School Bans Social Websites

This is week-and-a-half-old news, however it struck a nerve so I figured I’d post it. According to this article on App.com, Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta, NJ is threatening students to make them stop participating in social networking with websites such as MySpace, Facebook and Xanga. The article states:

Effective immediately, and over student complaints, the teens were told to dismantle their Myspace.com accounts or similar sites with personal profiles and blogs. Defy the order and face suspension, students were told.

While public and private schools routinely block access to noneducational Web sites on school computers, Pope John’s order reaches into students’ homes.

The primary impetus behind the ban is to protect students, McHugh said. The Web sites, popular forums for students to blog about their lives and feelings about their teachers and schools, are fertile ground for sexual predators to gather information about children, he said.

While it seems like the school is trying to protect its students, they are going about it the wrong way. Its a violation of free speech to police the students in this way. Educating the students about the dangers of a web presence would be a more reasonable approach.

Discuss This Article


204 Responses to “School Bans Social Websites”

  1. AvatarCliff

    Everywhere I look, people are being made to give up their rights. According to the powers that be, we are “defending freedom”, but it seems we are loosing it at an allarming rate. I wish people would stop trying to protect me!

    Reply to this comment.
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  2. AvatarGreg Squires

    I agree totally with banning students from these sights (especially myspace.com) for their own protection.
    Teens feel they are able to have a private life through the use of these sights but are entirely deceived. I have seen the personal information posted by teens in my community and intimate details of their
    so-called “private life” being posted for virtually the entire world to see. These sights are a sexual preditor’s
    smorgasbord. Schools and parents need to be educated about the dangers these sights pose to our youth.

    Reply to this comment.
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  3. AvatarMatt
    Author Comment

    In my opinion educating students and parents is a much better approach than to outright ban kids. Think about it, as soon as something is banned to a person, suddenly that person has a desire to participate…especially in the teenage years where rebellion is a way to express themselves. Educating parents on how to watch their kids’ online activity would be incredibly valuable! And despite what some people may think, teenagers are not completely stupid…if educated they can be much safer social website browsers.

    Reply to this comment.
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  4. Avataruhh, yeah

    its not harmful.
    i think it should be aloud.

    its not like your doing anything bad

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  5. Avatarthis is gayyy

    our school blocked myspace for no freakin reason. WHAT is so wrong with it? its not like we’re plotting an evil scheme to blow up america or some dumb crap like that

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  6. AvatarMelissa

    WHY??? dats the question. why did schools block myspace?? its a way to express our selfs!!

    Reply to this comment.
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  7. AvatarJade

    look, yes, there are sexual preditors out there, i do not deny that at all. But you also have to relize that if some guy wanted to steal some little girl or some little boy, taking away a website is NOT going to do anything at all. Yes, it might make it alittle harder, but that only means that they would have to work twice as hard, or find some other website. So now you have sexual preditors getting smarter.. gee… that’s what we need. The point is, some website might “help” them.. but so do thousands of others. god, even the TV helps them. And what about the newspaper???? I know hundreds of people who are in the newspaper. Or get a story published about them. and What about online dating??? I would think that one would be worse then “myspace”. Think about it. On that website you set yourself up to actually “meet” the other person, rather then just talking to them through messages. No offence but i find that alot scarier. Not to mention that myspace is helping kids. Hundreds of thousands of people go on myspace all around the world. You have people from different cultures, you have people from different locations, different states. It allows a person, and student exspecially to “network” or learn about how things are in far away places. To get another aspect on things. Or in other words, meet new people. After a student graduate, if they intend to go on to collage, myspace has made it easy so that they can make some new friends before they actually get there. If you are going to ban myspace, you might as well ban parks, because that is just as bad. Or even going outside alone. ORRRRRR, you might as well ban the grocery store.
    Alot more happens with a guy comming up and saying that he has a flat tire to lure some girl into his car, then it is with a guy going on a website.

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  8. AvatarKatie

    OMG why does myspace.com haft to be BLOCKED from schools?

    THAT IS SO GAY!

    AND YEA

    If they were smart then they would realize that we can hack into it whit the right research!

    I MEAN YEA

    Were not dumb people we know how to protect ourselves!!

