RevLeft.com is banned at my school...

[Reznov]

Well, was horribly bored at school today and decided to go on RevLeft to get some reading to past the time.

Lo and behold, when I try to access it, the site is blocked by our schools filter because of "Racism and Hate".

I was really stunned, and then tried to go to Stormfront to see if I would get the same message, and it also filtered that under "Racism and Hate".

Does anyone know how the hell they can group these two sites together? And why?

Also, anyone know of a way of bored lonely comrade at school can access RevLeft and get past the filtering thing?

[Broletariat]

What filtering system does your school use? Mine hasn't blocked it yet.

You could try using the https trick.

[Johnny Kerosene]

Well, was horribly bored at school today and decided to go on RevLeft to get some reading to past the time.

Lo and behold, when I try to access it, the site is blocked by our schools filter because of "Racism and Hate".

I was really stunned, and then tried to go to Stormfront to see if I would get the same message, and it also filtered that under "Racism and Hate".

Does anyone know how the hell they can group these two sites together? And why?

Also, anyone know of a way of bored lonely comrade at school can access RevLeft and get past the filtering thing?

Maybe your school's web filter considers capitalists a separate race?

You could use a proxy to access it, but you can get suspended and shit for using one. You're probably better off not trying to go to RevLeft at school. Unless it's a college, in which case, you should go complain to the dean of students or something, although I don't think most colleges have web filters.

[$lim_$weezy]

Haha I tried to go to revleft today at my school as well. It is blocked for me too. The network administrators at my school do not even feel the need to justify why they block a site- they simply leave the "category" field blank! Also, anything having to do with anarchism (anarchy archives, anarchopedia, etc) is blocked but sites like conservapedia are allowed.

[Agent Ducky]

Idk =/ .... Revleft isn't blocked at my school, but stuff gets blocked for the weirdest 'reasons' at school... This one game called Transformice where it's a multiplayer platformer game where you're a mouse and you have to try to get cheese was blocked for "porn" O_o

[Broletariat]

Haha I tried to go to revleft today at my school as well. It is blocked for me too. The network administrators at my school do not even feel the need to justify why they block a site- they simply leave the "category" field blank! Also, anything having to do with anarchism (anarchy archives, anarchopedia, etc) is blocked but sites like conservapedia are allowed.

I'd bring that kind of shit up tbh. Political discrimination right there, contact the ACLU or something.

[The Man]

My school uses barracuda, and it isn't blocked.

[red cat]

Maybe your school's web filter considers capitalists a separate race?


:lol:

[$lim_$weezy]

Perhaps I should clarify: for most sites (revleft included) the "category" is the default ("PASSED"), however, for some sites the field has been filled out. For anarchy archives I think it said "terrorism/militant/extremism".

Should I really bring this up to the ACLU? Would anything really come of it?

[Broletariat]

Perhaps I should clarify: for most sites (revleft included) the "category" is the default ("PASSED"), however, for some sites the field has been filled out. For anarchy archives I think it said "terrorism/militant/extremism".

Should I really bring this up to the ACLU? Would anything really come of it?

I wouldn't go straight to the ACLU, just talk to someone at school about it and be like. Yo what's the deal fellas, I'm just trying to learn some more about political theory and you guys calling me a terrorist? You blocking one political website why aint you blocking all of them?

If they don't relent, e-mail the ACLU and they'll help you out from there.

[$lim_$weezy]

Thank you for the counsel, Bro.
I will attempt to take it up tomorrow.

[Broletariat]

Thank you for the counsel, Bro.
I will attempt to take it up tomorrow.


Now you made me feel all important and special :3

Too bad my ego is already giant.


Good luck tomorrow though man, be prepared with what you're going to say and anticipate their responses and have some arguments ready.

[tm315]

Also, anyone know of a way of bored lonely comrade at school can access RevLeft and get past the filtering thing?

You need to get the IP address. First, to get a new command prompt, open Notepad and type: command.com. Then, save as “cmd.bat”. You now have a command prompt. Now, open the command prompt and type “ping [insert website]" to find the IP address of that website. Enter the IP address in instead of the site address to bypass the filter.

[CommunityBeliever]

Your best bet is to use a proxy server, like ctunnel (http://ctunnel.com/).

