Monday, April 16, 2012

A lesson from Frog and Toad on the futility of Internet filters!


For those that are unsure as to the meaning of the story, here goes. Without willpower filters are worthless! Willpower comes from within! Willpower is self discipline, training and control of oneself and one's conduct. Self-discipline comes with education and practice, not filters! Here is a nice link on Willpower. http://www.k12.hi.us/~mkunimit/self-discipline.htm

23 comments:

  1. It was so refreshing to read your article. It was right on target and it echoed my sentiments. I only wish that those who have the power to affect changes within our community would feel the same way.
    Kol Hakovod for having the courage to speak your mind. You are the spokesperson for many of us who feel exactly the same way. The mashal of Frog and Toad was an excellent illustration.

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  2. This story actually proves that the Rabbonim are right.

    Frog was NOT able to muster the willpower to not eat the cookies. All he was able to do with his willpower was to BAN the cookies (ie give them to the birds).

    Toad couldn't even do that. A good mashal would have been to show how frog overcomes his desires to not eat the cookies even when they are in front of him. You showed the complete opposite! That the only way to overcome the tayva is to ban!!!

    And you expect curious boys and girls to have the willpower not to be lured to the tayvos of the internet????

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    1. No you missed the whole point. here goes. Without willpower filters are worthless! Willpower comes from within! Willpower is self discipline, training and control of oneself and one's conduct. Self-discipline comes with education and practice, not filters! Here is a nice link on Willpower. http://www.k12.hi.us/~mkunimit/self-discipline.htm

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    2. Also how do you explain them removing the ban now and placing filters instead? I quote you
      "And you expect curious boys and girls to have the willpower not to be lured to the tayvos of the internet????"
      Like I explained in my previous blog filters are worthless if you want to get through. Think about it.

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    3. Why are filters worthless? Can you prove that you were able to bypass a current 2012 filter? (like others pointed out, that you did it 19 years ago is pointless)

      Again with this non existant "ban". What ban are you refering to thats being replaced?

      There's nothing to "think" about. Can 2012 filters be bypassed or not.

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    4. Yes, invite me to the Asifa and ill break through every filter live!
      And besides i explained every new device has wifi. even my 10 year olds kindle has wifi! try installing a filter on a kindle!

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    5. ANSWER THE QUESTION PLEASE.

      HAVE YOU broken a 2012 filter. Not can you, but have you.

      And how exactly are you confident that you're 10 year old isn't downloading dirty books

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    6. Yes, just last week I bypassed the strongest K9 setting.
      I try my best to bring him up the way Rav Hirsch writes and then I daven to Hashem.

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    7. "I try my best to bring him up the way Rav Hirsch writes and then I daven to Hashem."

      It seems to me "Anonymous" can't fathom this being acceptable at all. The Yeshivish/Chassidish derech seems to be to force everyone to abide by the ghetto existence. Those who fall away because of it, "well, we tried". If a large part of the generation falls away, "well, we tried". At least we were moche and Hashem won't blame us. It's those evil kids' fault at that point and we're off the hook.

      To this last approach I ask: Maybe, just maybe, you could have saved many more if you would have opened your eyes to the reality of the new world all around you and tried to think a little harder of creative ways to engage your children on a level that they are on? Perhaps being moche and givne endless speeches iis the cause of the problem and not the ticket to being patur from onesh?

      And maybe we need to be having assifos about having happy marriages and happy children and happy schools, and happy shuls, and happy mitzvah performance???? - Wow that would be so nice! I'd actually pay to fly in for such an asifa!

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    8. "even my 10 year olds kindle has wifi! try installing a filter on a kindle!"

      Kindles will be discussed at the next assifa! :-)

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  3. I'm not sure I agree with your willpower point. For Toad, and anyone with the slightest addiction, willpower is part of the problem. Accepting that you're powerless and that you're willing to let G-d grant you freedom with submission to His will is the solution. Until toad surrenders his "willpower" to the Higher Power he will continue to bake cookies and he'll consistently forget that his friend Frog will end up feeding them to the birds.

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  4. Regarding technology solutions that don't rely on filters, someone might find my own approach (a hardware proxy server) a bit more robust if it is implemented properly. It certainly isn't perfect, but I haven't yet found anyone who can hack it.
    You can read the "how-to"
    manual here:

    http://www.marbitz.com/whitelist.html

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  5. And I will add that, while I am 99% in agreement with R' Teitelbaum, open wifi isn't quite as universal as was once predicted - especially in residential neighborhoods where the message to password protect private wife routers has had a serious impact

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    1. I know plenty of teenagers who know just where to bring a car with a laptop and use someone's wifi. Outside a coffee shop is a popular place. Let's not be ignorant of the current reality.

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    2. That's certainly true. But I don't think we gain all that much by overstating the problem either. There are at least half a dozen wifi routers in range of my house, but none of them is easily accessible...and that's equally true of more than a few other neighborhoods I've tested.

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    3. dbclinton, did you try username=admin , Password=Password.
      Im exaggerating, but I hope you get the point.

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    4. Perhaps the people in my neighborhood are just better educated in these matters than those in Flatbush. :)
      Nevertheless, I agree with you that there is no foolproof method of blocking the Internet (even if the Chinese seem to be getting closer). I don't believe that my proxy server system can be easily cracked - it's certainly a great deal stronger than any filter. And I am optimistic that my own kids have used the whitelist access I've given them to develop a healthy sense of the Internet's value.
      Ask me again in ten years.

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    5. You have done what every parent should do and I would do the same, and im sure your kids are doing great. But to explain a little more, and i think you will understand, sometimes to unlock a door you need to think outside the box, its not always about breaking the combo, its about avoiding the combo. Thats also my the whole guard your eye thing is ridicules, because it will only trigger on pre-identified websites that in has in its system.... I cant go on anymore.

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  6. So for all we know, your kid might be reading absolute shmutz, but "hopefully" he isn't based on a letter written some 150 years ago. I sure am glad your kid isn't in my sons class

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    1. And guess what, in your son's class there are probably some talmidim who are metzuyanim in gemara who might be on the verge of becoming mechalelei shabbos. And not because of the internet, but because we are spending so much time talking about the internet that we aren't addressing what's really aching him inside.

      RSRH addressed the core issues. It seems that this huge gathering will not. It might just be the straw on your son's classmates back that pushes him over the edge.

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  7. Really interesting!
    Something new to learn here.

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  8. This filter adventure is like Mad Magazine's Spy vs. Spy cartoon series. Every measure invites a countermeasure and on and on... Conceivably, some filtering measure could be reasonably effective for a time until the code is cracked. No doubt the filter-code-crackers (really a subset of hackers) will communicate with one another to expedite the cracking process, and word of success will get out quickly.

    Also, how effective is it to harp day and night on what our youth should avoid? Doesn't this increase their desire to experience that very thing? They need positive inspiration and positive support above all.

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  9. Willpower also comes from core ideology and conviction. If theoretically, someone who was raised frum, were to lose interest or see the futility in keeping to an ideology the DON'T hold dear, and simply practice for the benefits small community were to present... than its not a lack of willpower it is a lack of conviction.

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