    Reply to this comment.
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  9. Avatarmyspacegirl

    I found these very useful intructions posted on the net that showed me how to access my myspace in school. I hope they help! :)

    http://access-myspace.741.com

    http://angelfire.com/planet/access

    I heard in a forum that there will be duplicate sites like this just in case schools block those sites too. Good luck!

    Reply to this comment.
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  10. AvatarKellen

    of course you cnnot download firefox at school, so you are pretty much screwed

    Reply to this comment.
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  11. Avatarpunk racquer

    ok, this is completly stupid in every way possible. i mean, before u can really talk to a person on myspace, u have to add them as a friend. that means u can check them out before u talk to them. thats what ive always done, and its worked pretty well for me. the only other wa is to message people, and if u don’t like em, don’t answer. and if they really start bothering u, block them, idiot. its not that hard if u have common sense.

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  12. AvatarEmma

    ugh you know this is so insulting to teens. I’ve been doing xanga and myspace for two years now. I am well aware of the unsafe aspects of them. I know about people getting raped from people they meet on myspace and xanga. But for schools to completely ban them is completely insulting! First of all, they don’t even BOTHER asking the students for their opinion, and second of all, you can’t control the teen’s out-of-school life. I’m sorry, but believe it or not we DO have lives out of school and we DO have social lives. The majority of students are only able to comunicate with friends through myspace [during the school week]. And by banning us from using them you’re sending out wrong messages to the teens. You’re saying that we’re all stupid dunderheads that’ll be dumb enough to meet up with a complete stranger we’ve met on myspace. And you’re saying that we’re all untrustworthy and we don’t even deserve to keep in touch with friends. I know some of the reason for banning it is so we have more study time but GIVE ME A BREAK. I’m online about 2 hours a night and I have all A’s and I’m in several after school clubs. Also, by denying us this right you’re going against your own guidelines. The school’s concern should only be what goes on in school and nothing more. For them to actually think they have the right to tell us what we should be doing with our free time is insulting and unacceptable. They think they’re doing it for our safety but you should let it be the parent’s decision. If your parents are fine with your online diaries then nothing is wrong with it. If you take the necessary safety measures, you’ll be fine. Teens need their own place to call their own. I should know. xanga and myspace have helped me through my troubles. they’ve been an outlet for my emotions and without them i’d still be the person i was two years ago: a workoholic with no friends. i’m a much happier person now and if schools ban xanga and myspace i’m gonna get pretty pissed.

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  13. AvatarJordan

    Most high schools have MySpace blocked, but at my school every one uses TheRealNET to get on.

    http://therealnet.cafe150.com/

    It has links for MySpace, Facebook, and AIM proxies!
    Enjoy :)

    Reply to this comment.
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  14. AvatarAutumn

    I think it is stupid that schools block websites then we cant get onto anything….i hate it. we should be able to get on anything we want because when we go home we do what we want anyways…its agrovating when all these sites are blocked. schools need to quit doing it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  15. AvatarBrittney

    My school has even blocked google so we can’t even get on that site anymore without finding a loop hole…

    Reply to this comment.
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  16. Avatarfuck this shit mayne

    school = boring as hell now

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  17. AvatarJammer

    lol, too easy, just use an IP reverser. Flasharcade.cc has one and i have one on my site. My schools so stupid. can anyone say l-l /\ }{?

    Reply to this comment.
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  18. AvatarKirsten

    YOU GUYS ARE SO STUPID TO BLOCK MYSPACE.COM!!! ITS A FREAKIN LITTLE SITE THAT DOESN’T DO ANYTHING ITS COMPLETELY HARMLESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WAS ON FOR 12 HOURS STRAIGHT ONCE! THE TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS ARE TAKING AWAY THE KIDS’ RIGHTS MORE AND MORE EVERY DAY. LAY OFF!!! & YOU KNOW WHAT? WE DON’T CARE IF YOU BLOCK IT AT SCHOOL; THATS JUST MORE TIME WE SPEND ON IT AT HOME INSTEAD OF DOING HOMEWORK!! UNBLOCK MYSPACE.COM FROM SCHOOLS AND WE’LL GET BETTER GRADES. YOU GUYS ARE STUPID TO BLOCK IT.

