Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Who's Your Daddy?]

I don't understand why some websites are blocked. At my public school a Canadian newspaper is blocked:

www.theglobeandmail.com

but their competitor isn't:

http://www.nationalpost.com

Why block a newspaper?

[spaceman]

I'm convinced it's totally arbitrary. Last week, I wasn't feeling well for a few days, so on my off time I googled "phlegmy chest cough", looking for a home remedy. The first 2 search results, WebMD & something else I can't remember, were blocked. Number 3 (not blocked) www.grasscity.com smokers forum, with the entire front page dedicated to their 10% off sale on quite a fine (if I may say so) selection of glass bongs. Number 4 (also not blocked) shroomery.org.

Just added that to the list of things I will never understand about Korea.

[schwa]

Yeh, the Globe, go figure. Another site I like for good reads is Arts & Letters Daily, also a no-go at school. There must be a huge central list somewhere that just blocks stuff willynilly. Once on it, never off. I've just learned to live with it at work, theres still tons of unblocked sites.

[Stan Rogers]

Canadian newspaper websites are free to view in South Korea. You guys must have the wrong fourm. They only block sites like that in China.

[mnjetter]

Stan, I think they are referring to work-specific firewalls, not government censorship.

At least, that's the feeling I got from this thread. I could be wrong.

[Stan Rogers]

I was joking.

Seriously, it's the school's computer and even if you are using your own computer, you are using their internet. In either case they (the school)are paying for it and as such, can do as they please. It sucks but that is the reality.

I'm wondering what prompted the school to block a site like the Globe?

[PatrickGHBusan]

As Stan said, the school has its own net restrictions and there is very little you can do about it. You could always contact IT and ask.

[FDNY]

Many schools are like this. They use a filter located at the ISP that can cover the school or the entire school district. The filter is an algorithm that is supposed to limit access to certain sites. However, the algorithm works on a pre-programmed list of sites (i.e. www.sex.com) and also on keywords. If the programmer of the keywords has no real idea of the English language, then this will result in some pretty weird results.

[12ax7]

My guess is that they don't want the kids to read the Globe and Mail and learn about words like colour, centre, cheque, and tuque.

[waynehead]

It may be due to some sort of Konglishy mis-reading. One site I read a lot is "The A.V. Club," (Audio/Video), a pop culture website. It's blocked at my school for reasons obvious to anyone with a little knowledge of Konglish.

[12ax7]