Today schools are increasingly blocking popular websites from their
computers. They use blocking programs that zone in on specific addresses and
prevent students from accessing those sites. These blocked sites include some of
the more popular ones such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube. Students often
find it frustrating when they can’t access their favorite websites at school,
but now there are ways of getting around the blockers.
The first way of
accessing blocked sites is something known as a portal webpage. This website
looks like a standard search engine, except it works to bypass the blockers on
the school computers. Schools worry these sites prevent their students from
getting their high school
diplomas aren’t sure how to block the sites because there are too many of
them. The student enters the name of the site on the page and is sent there. It
assigns a new address to the page, hiding it from the blocker.
Students
also have the option of using Google Translation. They go to Google and look for
the blocked page like MySpace. When the results turn up, they’ll see a translate
icon next to the page. When they click on this, it takes them to a separate page
where they can request the page translated into English. This translates the
page, but also saves it under a Google address and bypasses the blocker.
Google has something known as a Mobile Search, which works on school
computers. The program appears under the “other” options on the homepage. When
users search for a blocked page using this service, it once again assigns a
Google address to the page. The disadvantage in using this service is that it
breaks the pages down into several different smaller screens, just as it would
on a mobile phone.
Another way to access blocked sites is by entering
the IP address of the website rather than its http address. WhoIs gives detailed
information for all websites, including their IP addresses. Students visit the
site and enter the name of the website they want to visit, like Bebo. They take
the IP address that appears, copy it, and paste it into the address bar. This
sends them to the website and skips the blocker because it’s looking for
specific names, not numbers.
Some students may prefer using a proxy
server, which works like a portal but is far more complicated. With this
process, the student changes the IP address of the computer by reworking the LAN
Settings. They visit the proxy server and take an IP address from the page. They
exchange that address with the one in the LAN Settings. This causes the computer
to think it’s on a different network and lets the student visit those blocked
sites.
The last option involves using a downloadable program to visit
blocked sites. These programs contain a toolbar where the student enters the
name of the website. The toolbar then takes them to the site after assigning a
new address to it. Students who want to visit their favorite sites and also earn
their diploma may find this the
best and easiest option.
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