All Sourceforge.net Being Blocked by SmartFilter

An unnamed reader writes: "I just noticed that all sites. '*.sourceforge.net' are being blocked by all corporations using SmartFilter including mine. SmartFilter lists all of them as 'MP3' sites. Below is the error I get. How come they do not block Microsoft? I can download an MP3 player from there, too (Media Player does play MP3s)." Here's the error: "Access is restricted to the site (http://www.sourceforge.net/) you requested. Per the firm's Information Security & Privacy Policy, all Internet browsing is monitored and logged. Please contact the Information Security Center at ext 7114 for more information. SmartFilter Control List category MP3 Sites is restricted. " The aptly named SmartFilterWhere tool shows which sites are painted over by SmartFilter's broad brush; in this case, software development site (and Slashdot sister site) SourceForge is blocked by the latest SmartFilter versions -- 3.0, 3.0.1 and 3.1 -- but not version 2. You might also be interested in The Censorware Project's analysis of the efficacy of SmartFilter as applied to Utah schools and libraries, or Peacefire's explanation of how and how well SmartFilter works.

Comments

Kind way of asking them to be unblocked...

[sporty]

Hit their search page,

http://www.securecomputing.com/cgi-bin/filter_wh er eV301.cgi

and search for sourceforge.net. In the results, you can suggest a recomended they be removed from the list.

Re:Kind way of asking them to be unblocked...

[tijsvd]

Better even: they don't check POST/GET, so:

use this link to request sourceforge removal directly

and

use this to list microsoft.com as hate speech site

2600.com

[Copperhead]

SmartFilter used to list 2600 as "criminal skills". Now, they list is as a political/religious site.

Go here and enter the sourceforge URL. On the right, "Suggest a Change" and tell them that it should not be on their list. Make your voice heard!

They've always blocked stuff unfairly...

[User 956]

Seth Finkelstein has written some software to decrypt the software's blacklist of forbidden sites, and has analyzed what he found. The list of blocked newsgroups is fascinating: sci.archaeology as occult, and comp.org.eff.talk as criminal, for example. He's found "extreme or obscene" sites like hotrails.com ("extreme sports" rollerblading on "naked metal"), gcsextreme.com (custom-built computers for the "extreme gamer," unfortunately at a domain name with both "sex" and "extreme" in it) and extreme-offroad.com (same deal). Their music-critic skills need work too, as they block InsaneClownPosse.com, Tupac.com, Marilyn Manson, and even Chumbawamba's Web site. Every one of these and many more are blocked as "Extreme," which puts them in the same category as photos of mutilated dead bodies, bizarre hard-core pornography and child pornography.

His discussion of the legal risks of decrypting these blacklists is fascinating too, and (as he likes to say) "a topic in itself." He would like to open up the source to his SmartFilter-decryption tool but feels the legal risk is too high. How sad is that?

Here's Secure Computing's definition of the "extreme" category, and the examples they give ("Pixman's Vault of Porn Pix", "Bizarre & Maximum Perversion").

You can confirm Seth's findings using Secure Computing's own SmartFilterWhere.
It asks for your name and phone number; you have my permission to make some up. As of December 7, at 9:45 PM EST, that CGI operates with a Control List updated on December 5 and confirms all of Seth's results that I tried. By the time you read this, they may have quickly fixed all the errors he published, loaded in an up-to-the-minute Control List, and proudly announced that their software is now perfect.

REQUEST REMOVAL!!

[Jucius Maximus]

Go to the smartfilterwhere filter checker site and request that they remove it through the automated form:

1. Go to the URL and enter "http://www.sourceforge.net" into the 'URL 1' field. Hit 'check URL'

2. The next page should say "http://www.sourceforge.net MP3" if it is still listed.

3. On the dropbox on the right, select 'remove from list' and hit 'send request'

Re:bullshit

[FreeLinux]

It is certainly on the list. The fact that your company doesn't choose to restrict that category or uses an older version of the software doesn't mean that it isn't on the list.

