Blocking the Internet Archive Wayback Machine

[Seth Finkelstein]

> Ian Winship (ian.winship at unn.ac.uk) wrote:
> My institution currently blocks the Internet Archive Wayback
> Machine(www.archive.org) - the huge archive of old Web pages.  I think
> the rationale for this is that it allows users access to porn and
> other sites that are directly blocked. (We use Websense)

[For people who may not recognize my name, I'm the former chief programmer
of Censorware Project, now generating my own material at
Seth Finkelstein's Anticensorware Investigations http://anticensorware.com
I've examined more censorware program internally than anyone else, and won
an EFF 2001 Pioneer Award for my work on the topic
http://www.eff.org/awards/20010305_pioneer_press_release.html 
But enough about qualifications ....]

	Yes, you're correct, more or less. According to WebSense:

		Websense URL Lookup Tool Results 

        	The URL: http://web.archive.org/web/
	        is classified by Websense under the category:

	        Proxy Avoidance Systems

	However, in terms of emphasis, I would not describe the situation as
"allows users access to porn and other sites that are directly blocked.".
Rather, I would say it arises from the widespread misperception of
censorware as programs which "filter" (remove ugly, yucky, material),
rather than *control* what people are allowed to read. Any site which
lets people out of the blinder-box MUST thus be forbidden. That's what
Websense means above by the term "Proxy Avoidance Systems" - escape
from the control.

> I wish to argue for its unblocking, but first would be interested to
> hear if anyone else has had the same problem.

	Per above, it's a generic problem of censorware. I have an
extensive report on this regarding another censorware program:

BESS's Secret LOOPHOLE: http://sethf.com/anticensorware/bess/loophole.php

	See also:

BESS vs Google: http://sethf.com/anticensorware/bess/google.php

	N2H2/BESS bans the Wayback machine too, see
http://database.n2h2.com/cgi-perl/catrpt.pl?req_URL=http://web.archive.org

		The Site: http://web.archive.org
		is categorized by N2H2 as:
		Loop Hole Sites

	All sites which provide anonymity, privacy, even language
translation, etc. are necessarily prohibited under censorware. Such
sites are "escape routes" from the necessary control. I've been trying
to get people to realize this, but I haven't been able to get the idea
into the debate much. I'm drafting a follow-up report focusing on
more instances, but figuring out how to get publicity has been problematic.

--
Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  sethf at sethf.com  http://sethf.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/19/technology/circuits/19HACK.html