    Reply to this comment.
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  19. Avatarme

    ok my school is freaking dumb just to point that out! anyways the computer will let me get onto myspace through a proxy but it wont let me sign in itll refer me to make an account!

    Reply to this comment.
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  20. AvatarJammer

    Kirtsten, youre wrong, Freeing myspace will in no way help your grades or anyone elses for that matter, the best it will do is get you worse grades in a computer class, or get you a good ol’ stalker/pedaphile. And you must really be a lonley person to spend 12 hours on myspace. And trust me, you should focus more on school than a social life. Im only a sophmore, but its really obvious now. School cant hate you, and trust me, people change alot in 3 years from 7th to 10th grade. you wont be with your same friends. Most of them probably wont even be seen in public with you, because youre not in their new friends cliq. So have fun while it lasts, cheers kids.

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  21. AvatarSaphira Braughm

    I discovered a hidden danger in MySpace everyone seems to have missed. A web “Hate” page was set up dedicated to my daughter. There was a gun on the page. The page prominately displayed her first and last name as the inspiration for “hate”. The page was set up annonymously and sent to many classmates. My child did not know about the page until her friends told her about it. She does not and never had a page set up. I contacted MySpace and they did not take the page down until the police got involved. MySpace never responded to me personally.
    Now think about it. If there is some crazy teen thinking of shooting up students at my daughter’s school, she has just become the primary target as a result of MySpace.

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  22. Avatarbrittany

    ok what i dont get is how come all the schools block myspace.com i think its really retarded!! ok i unerstand that parents think that something bad is going to happen because of all the stories on the news about girls meeting people on myspace then end up meeting up with the people they meet on there and end up getting raped or something like that but its the dumb girls fault for meeting up with them! and i just think its really dumb get lives parents and dont always find a way to ruin things!!!

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  23. pingback pingback:
    BorkWeb » Blog Archive » Subverting MySpace and Facebook Blocks With Proxies

    [...] In November I blogged about Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta New Jersey and their forcing of students to stop using sites like MySpace, Xanga, and Facebook. Over the past few months I have seen a number of comment come in regarding…well…not threats from schools, but blocking of such sites by educational institutions. Now, its important to note that the blocking of these social sites seem to be localized to Elementary and High Schools, not higher education institutions. [...]

    Reply to this comment.
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  24. Avatarrobbie

    this blocking is stupid. the hopatcong schools have gone block happy! we get access to one website for every 100 blocked. I swear I will find a way around this and tell the world how to do it! I have a theory all I have to do now is test it………

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  25. AvatarJoe FLores

    any other websites

    Reply to this comment.
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  26. AvatarKim

    yall can use uhhh…

    http://www.sn33k.com

    or http://www.unblockmyspace.com

    if they aint blocked em yet… or ya its all good

    Reply to this comment.
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  27. Avatarbrian Garges

    i need a proxy to help me get to my spce pleaze post if u have one ok ill wil be very thankful of u ok got to go by

    Reply to this comment.
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  28. AvatarJoe Flores

    any more web sites

    Reply to this comment.
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  29. Avatarkylee

    uhmm..wow…our school systems are gay..they’re not protecting us..they’re takinh away our rights.i’m so sick of school officials thinkging their our parents..i have some at home, i don’t need some here

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  30. Avatarrobotlove

    seriously, get over it. myspace is a load of crap anyway. are you kids really that desperate and lonely? spending 12 hours a day on the internet is pretty pathetic. go outside, get some sun once in a while. myspace isnt just lame, it causes drama, and it can be dangerous. its not taking away your god damn rights. you’re at school to do SCHOOL WORK. do you idiots ever want to graduate? its pretty sad you cant wait a few hours to go home and waste your life away on myspace.com.

    there is life outside the internet. try growing up sometime. they’re not taking away your rights. geez. there’s a freakin reason that the site is blocked. like i said, you’re supposed to be doing work at school, not sitting on the internet. myspace is some stupid trend that everyone wants to conform to. apparently school officials NEED to be your parents because your parents aren’t doing their job.

    get over it.

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  31. Avatarrobotlove

    BUT: i do think its wrong to be forced to delete your account if you access it outside of school. what you do outside of school is your business and that IS a violation of your rights. you just shouldnt access it during school.

    Reply to this comment.
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  32. Avatarxbrunettes r bettax

    i think it is ridiculous that they blocked myspace, its the teens decision if they want to get bad grades in school rather than doing their work in class…
    our school has blocked everything besides xanga and your email and its annoying because when i finish my work i want to check my myspace.. what is so wrong w/ that?

    Reply to this comment.
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  33. Avatarchristina

    i know how to unblock it. go too http://www.atunnel.com and type in . http://www.myspace.com in the little search engine and it will come up

    Reply to this comment.
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  34. AvatarChelsea

    my school is totally gay!! i mean i want myspace. EVERYONE wants their myspace. it’s so much fun!! then the school has to be gay and block it on us. please, if anyone knows how to get on myspace at school beacuse mine is blocked, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send me an IM and tell me how!! –>slytlyimperfect

    Reply to this comment.
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  35. AvatarJP

    school blocks everything but if u need to get onto myspace go to allaboutabe.com then click on the picture of abe on the top left the type in myspace it works

    Reply to this comment.
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  36. AvatarChris

    Its really simple actually, they block myspace because its fun. Think about it, I mean my school blocks EVERYTHING, there is hardly a reason to get on the net a school. Games are blocked, all social sites are blocked, Political sites are blocked. Its all blocked because it doesn’t apply to school. IT SUCKS!!!

    Reply to this comment.
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  37. AvatarTy-Bo

    none of that shiz works.. my school has every website blocked off!! even bungienet.com

    Reply to this comment.
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  38. AvatarAbbey

    How dare you!!! MySpace is a place for meeting new people half the friends i have, and hang out with i have met on MySpace and have now known for years just from meeting them on MySpace i dont think you people have room to comment about it if you haven’t explored the the features of myspace or used it! also you may think you are protecting us from something but you really arn’t people non these sites are all like me, wanting to make new friends and meet up or just general conversation. People are not so stupid they are guna meet them on their own!

    Reply to this comment.
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  39. Avatarhi

    yeh my skool blocked myspace too, it sucks..all i wanna do is talk to mates through it.
    i used a few websites to get to it, but my skool just blocked them too..which just sucks even more.
    so now i’m kinda stuck, but i’m gonna find a way to get onto it..no doubt about that.

    Reply to this comment.
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  40. AvatarJProxAdmin

    I’m the author of JProx http://www.monkeysigns.com and my visitors use it all the time to access MySpace, for that matter, to access any site that their school or company may have blocked. You can use it for free.
    I wrote it to encourage freedom of speech, as well as provide a means for secure anonymouse web browsing.
    I haven’t gotten any complaints from users yet saying that their school is blocking my site yet.
    Give it a try, worth a shot. And Enjoy.

    Reply to this comment.
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  41. AvatarKate

    This is unacceptable. Schools have no right or reason to even imagine they have ANY say in what goes on in student’s homes. They are not the students’ parents and have no power over what happens outside of the school. If my school ever did this I would drag them through court and I would be sure to make it O-so- messy :) This should be exploited all over the news. Schools hate that. The only tips I can give for this are:

    1) Hold a protest
    2) Continue to use the sites
    3) Take the school system to court

    Reply to this comment.
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  42. Avatarwolfowl1207

    its really gay that myspace is blocked, and it should be unblocked!!!!!..yeah. damn i still got that buz! sh!t im tired as hell :P

    Reply to this comment.
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  43. AvatarJess

    hey, yeah I’m in school at the moment and bored as hell. Our school just decided to block myspace and it has pissed off A LOT of people, including me. so any help would be very well appriciated. thanks.

    Reply to this comment.
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  44. AvatarNo Blocking Myspace

    wow why dey gotta ban ar stuff when we jus want to express ourselfz i mean its real stoopid

    damn mfs.

    Reply to this comment.
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  45. Avatarsheldon

    my school blocked this sit dumb b/c it can be very helpfule and i think it was

    Reply to this comment.
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  46. Avatarjessi

    please unblock this one guardster and tnt proxy because our school has it blocked

    Reply to this comment.
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  47. Avatartasha

    my school blocked myspace too but i can still get into it by going to chasebadkids.net and then you click on new myspae and its in the top right hand corner, ‘myspace at school’. It works for some schools but not for others.

