| Microsoft Filter Blocks FSF Donation Site Microsoft filter blocks Free Software Foundation donation site:
The Free Software Foundation's executive director John Sullivan has publicly complained that Microsoft's reputation database is listing the Foundation's donate.fsf.org as a gambling site. The Foundation was alerted by a Reddit posting where a user was unable to access the site from his place of work.
On closer examination, using Microsoft's online reputation checker, the site is listed in the "Shareware/Freeware", "Technical Information" and "Gambling" categories. The latter category is often blocked by users of Microsoft's Forefront Threat Management Gateway by policy. Sullivan says he has reported the incorrect classification to Microsoft and asked to have the site listed as "Non-Profit/Advocacy/NGO". He is awaiting a correction saying "We will avoid attributing this error to malice just yet" but at the time of writing, the site is still classified as a gambling site.
If you are blocked from accessing the FSF's donation site, you can go to the unblocked my.fsf.org/donate directly. |
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| Micro$tupid knows best!  |
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 rexbinaryMod KingPremium
join:2005-01-26
Plano, TX | reply to FF4m3
Maybe from Microsoft's point of view donating money to FSF *IS* gambling. |
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 firephotoFacts hurtPremium
join:2003-03-18
Brewster, WA | said by rexbinary:Maybe from Microsoft's point of view donating money to FSF *IS* gambling.
Maybe there is actual gambling at the fsf site but we haven't achieved enough freedom yet to locate it and the trail of bitcoins flowing from it's slots. 
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 JohnInSJPremium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
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| reply to FF4m3
I don't see gambling as of right now.
looks like the ratings are crowd sourced, perhaps some tens of people who have issues with the FSF voted it in? That's the trouble with mobs.
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| reply to FF4m3
Fixed yesterday (which seems like a pretty good response) per this article: »www.escapistmagazine.com/news/vi···ing-Site |
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| reply to rexbinary
said by rexbinary:Maybe from Microsoft's point of view donating money to FSF *IS* gambling.
Gambling with Micro$oft's bottom line.
The better question is why does Microsoft block gambling sites? I used to gamble online and it was quite fun.
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Getting people to stop using windows is more or less the same as trying to get people to stop smoking tobacco products. They dont want to change; they are happy with slowly dying inside. -- munky99999 |
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 SteveI know your IP addressConsultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA
kudos:5 | said by KodiacZiller: The better question is why does Microsoft block gambling sites? Microsoft isn't blocking anything: they tag sites with various categories (gambling, pr0n, warez, etc.) and allow the administrator of the Threat Management Gateway software to choose what's done with what.
Steve
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 koitsuPremium,MVM
join:2002-07-16
Mountain View, CA
kudos:19 | reply to KodiacZiller
What you didn't read (because every single article does a wonderful job of minimising this point) is that the filtering was done inside of one specific Microsoft application: Forefront. Forefront is an anti-virus/anti-malware/security software that is used in corporate environments, including within Microsoft itself (internationally I might add). Forefront's access lists/etc. are managed separately from things like Defender or Security Essentials. Microsoft can manage some of these filters, but local IT departments can also apply their own filters too -- and that's important to note (keep reading for why). Forefront is not a consumer product. The delineation in this specific situation is very important.
Quoting source article:
quote:
Last week, it was brought to our attention that our primary online donation form at donate.fsf.org was being blocked by corporate systems that use a Microsoft "network security" program.
And proof that it was Forefront.
Be sure to note the author's quote:
quote:
... I'm at work at the moment, and our IT department uses Microsoft Threat Management Gateway ...
If you want to read more about what Forefront does and is for, here ya go. It's actually not a half bad piece of software. So my sentiments here mirror that of Steve  .
So, as much as folks are inclined to "blame Microsoft", Microsoft may be categorising things appropriately -- but as I said, it's up to IT departments to ensure that the filter classification levels are set to something reasonable. That isn't Microsoft's fault. Think of it this way: how many times have you seen an "IT professional" not understand the technology they're working with? You know the age old idiom -- if I had a nickel for every time.....
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SteveI know your IP addressConsultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA
kudos:5 | I had the impression that KZ was just asking a not unreasonable question, not challenging or chastising... |
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 MaxoYour tax dollars at work.Premium,VIP
join:2002-11-04
Tallahassee, FL | reply to koitsu
said by koitsu:So, as much as folks are inclined to "blame Microsoft", Microsoft may be categorising things appropriately Every product out there designed to categorize websites has a lot of mis-categorizations in their system. That the FSF's donation section of their website happens to be mislabeled in Microsoft's enterprise tool is "slightly interesting" but certainly not suspicious or surprising. I've seen more ridiculous false positives at other jobs I've had that used filtering.
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| reply to koitsu
said by koitsu:What you didn't read (because every single article does a wonderful job of minimising this point) is that the filtering was done inside of one specific Microsoft application: Forefront.
Yes, I know. It is optional, not mandatory and used for corporate environments and all that. I was being a bit facetious anyway.
But it will still be interesting to see if the FSF is taken off the list completely.
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Getting people to stop using windows is more or less the same as trying to get people to stop smoking tobacco products. They dont want to change; they are happy with slowly dying inside. -- munky99999 |
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