[Ele'ill]

So approach every assignment from an anarchist perspective and then not do the assignment because the school blocks 'anarchism'.

[Aloysius]

I don't think iPrism blocks it, but I haven't checked in a while.

[Manic Impressive]

i've seen at least 4 or five of these threads since I've been on here could the site owner not take it up directly with the company/ies who classifies this site as "Racism and Hate"

[thesadmafioso]

I think you may possibly be taking this situation a bit out of context. As has already been stated, web filters are notoriously sporadic and random in there methodology. It is very probable that no conscious thought actually went into blocking revleft and other similar sites and that the filter simply applied some byzantine formula automatically to justify its action. I would certainly ask someone about it at your school before trying to take it to the ACLU, as it is a situation that could very well be remedied by a quick conversation with whoever presides over the filter.

[Chicxulub]

I haven't been around here long, but I've already seen some questionable content that doesn't really leave me in doubt.

[Impulse97]

I haven't been around here long, but I've already seen some questionable content that doesn't really leave me in doubt.

In doubt as to, what exactly? Why it got blocked? Its just stupid shit and bias.

[Chicxulub]

In doubt as to, what exactly? Why it got blocked?

Let's just start here:

http://www.revleft.com/vb/irish-americans-t154572/index.html?p=2107883#post2107883

[Manic Impressive]

That's Opposing Ideologies for bad leftists and capitalists we call it the Gulag for a reason. But yeah 727Goon hates all white people, but that's ok because he faces systemic racism and Irish people don't.....anymore.

[$lim_$weezy]

Yeah I spoke with an administrator about it yesterday afternoon. They said the sites were probably blocked automatically, and that they would send a notification to the network administrator at the central office requesting their unblocking. Obviously, the ACLU is like, the LAST resort. revleft is still going to be blocked because they block all message boards.

[Impulse97]

Posting at school FTW.

I don't think they expect us to even consider going here. Perhaps, that's why it's un-blocked.

[tobbinator]

Revleft isn't blocked at my school, in fact i'm posting from school now. However, at home, my parents' internet "protection" software blocks it under "Hate/Violence/Racism", so the only place I can post from is school.

[Impulse97]

Revleft isn't blocked at my school, in fact i'm posting from school now. However, at home, my parents' internet "protection" software blocks it under "Hate/Violence/Racism", so the only place I can post from is school.

How ironic. Its completely the opposite of 99% of students out there. You gotta work on getting that software down. :lol:

[liberay]

Usually with filtering programs, the administrator custom adds website addresses as they see fit. They must have added revleft not because it's automatically on there, but because they've noticed its usage wither by you or another student. I do not want to sound paranoid but it is not unheard of in the u.s. that schools monitor students website usage. It's a common practice now...

This is probably not a terrible thing since you are not doing anything illegal, but if you want to reclaim your internet freedom, you can go through a proxy (i.e. hidemyass dot com slash proxy)

Most of what I learnt in high school was through these forums. It's an injustice that they would block you from such a resourceful learning tool... but also not surprising.:thumbdown:

If you really want to remain anonymous, avoid it and go to a library or web cafe instead...

[Reznov]

Well, I tried the ping trick. Using the revleft.org instead of revleft.com trick. And cannot find and proxy as all are also blocked.

Bullcrap! I need a way in! lol

[Bronco]

Doesnt really surprise me, schools can be pretty tight with their filtering system. At my old school I was writing an essay on Joseph Conrad and basically every site with any info was blocked, I think googling Trotsky was actually blocked as well although I'm not sure why

[Invader Zim]

When I was first in highschool (back in the 90s) education many schools only had limited computing/internet access. Filters were also yet to be introduced so you could look at anything, which naturally we did. But by the time I left school rudimentary systems were in place to restrict viewing. It amused me because we couldn't look up a lot of history sites because many discussed the holocaust.

[Leftie]

I remember last year when revleft was banned but my school have greatly relaxed filtering now :)

I've seen some people on fascist sites though which is the downside :thumbdown:

[Zhu Bailan]

What about Browse At Work (http://browseatwork.com/) instead of proxies?

