Tom Lane forwarded me the documents he and Mark received re Guest use of the Colliton WiFi when they were arranging access to the network. He suggested that I circulate it to members, commenting that it includes quite a long list of blocked content. The document is available https://www.dropbox.com/s/arxxurmhz1rnog0/Colliton%20Club%20WiFi.pdf.
I don't think it is just me getting old, but I do not feel that it is very clear what is permitted and what is blocked. Perhaps we shall have to ask for clarification.
I think the main thing is has anyone tried to access stuff they needed/wanted to and found it blocked? it's not specifically stated but I assume the first two categories are permitted. The only thing that stands out for me is that web based email is in one of those categories so I assume allowed but general email via an email client is not mentioned (unless I missed it) but from experience I think it's blocked. Oh, and I think it blocks you downloading (or uploading) to services like Dropbox.
As I work in IT I understand the process that organisations have to go through to ensure that they are protected from potential abuse of their Internet connection. The standard way of doing this is to deploy web proxy based filtering for sites to prevent customers, guests and employees from accessing any site that may make the organisation liable to prosecution by the authorities.
No system is completely safe however because of the huge number of sites on the Internet, there is no way each site can be explicitly allow / blocked, so a broad based category system is deployed to allow sites to be grouped together, then all sites in a certain category can be then allowed or blocked depending on common sense, by the administrator.
If you read the document listed on the Colliton Club site, then this will describe the category and then the action (blocked or Allowed). It does make sense if you read it and ignore the layout which is very confusing. I have rewritten it below, which should make it easier to understand.
You would then see that Web email and Dropbox is allowed.
This filtering is typical of most businesses and organisations, where as much of the Internet, as possible is allowed, but Non productive, Controversial and illegal content is blocked.
Regards
Andy Banks
Allowed
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General Interest (Business)
Armed Forces, Business, Finance and Banking, General Organisations, Info Technology, Search Engines and Portals, Secure Websites, Web Hosting, Web-based Applications
General Interest (Personal)
Advertising, Arts and Culture, Child Education, Content Servers, Digital Postcards, Domain Parking, Dynamic Content, Education, Entertainment, Folklore, Global Religion, Heath and Wellness, Job Search, Medicine, Miscellaneous, Real Estate, News and Media, Newsgroups and message boards, Personal Privacy, Personal Vehicles, Personal Websites and Blogs, Political Organisations, Reference, Restaurants and Dining, Shopping and Auction, Social Networking, Society and Lifestyles, Sports, Travel, web-based Email
Bandwidth Consuming / Non Productive
Bandwidth File Sharing and Storage, Freeware and Software Downloads, Internet Radio and TV, Internet Telephony, Streaming Media and Downloads
Blocked
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Bandwidth Consuming / Non Productive
Peer-to-Peer File Sharing, Brokerage and Trading, Games, Instant Messaging, Web Chat
Controversial
Abortion, Adult materials, Advocacy Groups, Alcohol, Alternative Beliefs, Dating, Extremist Groups, Gambling, Lingerie and Swimsuit, Marijuana, Nudity and Risque, Pornography, Sex Education, Sport Hunting and War Games, Tobacco, and Weapons.
Potentially Liable
Child Abuse, Discrimination, Drug Abuse, Hacking, Illegal or Unethical, Plagiarism, Proxy Avoidance, & Violence
David Moon 