Alan B. Pearce wrote:
>> 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 .... 
>
>   
My client uses VPN, but it seems to go down a lot... I don't know what 
the cause is.

--Bob
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