[Inquisitive Lurker]

1. I find it hilarious that they are blocking this site. It means someone actually had to familiarize themselves with it in order to come up with a spurious reason the block it.

2. I had no idea we had so many high schoolers on RevLeft.

3. It would be easy to set up a pass-through site, heck I may do it myself, something like revleft.arbatel.org that would work like the inverse of the proxy and just mask the site.

4. Or for $10 RevLeft could get another domain name. Maybe get its original domain name back, RevolutionaryLeft.

[KurtFF8]

Yeah I spoke with an administrator about it yesterday afternoon. They said the sites were probably blocked automatically, and that they would send a notification to the network administrator at the central office requesting their unblocking. Obviously, the ACLU is like, the LAST resort. revleft is still going to be blocked because they block all message boards.

Hmm, that's unfortunate that they block all message boards. Considering the political nature of RevLeft (containing History, Theory, Philosophy subforums, etc.) perhaps you could still make the case that you should be able to access it for educational reasons while at school.

I'm assuming this is a high school so perhaps it would be a difficult task, but perhaps worth the effort.

[NewLeft]

Anything leftist is blocked at my school for 'extremist' reasons.. But far right sites like stormfront are not blocked.

[Red Rebel]

@reznov and other comrades facing blocked leftists sites,

You might be able to bypass the bloc, and props to you for doing that; however, I would suggest you might have to raise a little hell (or threaten to at least :lol:). First approach whoever is in charge of the computer lab and asked why its blocked. Then state that RevLeft is not a racist site (if your in the USA im not sure hate towards your boss counts as a protected right under Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act). If your problem isn't resolved ask the principle of your school. State that RevLeft has academic value. Most schools will probably give in at that, if not your principle of your school (or whoevers is in "charge") will have to face a stronger student voice.

[AnonymousOne]

Well, was horribly bored at school today and decided to go on RevLeft to get some reading to past the time.

Lo and behold, when I try to access it, the site is blocked by our schools filter because of "Racism and Hate".

I was really stunned, and then tried to go to Stormfront to see if I would get the same message, and it also filtered that under "Racism and Hate".

Does anyone know how the hell they can group these two sites together? And why?

Also, anyone know of a way of bored lonely comrade at school can access RevLeft and get past the filtering thing?

Hello.

What level of permissions does your network give you? If you can run an executable file I'd recommend taking a USB thumb drive and putting the Tor Browser on it. This will send your traffic through a relay system of volunteers fooling your web system into thinking you're visiting some site in Germany or the UK, but you're actually on the site you're trying to get to. As I can not link, you need to search for Tor Browser.

If you absolutely had to you could also attempt to use Ultrasurf, but the problem with this is that it generally triggers anti-virus software. It also contains Trojans and back-doors that the U.S Government can use to view what you visit. This was discovered by the French security firm Reflets. If you search for Ultrasurf + Wikipedia you can see the article's external link.

If you can't run an executable file there are other ways yet. Consider making a live CD of Ubuntu that you can boot instead of the school's operating system and then using the Linux version of Tor or Ultrasurf (Tor preferred).

[PC LOAD LETTER]

When I was in high school (graduated four years ago), I bypassed the computer lab filters by using an SSH tunnel. I had a linux box at home running the SSH daemon with tunneling enabled, then brought a usb thumb drive to school with software called PuTTY on it, specifically the command line version. I'd bring up the windows command prompt like was stated earlier in the thread, then use the command line putty client from the flash drive with several flags to set up a proxy on a port like 56543. Then I'd set Internet Explorer to use a SOCKS proxy at localhost with port 56543. Voila, all my traffic was run to my computer at home then out to the public internet. No filtering anymore.

It sounds like a lot, but the whole process from plugging the thumb drive in, issuing the commands, and setting the proxy on the browser took all of 15 seconds.

I can't remember the specific options when using the PuTTY command line client to tunnel, but you can find guides to SSH tunneling to avoid censorship all over the internet. 2600 Magazine had an article on it a while back.

Speaking of which, if anyone's getting into the whole defeating electronic censorship thing, check out 2600 Magazine. It's a quarterly hacker magazine that often deals with issues like this. And it's available at Barnes & Noble. Or you could just order it online from their web site at 2600.com - it's cheap