    Reply to this comment.
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  48. Avatarblondy

    ughh this is soo gay im at school right now and ive loked through so many blogs and none of them work…any more proxys?
    i’ve tried
    whos-blazin.org/proxy..
    doesnt work
    then i tried
    google.com/gwt/n
    btu now that doesnt work
    ughh
    ya
    help por favor

    Reply to this comment.
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  49. AvatarEmily

    help me!!! i need a website to get onto myspace and none of the previously mentioned sites seem to work!!! we need to figure out an alternate way to get on…i mean, our school tracks our websites and if one site gets a lot of hits then they block it, it’s so gay!!! please help me

    Reply to this comment.
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  50. AvatarBrian luver

    i need a web site to get into myspace.com because i need it. it is the only way i can communicate with other people at school and it makes the day go by alot faster than it would if i had nothing to do at all that day i need it. non of the proxy sites will work because the school district blocked them all and ne think with the proxy word in it. pleas help my e-mail is ttlshorty15@alienxsoftware.com if you would like to talk becuase i did fined one that will get you in but you have to e-mail me for it

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  51. AvatarJunkenMaster
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  52. AvatarJaCkiE

    its hella dumb that they blocked myspace and now there blocking all the proxys cuz i knew a million and then id find moree then those would get blocked too! i dont undersatnd we can just go on myspace at home so why cant we do it at school? we should be able to go now myspace everyonee has it even teachers that i see go on it during class its just crazy.

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  53. AvatarDewy

    I agree with the author of this article, schools should not be dictating that students delete their real world web sites, profiles or whatever….

    That being said, the amount and types of replies here lead me to beleive that blocking the site at school, or work for that matter is a good decision.

    The site does not contribute to the student getting any schoolwork done.

    They are the School’s computers….they can do whatever they want. (An example of this are the law suits filed by employees that were sacked for goofing off on the internet, or writing bad e-mails at work, the employees lost the lawsuits, bottom line was that the computers belonged to the company and thus they dictated polocy, including being able sp spy on the employees.)

    I do not think that it is a Freedom of Speech issue, no one is preventing you from voicing your opinions obviously. It is a Censorship issue for sure, but at school, rightly censored.

    Seriously, go home and do whatever you want! If you really can not wait to get home, then this is more of an addiction type issue I think.

    As a parent, the issues I have with it are the predators, kids posting pictures of themselves with freinds getting drunk, drinking or are already wasted, (Come on now…this is illegal in and of itself, but to post pictures of it?), young teenagers going off on rampages and F this and F that, F the government….grown ups, (if you can call them that), do the same thing, but young teenagers….pffft…

    No way in heck am I letting my kids near this site…if they can not meet friends at school….keep in touch with friends that move away through e-mail, chat, or letters….then geez…I don’t know, but I think that is a lame excuse.

    Just my .02, go ahead and flame away.

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  54. Avatarriana

    yeah, it really is dumb…cause everyday students spend more time on the computer searching for ways to get into myspace rather than actually doing the real work that is made for the computer…anyways, they can always do two things at once right…do their work and also have myspace on the side..

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  55. Avatarmakenzie

    the only one at my school that works is http://www.sn33k.com

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  56. AvatarTruth_In_Suffering

    For those of you who don’t know you can bypass the filters by using. http:\\www.ibypass.com or you can also create a PHP page……If you still have access to Google…Go on there and search for the site you are trying to get on.. Ex. http://www.myspace.com then when you find the page, instead of clicking on the large button you normally click on to go to that site..Click on the button below it that says [cache]….that usually works……. Thanks if you have any questions about hacking or bypassing filters just email me…….Also if they are usually foolproof security you can bypass that by starting the computer up in Safe Mode, then you can delete the Foolproof security file from there……

    Reply to this comment.
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  57. AvatarRachel

    I think that America is taking ur freedom one thing at a time starting with the small things like this ..i wonder what could be next, anyways this is stupid its not like we are on the computers at school all day long so we arnt wasting time when we go to the library during lunch or before/after school…it makes no sence… im already talkin gto people about a protest because i think its about time that the american teens speek up and stand for them selfs instead of being dictated to conform to the rules that also had a budget cut on our funds so i think we should put it to them and take a stand for about two weeks or something like that do an all out protest. i wish that we could be trusted with what we do…

