>So, background given, I ask the big question: how do I get >around this? Have a similar arrangement here at the government lab I work at. Soon to be exacerbated by a government requirement to have 'approved' encryption software on all PCs before they are allowed to be taken off site ( see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3215887.ece http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3213521.ece http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3227172.ece http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/public_law/article646385.ece http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article2873186.ece http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3227938.ece fro some of the news items ...) >I have two ideas: first, get a cellular plan that includes >data access and hook my phone to the PC. Use that for websurfing. >I don't like this idea because it costs ME money and the web access >will be slower all the time, if more reliable all the time. Rather than doing that, get an ordinary modem and dial out on one of the office lines - though that may awkward if you have a digital exchange. That way it costs the company money, and gets across the idea that they lack of high speed hardware to do the filtering is costing them productivity. >Second idea: set up a VPN to my home network. I figure that will >be faster in the end than cellular, if harder to set up. The one >thing I DON'T know is whether it will bypass the filtering software. >I'd think so, because the filter probably just checks http traffic >on port 80, but I'm not sure. Are you sure that it doesn't block other ports anyway? A decent firewall may block all the other ports to stop attempts at penetration of the company site anyway. >Opinions? Other ideas? Empathy/sympathy for my situation? Yeah, I sympathise. Even with one of the biggest server farms in the UK ours still does what you describe. And along with that the email servers get hit with so much spam that it can sometimes take several minutes for an email to leave my outbox, as they get so busy. Now why the outgoing mail server isn't on a different machine to the incoming one is another matter .... -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist