**Scroll down for updates.
Longtime reader (and former student of mine) Chris sends along this shocking revelation (click to enlarge):
Internet filters can be funny; I’ve seen my comments banned from blogs, both mine and others, for no apparent reason in an attempt to stem comment and trackback spam. Still, one wonders what on this blog might in the slightest sense be “inappropriate”. How many other blogs are being banned? Anybody have a number or email for the “technology assistant” so I can find out?
**Update: I sent an email to the FTCSC webmaster, politely asking if it would be possible to find out exactly what material on this blog is causing me to be banned. The email got bounced back to me with the following message:
Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
[webmaster email here]
Technical details of permanent failure:
PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 8 ): 550 Denied by policy: Sender is listed on DNS-based RBL
In tech-speak, RBL = Realtime Blackhole List, which is basically a spam blacklist. Why am I on this? Maybe a phone call is in order? (I’d try from my work address, but I’m a little squirrelly about using my work resources for a not-really-job-related blog.)
5 responses so far ↓
~Tim // 15 February 2006 at 8:21 pm
I once had a site that I set up for my classes blocked and marked as pornography by the filtering software used by my district. At the time, I had registered a domain name and had it forwarded to a page I set up in the space provided by my ISP. I know that domain forwarding is a trick that porn sites used, but my ISP specifically prohibited any adult content. What I found infuriating though was when I contacted the district office and was told that it was county policy not to unblock sites owned by teachers. (What, I wonder, is more educationally relevant to my classes than a site I create for those classes?) Lucky for me, I also contacted the publisher of the filtering software and they removed my domain name from the blocked list. Since then I have moved the site to a dedicated web space and incorporated blogs and a wiki. I haven’t been blocked again… yet.
Casting Out Nines»Blog Archive » When is a blog not a blog? And why you shouldn’t block one. // 27 March 2006 at 12:58 pm
[...] At first, I thought this AP/Indianapolis Star article was going to shed some light on why this blog and my Gmail account were being blocked from the Franklin Township school system. The opening lines: It took students one day to hack their way back to blogging Web sites after technicians blocked them on school computers. But Fort Wayne Community Schools will keep trying to keep students away from the popular sites, spokeswoman Debbie Morgan told The Journal Gazette for a Sunday story. [...]
Casting Out Nines»Blog Archive » Wednesday morning link love // 10 May 2006 at 7:05 am
[...] Finally, Weblogg-ed brings us something I would definitely like to try out, in light of recent happenings with this blog: A wiki on blog-banning that includes a gray list of legitimate web sites that you can use to see what exactly your school district is blocking in the way of blogs and social software sites. The irony: Most teachers who try it find that their school systems are banning the wiki itself! • • • [...]
Casting Out Nines»Blog Archive » So, what’s the best way to protect kids from online predators? // 11 May 2006 at 10:09 pm
[...] No, Rep. Fitzpatrick, this bill is reactionary, statist, ignorant of technology, and almost certain to do more harm to students than good. Reactionary because it is trying to solve a problem by attacking the medium rather than the cause. Statist because it assumes that the government, not parents and schools, are the best agents for educating kids on how to use technology safely. Ignorant because it opens the door for a wide range of educationally useful web tools like del.icio.us or wikis (or maybe even a few simple blogs) to be placed beyond the reach of the kids who could use them. As one commenter in this post wrote: “We should definitely ban pencils, pens, paper, etc. because students can write offensive things and share them with others. We may want to look at banning markers too.” [...]
Casting Out Nines»Blog Archive » Happy Blogoversary to me // 3 December 2006 at 1:33 pm
[...] Here at CO9s, I’ve been able to air out my half-baked thoughts on such things as pedagogy and problem-solving in calculus; academic dishonesty; what it’s like to be banned from an entire school district and then how to work against a law to this effect; and everything in between from my musical selections, my linking habits, and personal stuff as well. Just about every post I have written has been enjoyable to write, and a few of them went on to be read by folks who have used my posts to try and make a difference in students’ education, which is the very thing I am in this profession to try and do. [...]
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