    Reply to this comment.
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  58. AvatarZac

    that is so gay idk why they would have to do something like that myspace doest have ne thing wrong wit it i can see if they block like porn and stuff but thats so gay

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  59. AvatarTy

    Status : 403 Forbidden

    Description : Inappropriate Content Blocked by:****/LOOPHOLE 0 1
    thats what it says when i try to go to the cache of google and when i try anything else

    Reply to this comment.
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  60. AvatarMyspacegirl0262

    Try going to http://access-myspace.741.com to lean another way to access myspace or other blocked sites from your school. Also try visiting http://myspace.com/firefoxspace.

    Reply to this comment.
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  61. AvatarErikka

    alright so i’m so pissed.
    seriously i’ve tried everything my school has blocked every friggin site plus we can’t download.
    i think they should re concider banning this..
    now cus i dont have it i sit here and bitch at the teacher who is standing behind me..
    fuckk…

    Reply to this comment.
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  62. AvatarBrianna

    Alright, after reading a certain amount of comments I have come to the conclusion that although in some instances it is alright to block out websites, in this one it is not. Despite the fact that it is the school’s decision to block out a site, they should not be able to take away the students’ freedom of speech. I have tried almost every proxy, including “http://daveproxy.co.uk/”, but I have not been able to enter. I do not wish to be suspended or expelled, hence why I do not download firefox onto the school’s computer. It is the parent’s decision of whether or not the child is able to access something, not the school’s. I, however, am not a myspace addict; I just wish to be able to check my mail every so often. Is that so wrong?

    Reply to this comment.
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  63. Avatardaneiva

    omg this is so gay i need help i dont know how to get on myspace at school and none of the proxys work their all blocked!!!
    HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply to this comment.
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  64. AvatarSamuel

    http://home.comcast.net/~dase818/

    go there and go to school tools….

    word are edited so it won’t be blocked.

    first two forms on this page work for myspace.

    the others and links are for other sites that don’t need logins.

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  65. Avatarkat

    well ive been trying a lot of websites because they keep blocking the things i bypass so try these ones

    http://www.askunix.com
    or
    http://www.hidebehind.com
    but on hidebehind click on webproxy type in myspace.com and uncheck the bottom two boxes!

    xoxo kat

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  66. Avatarcassie

    i dont know what the school’s fuckin problem is!!! theres nothing wrong with myspace!!! the fuckin school even blocked all the proxy websites so there is no way to get on it!!! there was only one website that worked and it got suspended so now im S.O.L.!!! i hate this fuckin school, it can burn in hell for all i care!!! they fuckin think every little thing is SO unsafe and it pisses me off!!! this school is fuckin craked out. i hope it looses all its fuckin money so it closes down!!! if u guys have myspace check my profile out… myspace.com/__sexy_gurl__ iight, lata peeps…..

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  67. Avatarkatie

    what the hell is wrong with the world today? myspace is nowhere near as bad as everyone tries to make it seem! theres t.v shows out there that practically tell teenagers to have sex, do drugs, KILL PEOPLE!!! and nobody stops us from watching those, so let me ask all the parents out there.. would u rather have your children watching porn, killin people, doing drugs, making bad grades, or be on a fun website communicating with all of their friends and staying out of trouble? i think i know the answer to that! myspace is addicting! the more time children have on their hands, the worse off it is. with myspace, there’s always something fun to do. before i knew about myspace i was bored to tears, me and my friends would smoke pot, prank call people, egg houses, go rollin, now when i have friends stay over we all just get on myspace!! so to all the administers out there who took part in getting myspace blocked, next time one of your kids gets in trouble, next time your house gets rolled, next time a kid gets shot…just think..it all could have been avoided in the first place!

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  68. Avatarharddriver716

    If ur gonna rag on schools for trying to protect students then why don’t we just do away with all protection in society…no more speed limits…you can drink and drive…beter yet how about we just tell the pediphiles where they can find kids to rape and murder.

    Reply to this comment.
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  69. AvatarBrittany

    If myspace.com is so dangerous…then why are we all still alive?

