From Decius:

If anyone has advice about appealing to the companies providing filtering solutions, chime in...

Ok, here is what I'd do right off...

This is crazy - THIS? lol A HACKER site? WTF? US? Never!
...ahem...this is a news site much like digg in apparent functionality and presentation. (On a superficial level.)

I'll try to read up and find out what I can. I did quickly find that Chris Prillo's site is also blocked. For, of all things, Mature Content. WTF
http://chris.pirillo.com/2005/01/10/sonicwall-content-filter-service/

Perhaps it is just that the techs at Sonic Wall think the best way of protecting networks is to protect their users from associating with highly technical users. lol

So it seems their filters are totally whacked, but surely they have some way of updating them.

Surely they don't expect admins everywhere to handfix their boo boos?

I've never messed with Sonicwall, (I thought those things were cheap toys, so Pix or Checkpoints for me...) I'm not sure how the filters are applied. I have a friend that has one implemented, I'll ask her. I assume it is some sort of Sonic Wall subsciption service or web push on the filtered list. WHo maintains that? That's the contact point.

If I had one of them, I'd consider it defective, lol, I'd write the attorney general in their state, and the bbb in their city. OH man that works wonders.

If a friendly request doesn't remove memestreams from the list, then perhaps it needs to be very widely blogged and posted on individual webpages, in a factual way - of how ludicrous the filters seem to be. (Finding other examples to post links to, as well.) Also product reviews...and of course...a bit of a factual, viral advertisement of how their filter system performs.

Many of us here are security consultants...we don't have to implement or advertise their stuff, do we?

MemeStreams banned by Web Filters

At several points in the past, we have attempted to get people to colonize a MemeStreams IRC channel. Each time, its had about the same result. Five or six people pop in the first day.. The times when people are chatting don't line up, and people stop coming. Then I see a trail of people entering and exiting for 15 minutes at a time for the next several days..

Lets try this again... This time, stay in the damn channel. Idle there. Attract some more people. It takes awhile for any given channel to grab traction.

The topic isn't limited to MemeStreams, but should have something to do with media, idea transfer, Internet issues, communication theory, or current events.

irc://irc.freenode.net:#memetics

Freenode is a great network. Its stable, there are numerous servers, and the channel/nick services work well so there is no need to have bots to administrate the channels.

For those that don't use IRC, its a very old chat protocol. There are numerous networks and a plethora of clients you can use to connect to it. Asking which client is the best to use is like asking for a major debate. I prefer XChat myself. The main site has the Windows and Linux clients. There is an OSX specific port as well.

MemeStreams/Memetics IRC Channel (again) - #memetics

C-SPAN has a camera looking around 7th Av, which as far as the eye can see is packed with protesters. All was looking like a nice peaceful protest until some group decided it would be a good idea to set a big green float on fire. I just finished watching a big green thing burning in front of the McDonalds just north of The Garden. Seems very early for burning things in the street.

I have been hoping that the people would respect the city, respect each other, and even respect the rights of the political opponents being protested. Stuff like the burning floats will only force the police and fire department to close the street. Not a good sign of things to come.

I was planning to head into the city Monday or Tuesday, however now I have a feeling I will not be able to get anywhere near the place.

.....I came into work and the title of the AJC said "RNC focuses on Unity" or something like that, and I got such a great laugh. Unity. Bush. Right.

RNC Protests