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When I was in middle school, I discovered that the content filter proxy server could be bypassed: it ran on port 8080, but outside of the school's firewall. So

When I was in middle school, I discovered that the content filter proxy server could be bypassed: it ran on port 8080, but outside of the school's firewall. So if you found another proxy running on 8080, you could use that instead. I found an RSS feed of proxy servers and their addresses. So I wrote a VB6 app that would pull it, set the registry key for a proxy server, open the embeddable browser in the background, and time how long it takes to load a bunch of popular sites. It would iterate through the list of servers, and finally settle on the server that had the fastest load times. When you closed the program, it would set the registry key back. At the time, autorun.ini was still a thing. All of my friends had flash drives that would "turn off" the firewall when they plugged them in. I was a young teenager. If you think you can stop a determined kid from bypassing your rules, you're fighting the wrong battle.

weakfortress 4y ago
A child determined to do this (I also did it) is not the target of such a program. If you're smart enough to do that, you're probably smart enough to pass classes without much effort. Especially given the innate drive to not only discover a new way to bypass the system but also to automate it. Chances are you did well in school, especially in subjects you enjoyed, because being challenged drives you to innovate. "If you think you can stop a determined kid" is trivializing the matter. Your average child will spend 24 hours a day melting their brain on TikTok. Not reading the ancient tomes of programmers gone by on how to better automate their bypasses. Your example actually demonstrates in a roundabout way that it's not there to stop determined adversaries who are likely self-driven enough to learn anyway. A certain, largely average, cohort of students do not have this ability, will never possess this ability, and will likely with much effort pass with middling grades. These people are highly susceptible to failing when distractions are introduced. Stopping them should be priority number 1 in any school district worth their salt.

weakfortress 4y ago

A child determined to do this (I also did it) is not the target of such a program. If you're smart enough to do that, you're probably smart enough to pass classes without much effort. Especially given the innate drive to not only discover a new way to bypass the system but also to automate it. Chances are you did well in school, especially in subjects you enjoyed, because being challenged drives you to innovate. "If you think you can stop a determined kid" is trivializing the matter. Your average child will spend 24 hours a day melting their brain on TikTok. Not reading the ancient tomes of programmers gone by on how to better automate their bypasses. Your example actually demonstrates in a roundabout way that it's not there to stop determined adversaries who are likely self-driven enough to learn anyway. A certain, largely average, cohort of students do not have this ability, will never possess this ability, and will likely with much effort pass with middling grades. These people are highly susceptible to failing when distractions are introduced. Stopping them should be priority number 1 in any school district worth their salt.