LDS Extended Access is quite restricted

Discussions about Internet service providers (ISPs), the Meetinghouse Firewall, wired and wireless networking, usage, management, and support of Meetinghouse Internet
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russellhltn
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#41

Post by russellhltn »

Alan_Brown wrote:Most of the blocks I have seen on LDS Extended Access have been because a site wasn't categorized at all; there have been a few where it was improperly categorized. So I would think that any means of correcting the categorization would have the same effect.
Have you found a way to check the categorization? Is that part of the block message?
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

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aebrown
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#42

Post by aebrown »

RussellHltn wrote:Have you found a way to check the categorization? Is that part of the block message?
Yes, the block message contains the categorization (or the fact that the site is not categorized). The "Reason" field will list the category. You can see an example inthis post from one of our beloved moderators.

For that brief few days when I had the Websense account, I could look up any site and see its categorization. Now I can find the category only for blocked sites and only when I am on the network with LDS Extended Access.
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aebrown
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#43

Post by aebrown »

Alan_Brown wrote:For just a couple of weeks I was able to create a Websense account and use their online tool to request the categorization of sites. This is far preferable to just sending an e-mail, since the interface of their online tool lets you pick one of their actual categories from a list. You also can look up similar categorized sites, see how they are currently categorized, and suggest a similar category for a similar site.

However, sometime in the last week or so, Websense has restricted the use of their accounts to actual customers. They now require company/account information.

Is there any way that we could get that kind of information for the Church's account so that a Stake Technology Specialist can continue to have a usable Websense account?
lakeytw, or any other Church employee in this area:

Is there any update on this? Are we just stuck with the e-mail method of communication with Websense, or can we get Websense accounts to report site categorization problems?
LakeyTW
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#44

Post by LakeyTW »

Alan_Brown wrote:lakeytw, or any other Church employee in this area:

Is there any update on this? Are we just stuck with the e-mail method of communication with Websense, or can we get Websense accounts to report site categorization problems?
I do not have any new information. My Websense account was cancelled the same time yours was. The only other work around I can suggest is to send an email to Websense.
jdlessley
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#45

Post by jdlessley »

Alan_Brown wrote:Yes, the block message contains the categorization (or the fact that the site is not categorized). The "Reason" field will list the category. You can see an example inthis post from one of our beloved moderators.
Alan, the post you referenced shows a block screen shot for the FHC Cisco PIX 501 firewall. Is it the same for the Cisco ASA 5505 using the LDS Extended Access filtering -except without the three links at the bottom of the page?
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russellhltn
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#46

Post by russellhltn »

jdlessley wrote:Alan, the post you referenced shows a block screen shot for the FHC Cisco PIX 501 firewall. Is it the same for the Cisco ASA 5505 using the LDS Extended Access filtering -except without the three links at the bottom of the page?
Here's the image from Alan's post in the same thread:

Image
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aebrown
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#47

Post by aebrown »

jdlessley wrote:Alan, the post you referenced shows a block screen shot for the FHC Cisco PIX 501 firewall. Is it the same for the Cisco ASA 5505 using the LDS Extended Access filtering -except without the three links at the bottom of the page?
RussellHltn included the image, but I'll also confirm that the block message looks exactly the same except that the LDS Extended Access and LDS Restricted Access block pages do not include the extra (and very useful!) links at the bottom of the page.
techgy
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#48

Post by techgy »

I sent in a request to the websense support address yesterday and received a reply back today that my request had been completed. That was fantastic service. Whether or not this results in the site I requested (www.timewarnercable.com) from being unblocked remains to be seen.

Later...Websense did timewarner.com as "Business/Economy" and that category is blocked.
Looks like the option of getting cable internet into a building won't work if they block these categories!
Is there any method of getting of list of what categories are acceptable? If not, then we're chasing our tail in trying to get Websense to catalog things when we don't know what's acceptable and what isn't.
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#49

Post by techgy »

After sending another Email websense in the hopes of getting the category for http://timewarnercable.com changed I received another Email from websense that told me that the domain was properly categorized under "Business/Economy".

Apparently the Meetinghouse Internet Firewalls are configured much tighter than the FHC Firewalls. This fact has already been established in previous threads.

Why a business/economy category would be blocked is beyond me but unless there's a change in HQ's decision to accept this category, we cannot access it and thus cannot use TimeWarner cable for our Internet.

Websense did provide me with a link that provided a list of the categories that were being used. However, they did not say which ones were or were not being accepted.

http://ww2.websense.com/global/en/Produ ... gories.php

My hands are tied at this end as far as trying to get a decent Internet signal into a couple of buildings. Perhaps some church employee can respond to this question as to why a legimate ISP would be blocked (http://www.timewarnercable.com).
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mkmurray
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#50

Post by mkmurray »

Techgy wrote:Why a business/economy category would be blocked is beyond me but unless there's a change in HQ's decision to accept this category, we cannot access it and thus cannot use TimeWarner cable for our Internet.
I have to disagree with the first part of your statement. To me, it's pretty obvious why the Church would block the Business/Economy category of sites for the Firewalls used in the Meetinghouse Internet program. There have got to be thousands upon thousands of sites in that category that Church members just don't need to visit when using internet at their meetinghouse.

Now I do sympathize with the issue of you not being able to reach TimeWarner's website, since it has a direct bearing on you having internet in the first place. But ISP companies are a very minute subset of the whole Business/Economy category. There is no reason to let the whole category through because of a handful of ISP companies.

A different solution must be reached (like petitioning WebSense to further categorize sites, so that organizations like the Church can better fine-tune their filtering).
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