybe are
doing a report on "unprotected sex".

Resources:

Bess: http://www.n2h2.com/solutions/school/school_products.html (they have
other less restrictive products, but Bess is targeted at schools)
Fortres Grand: http://www.fortres.com/products/fortres_101.htm
http://www.fortres.com/products/cooler.htm (There's a 2.0 version in beta
that will allow you to restrict 16 bit apps that 1.0 won't, if you need
this, contact me privately)

Rob Nelson
ronelson at vt.edu

P.S. For those who are not looking for content restriction but rather
job-related restriction, such as only allowing a person to *.gov and *.edu
sites, there is another product called Instant Internet (www.instant.net)
that we use at various client sites successfully.