I had really nothing else to blog about so I thought I’d share with you my own story with the tech guys at our school’s IT department. I won’t mention the school because, well I don’t think I should 
But here is the story.
I have been really fed up with our school’s crappy internet filtering. It was blocking websites like Feedburner.com and even BBC’s Radio FiveLive website. I actually needed to get on the BBC website as it had some news stories I need for my Geography coursework. And guess what? Yes it was blocked. I can’t think of how many countless things that are blocked, and I even sent an email to them to remove Feedburner because the internet filter classed it as “media/streaming music” or something of the sort. And about 2 weeks later nothing has happened. So by this time I was really pissed of and I decided, why don’t I make a proxy. So I downloaded a free proxy and configured it to work (I used my blog’s domain for quick access). I did this on a Sunday night and everything was working perfectly by Tuesday!
So being like I am I decided to give out the address as a friend of mine overlook what I was doing, I couldn’t really deny it as the word ‘Proxy’ was on the screen. So a month later and literally the whole year and people in the years belownew about it. I was quite happy about the way it went as nothing had been blocked by the technicians when one of our vice principals approached me and told me that he has heard of the “enterprise you’ve been running” and that even “teachers use it“. So I had to give the address of the site, which I blocked using .htaccess so only those with the passwords could access it. Thye still blocked it, and even though the technician said that he found a password, I really doubt that he did, otherwise he would see that the page redirects to HTTPS and would have blocked that too. Here’s the kicker: It still worked! Because I used .htaccess to redirect all calls to that page to a HTTPS version so the internet filter couldn’t sniff what I was looking at (I have a big deal with privacy issues like this). I managed to tell them that they shouldn’t block off the whole website as my blog is harmless (I access it at school sometimes if I am bored or I want to check IE compatibility). So I tried out the HTTPS version the next day and it worked. But after a few weeks they permanently blocked the whole website. That’s not all they did. And because all the computers in our school run Windows (except the G5′s in the video-editing suite) they disabled my Windows account to get my attention. So when I tried to log on it would say “Your account has been disabled, please see your network administrator”. How can they even do that, and why? They are purposefully stopping my education so I have to go see them. This is what I am most pissed of about. Why the hell don’t they get off their lazy asses and come and find me, not block my logging onto te computer. This is just going to cause more retalliation! So I went to see them and they said that they blocked the whole address of my blog because they were still getting people who were using it (I have no idea how they even know they’re using mine and not someone else’s proxy). So they unblocked my account, or so I thought. I went to see them again and he was like “So what do you mean your account is disabled”. Does he not even know how to do it? This time I was able to log-on. And to think they’ve done this to me like twice before. They are just wasting my time, it took me around 20 mins of my own studying (for my exams) for them to be able to do it! Furthermore they asked me if I was staying in the 6th form. I said yes, and they said that if I try to create another one, then they’ll permanently block my internet. Do they know that is just going to make me find other ways around the school’s filter, because no matter how you look at it, I need the internet in the future for research, coursework and classwork. I am really mad now!
In conclusion: I think that our technicians are stupid (well maybe not stupid but ignorant), obviously don’t know how to control the students and quite honestly they lack the courtesy needed when talking to students about things like this. I am really annoyed at them because of this, I think they have stepped to far this time
yeah its the same at my school. The technicians don’t have anything better to do than to fiddle with this or fiddle with that. They spend more time fixing things that they have broken than improving things that really need doing. We have to close Internet Explorer about two times every minute to get it to work too. As for our Internet filter – well – some people have setup new admin like accounts which even the technicians haven’t been able to trace. This has let them change all sorts of things and do this and that. Anyways, im not into that stuff, id rather be out in the air than in one of our feisty IT labs.
So would I but we are not allowed outside. We have no ‘play time’. He have 15 mins of breakfast in the morning and 30mins of lunch!
Thats stupid! What time do you start and finish school?
It is, lol. We start school at 8:35 and finish 4:05 with 5 lessons running 1hr15mins!
Jesus Christ! We register at 8:30, have 6 50 minute periods, with a 20 min morning break and then an hours lunch break. We finish at 3:55, then I get the bus home which takes till about 4:50 It would appear that your school is a little pushy. Do you have to wear uniform and follow strict rules etc?
we have to wear a white shirt and black trousers/skirts with our school tie. Our school is so ‘on the edge’ that we have credit-card like ID cards with our name and birthday with a picture and our card number (used for various things like accessing computers and email). It also has a magnetic stripe for signing into school (we have turnstalls where we swipe in) and a chip which we have ‘money’ on which is used to pay for food. We do have to follow quite strict rules but most teachers are quite lenient. Though there are others that really stop you in the corridor and make you tuck your shirt in and do your top button up!
Yeah, we have a strict uniform and craply designed ID cards too! They serve the same purpose as yours by the sounds of things, all apart from the magnetic strip turnstyle thingys. If we had a system like that, then no one would get into the school of over 1400 students!
yeah, you should see the queues when the buses arrive. it takes a while to get in especially with people mumbling around trying to find their cards!
haha! Yeah, well thats schools for you. Anyways, Im off to get a bit of english revision done. Ill surely comment on something else soon!
Tor works nicely.
I disagree, pos
It seems hard when you hear how long the day is but it really isn’t
You get used to it and just get on with it, lets face it, who takes an hour to eat a school meal the size of a fist?
our school meals are huge! But still, Im not going to complain about having an hours break – just seems a little unfiar that others can’t. There’s a lot more to life than sitting in classrooms.