Internet Restrictions

I remember about 3-4 years ago nothing used was blocked whatsoever then some people started to take advantage of this and download some serious shi1t (in fact I remember seeing someone looking up hardcore porno in a computer lab). Then bebo came along and ruined it.

Yes, I admit that bebo and the like should be blocked in the college, but some of the restrictions are just plain ridiculous. Even some lecturers are having a hard time with it because they cant download necessary files.

Does anyone else think they're ridiculous?

Krieg

I agree
I was happy to see bebo banned, I remember going to the IT centre one day looking to get some work done. All computers occupied, every second computer was someone on Bebo :mad:
But yeah many of banned sites are quite stupid. I never really used gmit for illegal downloading, but banning rapidshare was a pain. I found it quite handy for uploading material for group projects and the like.


Hehe, if you are in the IT centre late in the evenings you can usually pick out the guys looking up porn.
YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, hiding in the corners doesnt hide your suspicion :P Also the fact that the guys at the help desk can see what exactly you are looking up from their computer

Frankieboy

Asbad wrote: »

I agree
I was happy to see bebo banned, I remember going to the IT center one day looking to get some work done. All computers occupied, every second computer was someone on Bebo :mad:
But yeah many of banned sites are quite stupid. I never really used gmit for illegal downloading, but banning rapidshare was a pain. I found it quite handy for uploading material for group projects and the like.

Your bang on there. I've gone to I.T. Centre to do work before and found it hard to get a computer because of people checking bebo. Also I notice there's some people playing poker on them now. Ok fair enough that might be their only net access but when the place starts filling up they should make room for someone that needs the space. The I.T. lads should be having a quick look around during busy times, just to see that people are using them for college work.

Actually I remember a few years ago in one of the engineering labs, lads playing music, and I don't mean just through headphones, I mean on the computers speakers so everybody can hear. Really annoying when one guy does it but when 3-4 do it playing all different music!

Frankieboy

Frankieboy wrote: »

Actually I remember a few years ago in one of the engineering labs, lads playing music, and I don't mean just through headphones, I mean on the computers speakers so everybody can hear. Really annoying when one guy does it but when 3-4 do it playing all different music!

We used to play music like that in our labs. But it was never whilst anyone was trying to get work done. We were always respectful of that. Our labs have changed now; you can't do anything anymore.

Average-Ro

I do Film and TV in Cluain Mhuire. I was talking to one of the Art students and he was saying that the restrictions were a pain in the ass for him. Most sites that he or his class needed were restricted because they had naked sculptures on them. Go figure!

AlmightyCushion

In sligo it myself and I'm glad to see bebo banned. The amount of people who would be on it is just mental. I wouldn't mind if it was after 6 when there are more free labs but these people were using it during the day. If you needed to do something during the day you were screwed. Saying that the rest of the restrictions in sligo it are fair as far as I know.

I think blocking a site because it has naked sculptures is a but ridiculous especially if it's a site that students need. The net connection is to help students and lecturers do their work, blocking sites that facilitate them in their work shouldn't be done. Have the lecturers and students who need access to blocked sites tried contacting someone in the it department asking them to remove the block because they need it for college work? This would probably be the best thing to do.

Liquidus

In the i.t centre, you can still see people using bebo via proxy and playing online poker.
I don't think the i.t lads can see what you are doing on the computer, if they could why don't they stop them from using bebo and poker.

AlmightyCushion

Liquidus wrote: »

In the i.t centre, you can still see people using bebo via proxy and playing online poker.
I don't think the i.t lads can see what you are doing on the computer, if they could why don't they stop them from using bebo and poker.

They can't see what you do but they can see what are the most accessed sites. If they find a certain proxy is very popular, then they will most likely block it.

chris_oc

Liquidus wrote: »

In the i.t centre, you can still see people using bebo via proxy and playing online poker.
I don't think the i.t lads can see what you are doing on the computer, if they could why don't they stop them from using bebo and poker.

they do actually take the occasional glance at the screens, i know quiet a few people that have been thrown off or have gotten their computers frozen by the guy that always seems like hes pissed off!

I agree´on the bebo banning thing, theres nothing more frustrating than looking for a computer to finish of a project which has to be handed up in the next 30 mins and all you can see is people on bebo everywhere...(not that i've ever been on bebo in the it centre myself of course!:D)

Jeapy

Damn restrictions!!! I remember having so much trouble getting any scientific journal from the internet beacuse it was on breast cancer. :rolleyes: Id say everyone wanting to look at porn will call it breast...not likely! Had to go to an internet cafe on Eyre Street. :mad:

AlmightyCushion

People, please don't post up ways to get around the internet restrictions. These restrictions are in place for a reason so we don't want people discussing ways around them, here.

Thanks.

Buzz Buzz

I remember one day when I was in the I.T lab couple of yrs back, the moderators or whoever had blocked the search for words like smut, sex etc etc... but they apparently forgot to block the word 'porn'???? Wtf... everyone was still there in the corners flicking through stacks of porn! I miss GMIT!

Psychobiker

it's exceptionally annoying when a page is blocked because someone says '****ing'.
I was trying to read a page on amplifiers, and '****ing high' voltage, when the
"Banned, adult content" came up

I Lol'd

Also, they copped the secure-layer login to bebo and blocked that too.
They really ought to throttle bandwidth according to site/destination URL...that'd solve the problems. Piss off the bebo users by allowing them 100KB/s max between + - 1000 of them

There's websites that would be absolutely perfect for me with my college work, but unsurprisingly enough, they're blocked.

Surely the new Student Union president should be made aware of this.

Psychobiker

Bandwidth throttle a direct connection to bebo. Easy as.

AlmightyCushion

Deleted User wrote: »

There's websites that would be absolutely perfect for me with my college work, but unsurprisingly enough, they're blocked.

Surely the new Student Union president should be made aware of this.

Surely there is someone you can email to get a site unblocked because it is necessary to your course?

jenny retro

nope, im in film and tv too and even our lecturer cant check any youtube references from essays or anything like that.. yes i know, youtube for references, this is the life.

but its like a sweeping ban over all campuses apparently.

Yv

As an Art & Design student it's incredibly difficult to do proper in-depth research on a lot of contemporary art in GMIT. I wrote an essay last year on art relating to gender / feminism and it was nigh on impossible to find decent information that wasn't blocked due to "adult content" or because it thought it was some kind of pornography. A lot of the stuff we need to study is somewhat controversial & subversive material and it just won't make it through the firewall. You'd be there all week trying to get all the pages unblocked.

Another example was when a tutor was trying to show us some David Shrigley animations & couldn't, because Shrigley hosts all his videos on YouTube. And just try to research Tracey Emin, when all her work is about the intimate details of her sex life. One of our essay titles this year includes the idea of the fetish - don't think there's much chance of that getting through the firewall

While the computer facilities in Cluain Mhuire are fairly behind the Dublin Rd campus with regard to quality, speed, etc they haven't updated the firewall setup there in a while which means there's still ways around it (which I obviously won't go into here!). But the majority of students at Cluain Mhuire respect the resource, and are grateful that there's still some way to access research materials on YouTube and genuine fine art pages with blacklisted keywords, and don't abuse it nearly as much as you might expect.

Oh, and if I walked into the lab with real work to do & everyone was on Bebo, I wouldn't think twice about asking a few people to let me on a computer!