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augustine
Joined: 08 Sep 2012
Location: México
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 Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 7:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Charlie Bourque wrote: |
| augustine wrote: |
| Charlie Bourque wrote: |
| I do fully agree that email and cloud storage sites should be left unblocked, since we need those for our daily work. |
Then why did your initial post disagree with this?:
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| blocking access to email is totally unacceptable. probably, nothing will happen. but in the unlikely event war breaks out you guys will need access to your email and other embassy websites to recieve updates and plans for evacuation. |
I teach 2-3, 50 minute classes a day and have to sit around for almost two hours before they even start. I have to be there at 12 tomorrow/today, classes start just before 2, and I'm off a little after 4. We're tearing through the book, there is no way I can sit there for nearly two hours doing prep work, especially when there is no oversight, and when I'm in a room by myself the whole time... with my company supplied computer.
This is a "computer virus" thing, and it's BS. I was told to run some previously installed anti-virus program on my computer once a month, but I have no idea what that has to do with my gmail account. Those first two hours are a good time for taking care of family emails and conversing with friends via gmail. Even with 2-3 free hours to spare per day during work, I need an outlet or I'm going to fall asleep at my desk since I have nothing to do. And it doesn't matter anyway, since we have VPNs, and I can access my gmail account daily.  |
I never said emails should be blocked. I said that using your school computer for anything other than work related things is a bad idea. Even if you use a VPN or a proxy, the fact that you are using those things can also easily be traced and come back to haunt you. It's a policy that they decided on so you have no choice to go along with it. As foreign teachers we don't exactly have a lot of pull either.
And really...? You have 2-3 hours of free time at work that you can't find something better to do with than browse the internet and sleep? We are talking about public school, yes? |
I know you guys are a little slow up there, so I'll summarize what happened. Slothrop said that banning email was "totally unacceptable," and you dissented, stating that the decision was up to the institution and that people should only use their computer for work related things.
And, yes, I'm only at work 4-5 hours a day and 2-3 of those hours are free. What are the better things that you would like me to do, Charlie? There are a few books and a computer in my room... should I be doing pushups? Washing the windows? Banging my head on my desk, because I shouldn't be using the internet?
You sound like a fun guy, Charlie. But I'm going to go back to eating my sandwich and watching some baseball at work... on the internet. |
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Charlie Bourque
Joined: 27 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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| augustine wrote: |
| Charlie Bourque wrote: |
| augustine wrote: |
| Charlie Bourque wrote: |
| I do fully agree that email and cloud storage sites should be left unblocked, since we need those for our daily work. |
Then why did your initial post disagree with this?:
| Quote: |
| blocking access to email is totally unacceptable. probably, nothing will happen. but in the unlikely event war breaks out you guys will need access to your email and other embassy websites to recieve updates and plans for evacuation. |
I teach 2-3, 50 minute classes a day and have to sit around for almost two hours before they even start. I have to be there at 12 tomorrow/today, classes start just before 2, and I'm off a little after 4. We're tearing through the book, there is no way I can sit there for nearly two hours doing prep work, especially when there is no oversight, and when I'm in a room by myself the whole time... with my company supplied computer.
This is a "computer virus" thing, and it's BS. I was told to run some previously installed anti-virus program on my computer once a month, but I have no idea what that has to do with my gmail account. Those first two hours are a good time for taking care of family emails and conversing with friends via gmail. Even with 2-3 free hours to spare per day during work, I need an outlet or I'm going to fall asleep at my desk since I have nothing to do. And it doesn't matter anyway, since we have VPNs, and I can access my gmail account daily. |
I never said emails should be blocked. I said that using your school computer for anything other than work related things is a bad idea. Even if you use a VPN or a proxy, the fact that you are using those things can also easily be traced and come back to haunt you. It's a policy that they decided on so you have no choice to go along with it. As foreign teachers we don't exactly have a lot of pull either.
And really...? You have 2-3 hours of free time at work that you can't find something better to do with than browse the internet and sleep? We are talking about public school, yes? |
I know you guys are a little slow up there, so I'll summarize what happened. Slothrop said that banning email was "totally unacceptable," and you dissented, stating that the decision was up to the institution and that people should only use their computer for work related things.
And, yes, I'm only at work 4-5 hours a day and 2-3 of those hours are free. What are the better things that you would like me to do, Charlie? There are a few books and a computer in my room... should I be doing pushups? Washing the windows? Banging my head on my desk, because I shouldn't be using the internet?
You sound like a fun guy, Charlie. But I'm going to go back to eating my sandwich and watching some baseball at work... on the internet. |
I'm actually a very fun guy -- thanks for noticing.
Can you seriously not come up with anything more productive to do than watch baseball while you're at work? To be honest, the main reason they are blocking most sites is not to control viruses; it's to keep people like you from wasting your day on the internet and chewing up the bandwidth. |
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Charlie Bourque
Joined: 27 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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DUPLICATE
Last edited by Charlie Bourque on Wed Apr 03, 2013 9:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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augustine
Joined: 08 Sep 2012
Location: México
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| Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:41 pm Post subject: |
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| What do you want me to do man? Please, explain to me how your productivity exceeds mine. I read the news, talk to my friends and family, get emails out of the way, watch baseball and do a variety of other things. How do my actions affect you? No one has ever complained or likely ever even noticed or cared if they did. The question is, why the hell do you care? |
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PigeonFart
Joined: 27 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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My Hotmail was blocked since Monday (a Public School in Seoul). Other teachers in the office were also blocked from other websites.
On Tuesday someone from the 행정실 (school admin office) came around with a list and asked each teacher to write the website they use for email.
I was told to wait a few days. My Hotmail was finally accessible today (Thursday). |
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darkpoet
Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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| The Internet sees censorship and interprets it as damage and routes around it. Should I post instructions on how to get around the block by using a proxy server? |
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darkpoet
Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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Here's the simple way.
First, get Firefox Portable. No, you cannot use Chrome Portable because Chrome looks to Windows for Proxy settings and I don't want you to change anything on the school-owned computer...
Install Firefox Portable to a USB drive (actually you can install it to any drive but on USB means you can use it at any computer).
Now, click the Firefox button in the top-left corner, then select "options." Go to "Advanced" big tab and "network" small tab. Click the "settings" button. Select "Manual proxy configuration" and in the HTTP proxy type the IP address of a proxy server and don't forget the port. You can check the box because you will only need this for Google mail, right?
I'll be using my home computer as a proxy server. You can do the same. There are also free and paid proxy servers in Korea and in many countries. Search Google for a list of proxy servers in Korea. I won't help you with this part because if all you guys use the same proxy server, it'll cause problems.
Be warned that free proxy servers are slow and unreliable. Don't bother using the proxy for video or other intensive surfing. Your school has an 80mbs connection and the proxy will likely be 1mbs if you're lucky. If one proxy server doesn't work, switch to another. Google search tends to reject proxy requests but at least your e-mail will work.
Yes, this is exactly how people who live in censored countries get around their government blocks. Again, use a Korean proxy server because it's only Education servers that are blocking our gmail. You can use any proxy server, but a Korean one will be faster. |
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