So we were watching the games on NCAA.com and IT blocked the page after the first game ended.

This is unacceptable.

Can someone tell me how to get around this? Spare me the ethical lecture about doing work at work because I don't give a shit.

3/19/2009 2:49:35 PM

atdhe.net

channelsurfing.net

[Edited on March 19, 2009 at 2:52 PM. Reason : ]

3/19/2009 2:51:52 PM

Quote :

"This is unacceptable."

your company seems to think otherwise.

3/19/2009 2:53:13 PM

I would not risk my income over a fucking basketball game.

3/19/2009 2:53:41 PM

ha, i'm watching the games in HD on an internal stream provided by IT

3/19/2009 2:55:33 PM

since my company is driving the technology, we are encouraged to watch

3/19/2009 4:58:26 PM

Easy...don't

They probably do it for bandwidth reasons - any way you get around the block won't hide the massive amounts of bandwidth you'd likely still be sucking up.

Basically it boils down to - losing your job isn't worth it.

3/19/2009 6:00:02 PM

i believe cbs is selling an iphone app or something for like $5 that will stream the games.

3/19/2009 6:03:36 PM

^^I have to disagree... there are plenty of other people out there without jobs that would be more than happy to work and not watch a basketball game. Let them take Sayer's job so he can watch the game on his couch.

[Edited on March 19, 2009 at 6:05 PM. Reason : ^]

3/19/2009 6:04:46 PM

our IT setup big screen TV's to watch the games so people don't consume our bandwidth by streaming to hundreds of PC's

3/19/2009 6:15:01 PM

Once again, I will reiterate that I don't give a shit about the consequences, because there really aren't any. Our "IT" department doesn't have any teeth, because corporate doesn't care. It's not that type of culture. They only have the power to try and play whack-a-mole with potential sites that become too distracting to workers. If something begins to take up too much bandwidth, they block it and that's it.

So thank you to Ernie for the suggestions. They're a good secondary solution to the lack of direct access to ncaa.com

Are there any other avenues that I can pursue? Any other suggestions from people who have circumvented their employers surf control?

3/19/2009 6:26:48 PM

Quote :

"If something begins to take up too much bandwidth, they block it and that's it. "

did you ever stop to think that maybe there's a reason they're doing this?

Quote :

"Any other suggestions from people who have circumvented their employers surf control?"

i really doubt you're going to get much here, as i'm willing to bet the majority of tww users aren't stupid enough to do this.

3/19/2009 6:42:14 PM

I was actually on the other end of this today, as I've been trying to pinpoint a bandwidth complaint this store was conveniently voicing when productivity gets questioned.

Today I track down a near saturation of bandwidth to the manager's IP over rtsp. I was kind enough not to lock his NCAA stream down to 1b/sec. At that point I completely realized I was missing the games myself and went home.

speaking of which, evan do you have any experience with the QoS shaping included with pfSense?

[Edited on March 19, 2009 at 6:52 PM. Reason : .]

3/19/2009 6:51:11 PM

Quote :

"did you ever stop to think that maybe there's a reason they're doing this?"

Did you ever stop to think that I don't care? I understand why they're doing it. There are lots of reasons. It's detrimental to network performance, it reduces employee productivity, the list goes on and on.

Quote :

"i really doubt you're going to get much here, as i'm willing to bet the majority of tww users aren't stupid enough to do this."

Lol, I know there are a lot of very tech savvy people who read this corner of tww, and I'll agree with you that 90% of them are probably in positions that put them on the other end of the equation i'm currently in. However, I'm also willing to bet that even though they're not willing to do something like this, they probably know how

3/19/2009 6:58:15 PM

Quote :

"Lol, I know there are a lot of very tech savvy people who read this corner of tww, and I'll agree with you that 90% of them are probably in positions that put them on the other end of the equation i'm currently in. However, I'm also willing to bet that even though they're not willing to do something like this, they probably know how"

well, yeah

the hardest part is the fact that it's streaming video. proxies are inherently slower by their very nature and usually aren't very well suited for realtime streaming protocols.

if it were me, i'd set up a ssh tunnel back to my house and proxy everything via socks. if you have actual VPN access, forget about ssh and just set up a proxy server on your box at home. just sayin'.

3/19/2009 7:10:24 PM

just sayin'

3/19/2009 7:40:17 PM

pick up a $50 usb hdtv tuner and use the OTA digital

3/19/2009 7:46:19 PM

Quote :

"I would not risk my income over a fucking basketball game."

++

Ask your boss. If he says its ok, ask your VP. If he says its ok, tell him to tell your IT department.

Otherwise STFU. You aint paying for the net at work, and they aint paying you to watch the game. ya its bad for morale, but watching the game is bad for productivity.

If you took this question to any reputable tech forum (try ars technica for example) youd get shot down instantly.

3/19/2009 10:16:11 PM

we'd have to know more details on how they're blocking to help you out.

What message do you see when you try to access the videos, etc./

3/19/2009 10:27:16 PM

1. Phone
2. Office phone number
3. Dial said office phone number on said phone
4. Speak into said phone explaining work absence due to illness
5. Don't go into work
6. Waste your time watching the tournament.
7. Debt

3/19/2009 10:43:52 PM

Quote :

"we'd have to know more details on how they're blocking to help you out. What message do you see when you try to access the videos, etc./"

It's a generic Access Denied message. I'm pretty sure the page says the web filter is Surf Control. I honestly don't know much more than that, other than it comes up when you try to go to other pages like flickr, fantasy sports sites, AIM, etc.

And nah, none of us really feel like taking time off for this. We'd rather just get paid to watch it at work.

3/19/2009 10:54:22 PM

I don't really feel like looking up exactly how surf control works, but my first try would be to see if you can connect to sites directly by IP address.

For example: http://68.142.214.24 goes to flickr.

If you can change your PC's DNS server settings, change them to an OpenDNS server or an NCSU server.

If that doesn't work, your next best bet is a proxy.

http://pcheese.ferazel.net/writings/accessdenied/

Try some of the techniques on that site too.

[Edited on March 19, 2009 at 11:19 PM. Reason : ]

3/19/2009 11:14:01 PM

If surf control is the only method your IT department has in place for filtering, you could probably score a slingbox feed and use that instead. As long as you didn't share it to every person in the office alerting them to the increased bandwidth usage...

Quote :

"SurfControl only checks hostnames, so all we have to do is access the website without using the hostname..."

If they haven't updated the package to prevent this, 30 seconds of googling also suggests you could use the old school method (read: 90's high school method) of using google's or babelfish's translator to view the site in question.

Regardless, it's a pretty broad question and like it's been stated already, most of the people browsing this section aren't as concerned with how to bypass it as they are to prevent people from circumventing it. (raises nose in the air)

3/19/2009 11:43:07 PM

Lol, the ip address trick worked

3/20/2009 4:10:16 PM

cat and mouse.

3/20/2009 4:17:23 PM

Evan's suggestion is problem the best one. If you have the ability to connect to a computer at home from work, you can get away with a lot and remain undetected by simply using your home computer along with proxies/tor to hide your antics.

3/20/2009 4:29:05 PM

"i really doubt you're going to get much here, as i'm willing to bet the majority of tww users aren't stupid enough to do this."

well that and a bunch of people in this section are the ones who actually put these controls in place

3/20/2009 5:15:36 PM

setup a proxy at home, proxy through that at work

3/20/2009 6:52:51 PM

Yeah I tunnel in through my home router, but I don't think it'd be fast enough to stream that kind of video.

3/20/2009 6:55:37 PM

If you were trying to get to facebook- then we could talk

3/20/2009 7:09:40 PM