How to get passed IT website restrictions

[amillertools]

I work for a company that just began restricting access to certain websites from our internal network, specifically websites with sexual content. This would be fine, except that working in the realm of industrial manufacturing there are certain legitimate products that share the same terminology as other "sex" products, one of the more obvios being lubricants. Is there an easy way to get around these restrictions to be able to access websites providing products such as these?

(edit) also, does anyone else run into these kinds of problems?

[JakeOfAllTrades]

I work for a company that just began restricting access to certain websites from our internal network, specifically websites with sexual content. This would be fine, except that working in the realm of industrial manufacturing there are certain legitimate products that share the same terminology as other "sex" products, one of the more obvios being lubricants. Is there an easy way to get around these restrictions to be able to access websites providing products such as these?

(edit) also, does anyone else run into these kinds of problems?

It is more than likely controlled by a sort of Internet firewall that is maintained by your IT staff. They can make exceptions for certain sites. It sounds like they just bought it and have the security tightened down to the max. That's fine for keeping people from surfing porn, but you have to loosen it up a bit for most people to perform certain job functions. I'm sure if you take this up with your IT dept. they can figure out how to get you set up.

[Troy]

Something like http://anonymouse.org/anonwww.html would probably work...

[a_lightning_bug]

actually, it isn't likely a firewall issue. firewalls don't block sites or content, they block ports used by specific protocols. an easy way to find out if it's a firewall issue is to try searching for something inocuous, such as paper clips. if any search at all is successful, then you know the necessary protocols are not being blocked. I'm sure your company does have at least one firewall, any smart company or individual would, but they're there to protect against unwanted people or companies trying to get in, not to keep employees from accessing porn. the only way to do that using a firewall would be to block the port used by http, but then there would be no internet access at all.

it's more likely that the company has installed a filtering program similar to the ones that schools use, or similar to parental control programs that parents put on their kids' computers, to keep kids from accessing things they shouldn't. for one wishing to access something legit, all one needs to do is adjust one's search terminology.

for example, a woman called me to come out & fix her family's home network. during the initial call, she told me that while their internet access was down, her daughter attempted to use the school's computer to look up chicken breast recipes & her search was not allowed. I told the woman I would be over to fix the problem the following day & in the meantime, her daughter should try searching for just recipes & once she found a recipe site she liked, to just navigate to the chicken breast recipes. when I went over the next day, the woman told me that my suggestion had worked & her daughter was in the kitchen at that very moment fixing her boyfriend's favorite dish. the filtering program on the school's computer had simply been offended by the word "breast."

the moral of the story: if you can't search for "lubricant," search for "grease." or if you know the manufacturer or name brand of the lube you need, search for that without using the word lubricant. once you're on the company's website, just navigate to the specific product you need.

if there is a site called "Al's page of porn" that features pictures of paper clips, the filtering program will block it. on the other hand, if there is a site called "Al's paper clips" that features pornographic pictures, the filter won't block it. the program looks for "triggers" in the url, not at specific content. all it knows is there is such & such number of jpeg images of such & such size. it has no idea what the pictures are of.

hope this info helps.

[amillertools]

Thanks for the info. It looks like I will be doing some work from home until they get the restriction settings figured out.

[LazyPup]

I can see where that type of firewall could play havoc with researching plumbing supplies and hardware.. especially when researching such items as Ballcocks, stopcocks, boilercocks, pipe nipples, male & female fittings or a common "bastard file."

I have even occassionally run into problems on Google when researching these type items.