Censorware At The Marriott
09/06/2007
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A reader recently reported that a computer at the Marriott where he was staying couldn't access VDARE.com because of a censorware product called SiteCoach. Sitecoach, an optional plug-in for the Sitekiosk a program to prevent people from misusing public terminals, is owned by PROVISIO GmbH, Deutschland, which means, I assume, that they're Nazis. Or possibly that that they're so traumatized by their history of Nazism that they don't believe in freedom of speech.

Anyhow, here is their old version of their policy, via the Internet Archive:

The main goal of SiteCoach is to filter pornographic content and content glorifying violence, as well as right-wing and other so-called forbidden content that "hits below the belt."
Yes, that's right—they're blocking right-wing but not left-wing content. The company claims it's a slight language problem, and they're only blocking content that's illegal in Germany.

But it's worth noting that these filters can frequently be worked around, and I had some suggestions in my article Vdare.com Censored by Corporate Software.

Please don't get in trouble with your company's IT department, or if you're in the Army, (which also uses censorware) with your Company Commander, by violating the policies on your work computer.

However, if it's a computer at the Marriott, or some similar institution where you're paying for what turns out to be crippled computer access, you might consider the workarounds in this post from Lifehacker.com: Search Techniques Ten Ways to Access Banned Sites , and How to access blocked websites - Top 10.

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