How to Bypass Internet Filters

There are many good and bad reasons for wanting to bypass an Internet filter. If a resource you desperately need for a project or assignment is blocked at your workstation or school lab, and expedient way to find that resource or a suitable equivalent could bring you much help.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Evaluate your reasons for wanting to bypass an Internet filter. Trying to get to an entertainment or social site at work or school could potentially lead to consequences up to firing or expulsion. If you truly need a particular resource to accomplish your duties try to get access to the resource through established channels.

2. Try to find the material on an RSS feed. Many sites that are filtered have feeds that are aggregated with other feeds on sites that aren't always filtered. If your filter is based on domains rather than keywords, this soft redirect may be all that you need.

3. Use an open proxy to tunnel through the filter to the site. Do not enter any login or financial information though on of these proxies to a blocked site as your information may be intercepted, or may be logged on the proxy.

4. Use a Tor client for accessing blocked content provided the Tor protocol isn't blocked on your network, and the computer allows you to install Tor. Tor is generally a last resort for accessing the Internet and is often crowded, so connection quality may be poor. Additionally given Tor's popularity in countries with national internet filtering, there may be a humanitarian element to not abusing Tor beyond what is necessary.

Tips & Warnings

• Push through official channels as much as possible your need to access certain resources outside of the filter, as opposed to making efforts to circumvent filters.
• Do not circumvent company or school Internet filters casually and without cause, you might find yourself without a job or school. Never pass out you login credentials through any server unless you are willing to compromise you online accounts. Be aware that time-stamped social networking or blog posts while you are on the job provide evidence of your potential violation of company or school policies. The same goes for instant messaging logs and other time-stamped material.

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