{"id":67,"date":"2007-10-17T14:11:56","date_gmt":"2007-10-17T21:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.onecle.com\/2007\/10\/17\/arbitrary-and-capricious-the-banning-of-lexblog\/"},"modified":"2007-10-17T14:11:56","modified_gmt":"2007-10-17T21:11:56","slug":"arbitrary-and-capricious-the-banning-of-lexblog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/law.onecle.com\/blog\/2007\/10\/17\/arbitrary-and-capricious-the-banning-of-lexblog\/","title":{"rendered":"Arbitrary and Capricious: The Banning of LexBlog"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Greatest Generation liberated Europe from Nazi Germany, and the most-privileged generation whines about free wi-fi. Yes, I’m from the generation of whiners and complainers. I’m using the “free” wireless Internet connection at a hospital, and I hate it because free also means filtered, censored, or whatever else you want to call it.Now, I know what it feels like to be in China, but worse. I am completely walled off from all the verboten content that exists in the free world for arbitrary and capricious reasons. Once you’ve seen what exists outside the Garden of Eden, you don’t want to go back in.When I try to access a banned site, I am redirected to this IP number: 10.226.37.60. Fortunately, the URL explains why a certain domain was blocked. Based on the categories provided, I think the hospital is using Secure Computing’s so-called SmartFilter<\/a> for content censorship.<\/p>\n

“Dating and Social” websites<\/h3>\n

I can’t access Plenty of Fish<\/a>, Match.com<\/a> or HOT or NOT<\/a>. If the hospital wants to ban dating and social sites, most people can probably understand how the above three websites fit the bill. However, other sites that fall within this category ban include Facebook<\/a> and MySpace<\/a>.If you are looking for an “adult” date, SexSearch.com<\/a> and Adult FriendFinder<\/a> are also banned, but as pornography sites, instead of as dating and social sites. However, as some people<\/a> have discovered, not all the members of sexsearch.com are adults.Since Facebook was banned, I was curious about other social networking sites. I was able to access LinkedIn<\/a>. As for Avvo<\/a>, it was banned as a “Spam Email” site. So, if you are in a hospital bed and want to find a personal injury lawyer, try the Justia Lawyer Directory<\/a> or Martindale-Hubbell<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n

Honorable Mention<\/h3>\n

One website deserves an honorable mention for earning the prestigious two categories ban. The censors barred access to Orkut<\/a> as a dating and social site, and also under the personal pages category.<\/p>\n

Personal Pages<\/h3>\n

The personal pages category snares a lot of web sites:<\/p>\n