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August 31, 2004
Fear of content?
I have previously complained about a notorious online content filtering service called SonicWALL. This blog is blocked, as are a number of blogs on a wide variety of subjects. (What that means is that if you enter our URL on a computer "protected" by SonicWALL, you'll get an ugly black screen displaying only the message, "This site has been blocked by SonicWALL.") The blocking is quite insidious, and involves far more than protecting kids from porn. The following description is from the company website: SonicWALL Content Filtering Service categorizes Web site content into the following categories: Adult/Mature Content/Pornography, Sex Education, Intimate Apparel/Swimsuit, Nudism, Alcohol/Tobacco, Criminal Skills/Illegal Skills, Drugs/Illegal drugs, Gambling, Hate/Racism, Violence, Weapons and Cult/Occult.Um, to that they should add conservative Chicago economists! In this brave new world, there's no distinction between advocacy and discussion. And if your site shares ISP numbers with other sites (as many blogs do), then if one site is blocked, all are. Your vast national kindergarten at work, kiddies! Don't bother to complain to SonicWALL, as they will not answer. Out of curiosity, I tried to open my blog on a SonicWALL-silenced computer last night, and of course it was still blocked, as were many blogs. Not only that, but SonicWALL has no sense of humor at all. (For example, they didn't want me looking at this picture of Glenn Reynolds wearing an "I had an abortion" T-shirt! And they hate God too; even Allah himself is blocked by the blasphemous, Satanic SonicWALL!) The SonicWALL support site is very poor, and the help forum is available only to registered users. There is simply no way to contact them directly if you're blocked. (I suspect that there's an assumption that anyone who's blocked is an unclean degenerate who should be shamed out of existence.) I did find the following non-copyable statement (what's up with that? I can take a screen shot, can't I?) at their "knowledge portal":  I went to the Cyber Patrol site and entered my URL, but it didn't come up blocked, so I have no real explanation as to why Classical Values is being blocked. Must be homophobia. Or hoplophobia. posted by Eric on 08.31.04 at 07:32 AM
Comments
Sorry for not getting this in the initial comment - your url is listed in two categories, both Adult/Mature Content and Political Advocacy. The first category is blockable in any CFS service that is purchased from Sonicwall. The second category is only blockable in the CFS Premium option. Once you look up the initial rating of your site, you can request a re-rating and provide a suggested category into which your site should be classified. Once the site is classified, the network administrator on the network being monitored/protected by the Sonicwall CFS service has the authority to configure the categories that are blocked. Further, the admin can specifically allow your domain and override the blocking. Jamie Jamison · August 31, 2004 11:01 PM Thank you very much for the very helpful information! I just sent in a request that this blog be reclassified (although I did not see a category for philosophical discussions, ancients versus moderns, or political satire). Your blog is excellent; thanks for coming! Eric Scheie · September 1, 2004 08:37 AM I love reading these discussions and descriptions of censorship -- turns me on far more than most pornography. These lists of forbidden fantasies. I especially love that "Intimate Apparel/Swimsuit". That is extremely sexy to think about. Ban the word "suggestive" -- it is too suggestive! Steven Malcolm Anderson (Cato the Elder) the Lesbian-worshipping gun-loving selfish aesthete · September 2, 2004 03:04 PM |
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Eric, the CFS that is provided by Sonicwall is a service that is configurable by the network administrator. The categories that are blocked are individually selectable. There is now a URL to which anyone can go and submit their site for review and potential removal from the blocked list: http://cfssupport.sonicwall.com.
I hope that helps.