I was traveling recently with family when I ran into a couple of issues with my WiFi.
There first was at a Days Inn. Free WiFi which I connected to so I could checkup on things.
I could not login or even see postings on the site.
I then checked a few other sites. All of them found via google search.
GunsSaveLife.com, GunFreeZone.net, Nation Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, Firearms Policy Coalition, and maybe a few others.
All except for Second Amendment Foundation were blocked.
Of course I just setup proxies or a VPN to get connections outside of the playpen they had attempted to lock me into.
It turns out that his is Spectrum’s “content filtering”.
I tested again at a different public WiFi, same results, service also provided by Spectrum.
My opinion is that this is Spectrum’s default.
So when you are wondering why people don’t know history or other opinions, know that the censorship is real.
Comments
9 responses to “Our Political Overlords”
Yep, not uncommon.
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I try to make a point of using VPN whenever I’m on someone else’s wifi, especially in hotels and airports. I’ve been using NordVPN for a couple of years. Generally it’s been pretty smooth, albeit with the occasional glitch from software updates to the laptop or phone/tablet.
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Since we’re coming up on renewal, any recommendations, AWA?
1 My workplace filters out my own website, as well as those of other 2A websites.
2 I use ExpressVPN to get around that.
my work tablet has a big warning that it is not private and IT can snoop around on your tablet… I hope they do cause its fun to think how thier face looks when they see I visit ATF.gov to file form IIs… heh heh. and it won’t let me visit yall either..
Heh. I try to keep the attitude that the computers on my desk at work are the company’s, not mine, and I try to never, ever use them for anything personal. Same for my work-provided laptop while on travel.
My daughter in TN has Spectrum. She checked to see if she could access the NRA site and had no trouble. Maybe it was because she is a “nonentity”?
Was she accessing from a home connection, or from a hotel etc.? If the former, I’d be surprised if there was obvious censorship / traffic blocking. (At least as things stand now.) I generally see blocking from business-provided “guest or customer” wifi (hotels, coffee shops, etc.).
My thoughts exactly.
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1. There’s a difference between “Spectrum” as an ISP and “Spectrum WiFi” (though it’s the same company). One they provide the service, the other they manage the traffic and access and such.
2. A residential customer will have the former, but a business will have the latter and will often request certain types of sites be blocked — and “Public WiFi” access doesn’t just happen; it’ll be provided by a business … who probably requested certain types of sites be blocked.
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No, that doesn’t make it right to block access to political sites. But “Spectrum” isn’t necessarily the bad guy in the story. At least, not on their own; the hotel or whoever is running the “Public WiFi” access point is equally to blame.
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Now, the real question is, if the NRA, GOA, and FPC sites are blocked, what about Everytown, Brady, and Giffords? Is it one-sided, or are ALL “gun politics” sites blocked? Again, it wouldn’t make it right, but blocking everyone would be somewhat less unacceptable than blocking only pro-gun sites.
If you just want to circumvent URL censoring (workplace or otherwise), TOR is a simple solution. I discovered that when I wanted to read this blog from my office and I’ve used it ever since.
I only very rarely have to go the VPN solution — once every year or so when I want to read a website that is restricted to readers in a certain country. The Dutch national broadcaster’s website does this at times, in which case I go to “HideMyAss” for a workaround.
My laptop was destroyed by connecting to Days Inn wifi.
It was so corrupted by malware that got past all my security.
No one could fix it.