Bypassing internet filters

[Thitical Crinker]

I live in a rural area with only one cable company available to me. The problem is they filter their internet because they are a "family oriented company". I feel this is censorship but what can you do?

Anyway, right now I am on dial-up and would switch to the much faster cable connection if it wasn't filtered. My question is, is there any way to bypass or disable these filters? If so, how difficult is it and would I be able to do it myself with what little computer knowledge that I posses which isn't much. Thanks for any help or advice.

[Segnosaur]

I live in a rural area with only one cable company available to me. The problem is they filter their internet because they are a "family oriented company". I feel this is censorship but what can you do?

Anyway, right now I am on dial-up and would switch to the much faster cable connection if it wasn't filtered. My question is, is there any way to bypass or disable these filters?

Just wondering... what exactly do you mean by 'filtering the internet'? Do they block all access to certain URLs? If so, you might be able to use an 'anonymizer', which you connect to, and it connects to all the 'evil' addreses.

Or do you mean they block certain 'ports'? (This might mean that you can go to any web site you choose, but you can't use other programs like Gnutella or other file sharing clients.)

Another option you could look at is using a sattelite ISPs. These are more expensive (and typically they use sattelite for download only; you still have to use a phone line for upload) but it would still allow you to bypass your cable company.

[Thitical Crinker]

Just wondering... what exactly do you mean by 'filtering the internet'? Do they block all access to certain URLs? If so, you might be able to use an 'anonymizer', which you connect to, and it connects to all the 'evil' addreses.

Or do you mean they block certain 'ports'? (This might mean that you can go to any web site you choose, but you can't use other programs like Gnutella or other file sharing clients.)

Another option you could look at is using a sattelite ISPs. These are more expensive (and typically they use sattelite for download only; you still have to use a phone line for upload) but it would still allow you to bypass your cable company.

I assume they block certain URL's. The lady said they block the dreaded porn so kids won't be corrupted. I told her what I thought of their policy and said I would find another option, but where I am located, I think it is my only option other than dial-up.

At least I was on the phone so she will have no idea I am eating crow if I do use their service. :o

[Thitical Crinker]

Just wondering... what exactly do you mean by 'filtering the internet'? Do they block all access to certain URLs? If so, you might be able to use an 'anonymizer', which you connect to, and it connects to all the 'evil' addreses..

Sorry, I overlooked this part. How do these anonymizers work? And is there any way I could know if it would work before I invest in the hook up?

[fuelair]

Sorry, I overlooked this part. How do these anonymizers work? And is there any way I could know if it would work before I invest in the hook up?
Check here: http://www.anonymizer.com/index.html?id=AFC-QW6867330054

:D :)

[Ratatoskr]

Or perhaps a vpn connection could work? That is, with a server outside that pesky filter.

[Thitical Crinker]

Check here: http://www.anonymizer.com/index.html?id=AFC-QW6867330054

:D :)

Wouldn't you know it, I am at work and that site is blocked. Kind of ironic. I would be curious to know if the cable co. also blocks these kind of sites so the little kiddies can't bypass the filter and be forever traumatized by seeing something they judge inappropriate.

Sorry to rant but it really gripes my ass that a company censors what I look at in the privacy of my own home. It should be my choice, not theirs. The thing is, if the filters are anything like here at work, they block sites that have nothing to do with porn. I guess the filter sees a key word in the URL and blocks it. I even tried to get away from using this companys' cable tv service, but Direct tv and Dish Network can't get a signal because of where my house is located.


[/QUOTE]Or perhaps a vpn connection could work? That is, with a server outside that pesky filter.[QUOTE]

Not sure what a vpn connection is. If I get time today here at work, I will look in to it and see what it is all about.


Thanks for the help so far.

[ohms]

Do a search for 'CGI proxy' and you should find one you can use.

Here are a couple:

http://anonymouse.org/anonwww.html
http://www.ninjaproxy.com/

[Segnosaur]

Not sure if you've managed to find out more about anonymizers yet...