As an after thought, your company may have that category set to log. In which case you will likely get a visit from management wanting to discuss your mp3 habits during work hours.

libel

[www.sorehands.com]

To be libel you must:

• Make false statements of fact (or opinions that imply false statements of fact).
• Make those statements with negligence, recklessness, or with malice as to the truthfulness of the statements. Negligence does not apply to public figures.
• The statements must be published to a 3rd party.
• There must be damages. Damages are implied if criminal acts are stated.

I have detailed the requirements for libel (under Mass. law) in a motion for summary judgment.

Entire site down.

[muon1183]

Well, the /.ing is complete. We have knocked their entire site offline (not just the cgi server handling removal requests). I hope their software isn't dependent on being able to contact their site, otherwise they're going to have quite a problem. Hooray for the /. effect, it ought to get their attention.

.sig, what's that?

How *I* use SmartFilter with their 'coach' mode.

[Nonesuch]

There is one very interesting feature of SmartFilter that I find redeems many of the flaws in this particular "censorware".

SmartFilter offers four possible results for each category when a user attempts to visit a site on the filter list:

1. Permit. Access is allowed, but logged by user-IP, URL, and category (if any)
2. Deny. Block access, return a HTML page explaining what was blocked, and why. Same logging.
3. Delay.. Access is permitted, but page returns after a delay (default 30 seconds). Same logging.
   

   Here is the interesting one:
   

4. Coach.. Access is blocked, but permit the user to 'click through' to the actual page. Either way, log access.

With the 'Coach' option, nobody is actually blocked from accessing any web site. However, for each new access to any 'questionable' site (based on categories from the SmartFilter database), the user is presented with warning page, and the opportunity to choose to continue, with the knowledge that their actions are logged and may be reviewed.

The default HTML pages that SmartFilter ships with are rather boring. I've made a few changes to the 'Coach' page HTML to make it very clear what is going on -- bright icons and background, big WARNING banner at the top, and the text of our official "Internet Access Policy" (just in case the user somehow missed it when they signed their employment paperwork).

I'm hoping that 'coaching' will cut down on web access abuse and wasted time, while still allowing people to get to sites that they really need to access for their job, without getting people fired.

And best of all, the warning page breaks the never-ending cycle launched by those damn porn-site popup ads!

Marilyn's extremity

[commodoresloat]

If I was a parent I'd be thanking Zeus that they blocked that freak's site.

Marilyn is no more extreme than Alice Cooper or Lou Reed or freakin' David Bowie. Sure, he looks pretty crazy, but no crazier than the dude that works in the local video store (and he's spent a lot more on his wardrobe). I'm no fan of his music, but reading interviews with him he is hardly "freakish" or "extreme"; he votes Republican; his views are not that far out of the mainstream, and after his music was blamed for Columbine he wrote one of the most intelligent responses to the tragedy that I came across in the media that spring (including on slashdot; my apologies JonKatz). The only reason he's so controversial is that he's intentionally giving the finger to the religious right, which is most likely his family background. So he takes a lot of his symbolism from Christianity and performs in a manner that is provocative and mocking. Of course it pisses those people off, it's meant to, but it's hardly a threat to your children unless you want to keep them closed-minded. (It's definitely not a threat to your children if you believe in Zeus, as the parent post implies!)

You got to admire how clever he is too (though admittedly he's picking on an easy target); in response to many of the criticisms of his treatment of Christianity he promised in this interview to "balance my songs with a wholesome Bible reading" so fans can "examine the virtues of wonderful 'Christian' stories of disease, murder, adultery, suicide, and child sacrifice. Now that seems like 'entertainment' to me."

I noticed sf.net isn't blocked

[Nailer]

Thanks for the URL. As I was voting, I notice sf.net isn't blocked. OSS Developers can use sf.net in place of sourceforge while we all vote.