    If we feel the need to protect ourselves, switch your profile to private, just as I did. None of your personal information will be displayed, just your photo, which can also be hidden. Don’t accept any friend requests from people you don’t know, and nobody else but your friends can see your page. It’s as simple as that.

    My website that I use to access myspace at school was blocked about five minutes ago. (ctunnel.com)

    Any others?

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  70. AvatarBrittany

    Since we are on the topic of free speech here…(to which the blocking of myspace has nothing to do with)

    There is really no such thing as free speech in schools.

    No, honestly. We can’t “curse” (I’m not wanting to, I’m just stating a fact). We can’t “state our oppinions” to teachers or the administrators, or it’s considered “backtalking”.

    So tell me, where has our constitutional right gone?

    Straight to the school board officials who make money by attempting to control our oppinions and thoughts by all means necessary, even if it means taking away this so-called “freedom” of speech.

    Also, we can’t peacefully strike. It’s considered a riot/fight or some other disturbance of the peace, gorunds for suspension/expulsion. The worst part is, there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it.

    Or is there?…..
    I say we all rebel. By rebel, I mean more than usual.
    Bend the rules as much as possible, without getting into too much trouble.
    Write letters to the school board.
    We want our birth rights, and we want them now.

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  71. Avatarkimberly haily

    i think that they should let students be allowed to chat on websites like myspace.. its not a bad website its jus to chat with ur friends and check out other peoples profiles. but umm yea i think that there should be a law requiring students to get on myspace

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  72. Avatar2pac

    yea i think the kids should be allowed to have fun in and out of school. they have the right to get on a website they want and shouldnt listen to the teachers but yea i think that they should be alble to have fun whenever okay yea i might not be tellin the truth but yea i think that it is important for kids to have fun to iight then i am out
    niggas wuts ma mothers last name jigga

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  73. AvatarChris

    Dewy seems to have posted the only coherant statement on this page.

    The first impression I get is that the schools are right to block MySpace since the majority of people who have posted to this forum should spend more time learning English. (Katie, up at the top, congragulations. You’re post was picked to appear at arstechnica.com as a wonderful example of how now to write.)

    Secondly, Dewy points out that these computers are for learning, not for socializing. They are research tools. High School students can post to their hearts content at home. The school does not have to supply it’s students with access or tools that have nothing to do with it’s educational program. Furthermore, since the PCs are paid for with public funds, taxpayers have every right to state how they will be used.

    It seems to me that students seem to think they have a “right” to access these sites in school. This is false. Constitutional Law does not apply here, since you are not prevented from accessing these sites in a private enviroment.

    In closing, I would reccomend that you all get back to whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing in school, and leave MySpace for when you get home.

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  74. Avatartim

    I’ve done the old proxy thing when I went to school to check out myspace. But seriously, over 40% of internet traffic on many campuses is going to myspace, when kids are supposed to be working or studying. Aside from being a waste of time, I don’t think it’s really harmful though I’ve seen many hate sites there. The network and computer systems are school property… so they can do whatever they want with it. They have every right to. Blocking myspace at school has nothing to do with YOUR rights.

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  75. AvatarSparrow

    I would think teachers would not restrict access to MySpace, if only to show examples of very poor spelling, punctuation and sentence structure.

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  76. AvatarChris B.

    I have to agree with the other Chris and tim on this page.

    Schools have every right to block something that is consuming network resources. I mean, if over 40% of the traffic on the network is going toward myspace, slowing down people who are actuially using the computer network to do work, it should be blocked.

    To those of you who are crying violation of rights: You have NO rights in school. Your locker/desk (Depending on grade), can be searched at any time, without a warrant. The school can block anything on their computers that they wish.

    To the parents&students screaming “OMG VIOLATION OF PRIVACY U CANT MONITOR MY MYSPACE”. Um, you’re posting information on the public WORLD WIDE WEB. Anyone can view it, therefore, its just the same as if you stood up in a police station, screamed, I drank illegally with x, y and z, or I murdured her! Be careful what you post, employers will use it against you.

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  77. AvatarYoukidsaremorons!

    Seems to me half the kids posting in this thread are about as dumb as a pile of feces. If you don’t even know basic grammar then you shouldn’t be using Myspace at school. Learn how to read and write correctly, it will get you far in life. Myspace will not.