Basically, the anonymizer serves as a kind of 'gateway' to the internet. If you want to go to web site X, but web site X is blocked, you can somehow point your browser to go to an anoymizer at internet site Y. Internet site Y then gets the information from site X and passes it back to you. The only 'real' connection you have is with site Y. Site X thinks the connections are coming from site Y.

The only problem is, the ISP may actually block access to the 'anonymizer' sites as well.

There may be another internet option (apart from satelite internet I mentioned earlier)... I remember hearing about these modems that used regular phone lines, but allowed 2 phone connections simultaneiously. (You'd need 2 phone lines and 2 ISP connections.) Granted, its not quite the same as "broadband", but it might almost double your connection speed.

[Thitical Crinker]

Not sure if you've managed to find out more about anonymizers yet...

Basically, the anonymizer serves as a kind of 'gateway' to the internet. If you want to go to web site X, but web site X is blocked, you can somehow point your browser to go to an anoymizer at internet site Y. Internet site Y then gets the information from site X and passes it back to you. The only 'real' connection you have is with site Y. Site X thinks the connections are coming from site Y.

The only problem is, the ISP may actually block access to the 'anonymizer' sites as well.

There may be another internet option (apart from satelite internet I mentioned earlier)... I remember hearing about these modems that used regular phone lines, but allowed 2 phone connections simultaneiously. (You'd need 2 phone lines and 2 ISP connections.) Granted, its not quite the same as "broadband", but it might almost double your connection speed.


Thanks for the explanation on the anonymizer. That is the kind of thing I was hoping would be out there, but I don't know if they block such sites. I live in a fairly isolated area, and noone I know has this companys' internet service so I can't ask them. I think I am going to go ahead and get it and try it out. If I can't bypass the filters, I can always switch back to dial-up.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions.

[hopfen]

I don't know if it will work for you, but there is a poor man's version of a filter bypass method that might help. In China, where much of the internet is blocked by the government, people often get around it by using a search engine like Google.com.
The way it works is that you go to the Google and enter the website you want, but slightly misspelled (like www.rando.com). Google comes right back and asks "Did you mean www.randi.com?" You then agree that their suggestion is what you meant, and off you go to where you really wanted.

I suppose some internet filters will get this figured out, but it's easy enough to try.

[Segnosaur]

I don't know if it will work for you, but there is a poor man's version of a filter bypass method that might help. In China, where much of the internet is blocked by the government, people often get around it by using a search engine like Google.com.
The way it works is that you go to the Google and enter the website you want, but slightly misspelled (like www.rando.com). Google comes right back and asks "Did you mean www.randi.com?" You then agree that their suggestion is what you meant, and off you go to where you really wanted.


Not sure if that will really help much.

The type of filter bypass you mentioned might work if there were software installed on the computer that interfered with access to web sites. (Along the lines of "He typed X? That's not allowed...") But from the sounds of it, the filtering is done at the ISP level. So, the persion could type "rando", google will point them at www.randi.com, but when he tried to go where they 'really wanted', the ISP will still say "sorry, can't access randi.com".

[Rob Lister]

I live in a rural area with only one cable company available to me. The problem is they filter their internet because they are a "family oriented company". I feel this is censorship but what can you do?

Anyway, right now I am on dial-up and would switch to the much faster cable connection if it wasn't filtered. My question is, is there any way to bypass or disable these filters? If so, how difficult is it and would I be able to do it myself with what little computer knowledge that I posses which isn't much. Thanks for any help or advice.

Call me skeptical but...I'm skeptical. Would you be so kind as to reveal the name of the cable company with whom you're dealing?

If you were dealing some dial-up, it wouldn't budge my skeptameter, but a cable company is a different matter.

[Thitical Crinker]

Call me skeptical but...I'm skeptical. Would you be so kind as to reveal the name of the cable company with whom you're dealing?

If you were dealing some dial-up, it wouldn't budge my skeptameter, but a cable company is a different matter.


The company is Community Antenna Service (CAS) located in Parkersburg, WV, 1-800-339-4002. Like I said, they claim to be a "family oriented company". They don't carry Comedy Central because of the content. What sucks is it is the only cable company that comes to my area.

I have tried Dish Network but the satellite is in the southern sky and I have a hill in that direction that blocks the signal so I am screwed.