Blue Coat web filter blocks CASAA site!

[Mordred]

Just a heads-up to let you know that the Blue Coat web filtering software (WAN Optimization & Secure Web Gateway | Blue Coat Systems, Inc.) blocks access to the CASAA website under the category "illegal/questionable" (or at least it did today, january 27th 2010). Though I couldn't find a description of their categories, they state that it is equivalent to the Websense (Websense.com - Web security, email security, data security) category of the same name, and the description there reads:

Illegal or Questionable - Sites that provide instruction in or promote nonviolent crime or unethical or dishonest behavior or the avoidance of prosecution.

I would suggest you dispute that categorization ASAP, since many, if not all, businesses, schools, municipalities and whatnot will block that particular category.

I don't know whether Websense has the CASAA site under the same category, but it may be worth checking with them too.

 

[kristin]

Wow, that really makes no sense. Do they block other ecig.snus sites, as well? Hopefully Webby's website team can look into that ASAP!

 

[Mordred]

Wow, that really makes no sense. Do they block other ecig.snus sites, as well? Hopefully Webby's website team can look into that ASAP!

As far as I've been able to tell, they don't (yet) block this forum or Snuson, nor any other snus sites I visit.

To be fair though, I once disputed their categorization of a reputable online radio as "suspect" and they did change it within a day, so they seem to respond to complaints rather efficiently.

 

[Webby]

Wow, that really makes no sense. Do they block other ecig.snus sites, as well? Hopefully Webby's website team can look into that ASAP!

I'm familiar with Blue Coat, they provide a filtration service similar to what APPRiver does for corporate email. Unfortunately for web content filtering services, they have to key in on syntax and word phrases. It happens all the time to nanny filters used by parents, schools, corporations and governments to monitor and "protect" their users from militia, drug, porn, etc. sites.

The CASAA site houses hundreds of documents, lab reports, news articles and jornal entries. My initial assumption would be that since we are a relatively new group, we aren't yet whitelisted like news sites and other non profit organizations and are showing up on their radar as "potentially harmful" due to thousands of references to words like "tobacco".

I've written to the webmaster and site contacts asking that we be whitelisted. Unless I hear differently, this is most likely a case or erring on side of caution by their software and hopefully they will add our domain and IP to the approved list soon.

Mordred - thanks for the heads up!

 

[Hotbrained]

*waves*

Hi there! I can shed a little light on this one:

Somebody has deliberately suggested that categorization to Bluecoat (proprietors of Web Filter, the main offering of content filter for ProxySG.) I'm trying to find the link for you to fix it and will update this post once I find it.

Smartfilter and Websense both have casaa.org listed as uncategorized.

As I'm currently a Websense customer, I'll take the appropriate steps to see casaa.org assigned a proper category.

Found it! http://sitereview.bluecoat.com Enter the site URL for the initial category lookup; this will lead you to the category suggestion option. I've already taken the liberty to suggest re-categorization to Society/Daily Living and Reference, using the following content description:

"CASAA, the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association, is a reference/research group aiming to assist smokers in making decisions about alternatives to tobacco by providing the best possible information available about these products. This is not a tobacco usage resource, nor does it promote the use of illegal or illicit drugs/products/services."

There used to be "Research" and "Advocacy" categories for Web Filter and I can't find what they've been rolled up into.


-HB

 

[Hotbrained]

*Bluecoat's response; note that this means that the master database will be updated. It doesn't mean that your local administrator will acquire and apply that database right away:

Thank you for submitting CASAA | The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association to Blue Coat Systems, Inc.

You suggested the following rating(s): Reference, and Society/Daily Living
Your comments were: "CASAA, the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association, is a reference/research group aiming to assist smokers in making decisions about alternatives to tobacco by providing the best possible information available about these products. This is not a tobacco usage resource, nor does it promote the use of illegal or illicit drugs/products/services."

This site has been reviewed. Previously, it was rated as Illegal/Questionable. These ratings have been changed. The site is now rated as Health.

It can take up to 24 hours for the changes to be reflected in our system.

ProxySG™ Rating Update Cycle
It is important to note that new ratings or additions to or deletions of an existing rating are part of a daily update cycle. Blue Coat Systems© builds the update files at 12:15 AM UTC. Rating updates are posted at 5:00 AM UTC and available after that time to update the ratings on ProxySG™ devices.
Submissions received up to 12:00 AM UTC are processed in that day’s batch. Any submission(s) received after 12:00 AM UTC; do not get processed until the following day.
Since Blue Coat’s desktop client K9™ and certain OEM partners update differently, ratings may differ from those of a ProxySG™ as well as those present on the site submission page.

If you continue to have problems, or if you have any other questions, feel free to reply to this message.

Thank you,

Blue Coat Web Filter
filtering@bluecoat.com

 

[Webby]

Thanks for jumping on that!

 

[Hotbrained]

Not a problem Webby, though this community managed to force me into using my powers of evil for good, at least this once.

Websense is taken care of as well:

Thank you for using Websense's new URL category lookup utility. The site you submitted has been reviewed and categorized accordingly: <http://www.casaa.org/> - <Advocacy Groups> Categorization updates should be available in the next scheduled publication of the database. A new database is published every business day, five days a week, Pacific Standard Time. You should notice any updates referred to in this message within 72 hours. Thank you.



Protected by Websense Hosted Email Security -- Websense.com - Web security, email security, data security

 

[tbl35]

We have Barracuda filter at work (public library) and it was blocking one of the e-cig shops, I want to say as a drug site but I don't quite remember.

Thankfully I'm an admin.

I'll check the CASAA site tomorrow if I think of it.