    I say ban it if kids are abusing their privelage to use SCHOOL COMPUTERS (public resources that I pay for) for chatting it up on Myspace when they can’t even type a coherent post.

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  78. AvatarDRAMT

    Grow up people. I am only 18 but you guys make me sick.

    Free speech? Wow, you must be in like third grade right? The school has a right to do this. THEY have the right to do it.

    At any rate, if you knew anything about computers other than mashing the keyboard to post your horribly mangled sentences, misspelled words and slang you could get around this kind of thing in about two minutes.

    You have to realize that the IT staff at schools usually aren’t the cream of the crop so stuff like this is pretty easy to get around. Until one of your fucktard friends (remember you are all fucktards) brags about it and someone finds out and then that too gets blocked.

    My advice is that no one should help you get around this kind of thing. If you aren’t smart enough to figure it out on your own then you shouldn’t be doing it.

    Kind of funny really, you make posts like “Were not dumb people we know how to protect ourselves!!”

    You are dumb enough not to know how to type and you are dumb enough to not know how to get around it. Yeah I would say you aren’t smart enough to protect yourself.

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  79. AvatarCliffy B.

    You’re all idiots for using myspace to start with, and hopeless idiots for crying about it being blocked. Myspace is the AOL of internet websites, and the biggest danger in this situation is it luring morons like yourselves into larger groups. Get a damn clue. Some of you might want to invest in a dictionary while you’re at it, I’ve never seen such absolutely pitiful grammar.

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  80. AvatarMonkey King

    The comments written on this page have successfully destroyed the last remnants of hope I had for the future of humanity.

    Look how stupid you people are. All I can do is laugh bitterly at this nonsense.

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  81. AvatarIntelligence is nice.

    I find it amusing that so many people defend myspace by using what they think are words such as ‘ur’ or ‘u’. Listen here kids, these are not words. Is it really that difficult to add a few extra letters to make a complete word? You’re all proving that the schools are correct in what they say. You all obviously need to actually pay attention in school to learn how to spell three and four letter words. I hope most of you eventually realize how stupid this whole situation is and grow up becuase this country is royally screwed if this is how everyone is going to live.

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  82. AvatarNohopeforeducation

    Some of these comments are painful to read. The errors in spelling and grammar use of abbreviations and ‘txtspk’ are exactly the reason why you should get your ass off myspace.

    Access to the internet at school is a privilege not a right! How can you be so up in arms over not being able to visit a frankly loathsome social website in school when you could just as easily wait a few hours ’til you get home.
    Did you ever consider that the school might be protecting ITSELF? Think about the cesspool that is Myspace, if anything bad were to happen to a student - the parents would sue the hell out of the school.

    Wow, there was even a comment on here (in block caps, naturally) that said ‘It’s not harmful, I was once on it for 12 hours straight!!!!!!’ Get a life kids! Theres a real world out there, you should’t need to continually check out a website to make new friends and see if they’ve left you a smiley face and a load of non punctuated gibberish.

    This isn’t even about protection or freedom of speech it’s about 40% of schools internet traffic now going to one site and students wasting countless hours in school time. What a waste, time that could be spent learning the difference between ’site’ and ’sight’.

    Maybe there should be a simple 5 word spelling test before the web browser will open! That’ll learn ‘em.. punks.

    So much for discipline, tell kids not to do something and.. well, just look at the search terms below. If I was in charge, told a kid not to do something and he went and ‘hacked’ it anyway, I’d kick their ass into next week.

    Now watch loads of kids try to argue the ‘freedom’ angle. Oh, and me get flamed to death with comments like ‘OMG UR SO GAY!!!’

    Grow up! Seriously.

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  83. Avatarpsychobadger

    You guys got EMOWNED!
    :D

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  84. AvatarThe Jester

    Agreed. Idiots, one and all.

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  85. Avatarlightguard

    Can I laugh with you?

    Seriously, all I can hope for is that these kids will someday turn into what passes for a real person. If I can do it with mild success, can I hope that the “Myspace Generation” (*gag*) will do it too? Or is that being too optimistic?

    Also, is that the REAL Cliffy B? If so, don’t mind me if I completely fanboy out.

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