Exclusive: Croydon libraries' internet filth filters ban council's own website
Exclusive by Anna Edwards
anna.edwards@essnmedia.co.uk
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RESTRICTED ACCESS: Library users have been banned from visiting news websites Photo No: CCRPM020908A04 by Paul Martyniuk (picture posed in Advertiser offices)
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MISTAKEN: Laurence Nice insisted he had been looking for sites selling Mini cars, not child porn
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PORN: Our splash exposing the libraries' poor filters in January
They were meant to bring Croydon's libraries bang into the 21st century, with high-speed internet access and the latest software.
The 267 new replacement computers were also meant to solve a seedier problem - that of some people using its old PCs to access internet child porn.
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So when the computers finally arrived, expectations were high - but there was one snag. To begin with users couldn't even access a range of innocuous websites - including the council's own - because of its highly sensitive internet filter, which is being rolled out at the same time.
Phil Brannon, who regularly uses the internet at the libraries, says the farce has been going on for about three weeks.
He said: "It's so irritating, it seems really random of the sites you can and can't visit.
"I know that some people haven't even been able to get onto the council's website.
"It's a bit of a rigmarole - international newspapers and radio stations are all banned.
"Why have they spent all this money and you can't use them properly?"
Mr Brannon, 66, from Woodside Green, South Norwood, says all the borough's libraries have suffered from the new sensitive software.
He said: "Normally the library is full of people using the computers, but the other morning I went in and it was very quiet.
"I think librarians are getting the brunt of others' anger, people only want to go on harmless sites, but nobody can."
Retired Mr Brannon said no one could tell him if, and when, the new PCs would be fixed.
He said: "It's been going on for weeks now, and I can't see it being fixed overnight."
But a library source said the problem was being looked into: "We're always on the receiving end of angry visitors, people don't seem to realise that with brand new computers there are going to be teething problems.
"It's not like we're sitting on our bums, we are trying to put it right - we've only had them a few weeks.
"We have to have a strong firewall, people might be looking at illegal sites or trying to hack into things."
In January, the Advertiser revealed that unemployed Laurence Nice, 53, had been banned from every Croydon library after looking at indecent pictures of children on the internet.
But Mr Nice blamed the council's filters, saying they should have blocked the porn when he innocently searched for cars using the phrase "mini models".
This week, the Advertiser visited the Central Library in Katharine Street to see which websites were now banned.
Among them were national newspapers, including The Times, News of the World, The Sun and the Mirror, which were all categorised as either entertainment - or in the tabloids' cases, pornography.
Fortunately, the filter isn't preventing access to the Croydon Advertiser's website, www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk.
A council spokeswoman said: "We are working intensively with our internet provider, the London Grid for London to diagnose and fix it.
"In the meantime we are manually unblocking sites as and when they are brought to our attention and would like to apologise to our users for this problem and assure them that we are doing our best to fix it as quickly as possible."
She added it was just coincidence the filter had been put in place at the same time the new computers were being delivered.
Comments
by A real IT Tech, South
Monday, September 08 2008, 11:12AM
“Sara, public workstations are EASY to set up; All you need is a strict GPO (Group Policy Object) in force, combined with MAC address filtering, IP/Domain filtering and maybe IPSec configured for good measure. But I'm not surprised this is out of Croydon Council's reach - Their IT staff are thick as s***e. Time to start employing the right people I think, and NOT fakers with "paper" certifications and no real world experience.”
by Croyboy, Croydon
Saturday, September 06 2008, 7:40AM
“Sara (ex Croydon) wrote: "The public are very quick to criticize when things go wrong but the service is FREE!"
Excuse me: free? ...Have you seen my council-tax bill? But I suppose you're right in a way: most of the people who use library computers are living off the taxpayer.
BTW, I'm using my OWN computer to send this.”
by Sara, ex-Croydon
Friday, September 05 2008, 10:40PM
“It's all very well but library users have no idea how difficult it is to get public PCs working. I work in a library (miles away from Croydon) which provides free internet access. The public are very quick to criticize when things go wrong but the service is FREE! We don't tell people what they can and can't look at (within reason & decency of course). In my authority our PCs run in what's called a "kiosk" mode with security software to stop silly people doing things they shouldn't to the computers. A large authority like Croydon is bound to have teething problems with a refresh program of this size. If its so inconvenient not being able to get the library's homepage then get your own computer!”
by Croyboy, Croydon
Friday, September 05 2008, 7:00PM
“This is an ideal example of where Rule by Tax-funded Control-freaks leads. Why are the filters so sensitive? ...To prevent " access (to) internet child porn". (I'll refrain from speculating why so many people seem to have an almost prurient preoccupation with this subject!) China's the same: restrictions on the Internet? Why, that's only to stop pornography, of course! In fact, porn etc., is a very convenient fig-leaf for a much more sinister agenda.
What about bomb-making sites? Those about terrorism techniques? Islamic extremism? Religious extremism in general? Nationalism? People who don't like the government? Those who write impolite things about our G.Broon? ...Who complain about the law?
Naa...this is all about "child porn". Yeah, right! ...That's where it STARTS, anyway!
Tell them all to "MYOBB" = Mind Your Own Bloody Business.”
by Mo, here & there
Friday, September 05 2008, 5:01PM
“U nutters!!”
by Realist, Croydon
Friday, September 05 2008, 3:51PM
“'Ere, Arfur, 'ow's Terry doin' these days? We ain't seen 'im in ages. Gordon bennet - 'as 'er-indoors got summing to do wiv it?
Dave
The Winchester Club.”
by Adrian Short, Sutton
Friday, September 05 2008, 1:51PM
“The ISP is the London Grid for Learning, not the London Grid for London.
http://cms.lgfl.net/web/lgfl/homepage”
by Arfur Daley, Croydon
Friday, September 05 2008, 12:47PM
“I often have a hard time believing what I read in the CA. On the first 2 pages of 'latestnews' we have:-
- Hammer wielding maniac (but keep it to yourself, we don't want to worry people)
- Knife attack
- Somebody shot in the head but his skull got in the way
- Armed bank robbery
- 28 cannabis plants being grown in suburban garden
- Violence ridden nightclub shut down
- "It's official - Croydon is one of country's most miserable towns"
- Croydon's best efforts are failing to stem knife crime epidemic, meeting hears
- Dad who tried to take on Samurai sword youth ends up in court
And now it turns out Croydon Council's own website is banned but the web filtering software in the library. Which is probably a good thing.”
by D, Croydon
Friday, September 05 2008, 11:05AM
“These filters are used widely in businesses and often don't make sense. In the case of my company the Sun newspaper website is also blocked because it is classed as pornography.
Once again the actions of the few adversely affect the masses.”