Websense Categorized Dvorak Uncensored Blog as SEX-Oriented. Site Banned Nationwide by Large Enterprises — Political Motivation Suspected

Published on September 12th, 2005

Screen shot of Websense data search!

Now you know why these sorts of organizations can become a problem. My numbers tumbled today and I’ve been getting email from people at the USDA and elewhere saying the site has been categorized as a sex site despite the incredible lack of sex on the site! Google Adsense would have banned me long before now. I think something is fishy.

I have calls into this public corporation to find out how this happens.

I would appreciate it it if my readers would get the word out about this. I can’t be the only one who gets bombed like this. You’d think we were in China. Oh, no wait. The Chinese still get this site OK. Or maybe not!

84 users responded in " Websense Categorized Dvorak Uncensored Blog as SEX-Oriented. Site Banned Nationwide by Large Enterprises — Political Motivation Suspected "

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# 1 Robert Cassel said, on September 12th, 2005 at 6:28 pm

I KNEW IT you dirty old man Now if we could just get you to do an eppisode of Twit Naked………..

# 2 Bruce Ferry said, on September 12th, 2005 at 6:36 pm

It took a bit of digging but I figured out how to tell Websense that their database was WRONG! We’ll see how long it takes a human to correct the problem.

# 3 Jeremy McNally said, on September 12th, 2005 at 6:38 pm

Maybe its because dvorak starts with a d and ends with a k, just like another word associated with sex sites….

# 4 Jeff Lundberg said, on September 12th, 2005 at 6:40 pm

Wow! This has got to be linked to the fact that you get no spam. It’s a conspiracy!

In the “information age”, those who control information have an awful lot of power. It’s scary, sometimes.

# 5 Dj.Short said, on September 12th, 2005 at 6:43 pm

Thank goodness my workplace has a terrible firewall

# 6 Angel H. Wong said, on September 12th, 2005 at 6:59 pm

*communist martial band plays in the background* What were you expecting? That they will allow anyone question much less opposse the will of the RIGHTEOUS right wing?

# 7 laineypie said, on September 12th, 2005 at 7:06 pm

That is absolutely crazy. How did they come up with sex? Or maybe the code word for “free thought forum” or something along those lines is sex. I can see the connection if that were the case.

# 8 Stu Mulne said, on September 12th, 2005 at 7:23 pm

It’s not a sex site?

Sheesh….

I want my money back….

(Regards,)

Stu.

# 9 meetsy said, on September 12th, 2005 at 7:23 pm

Ahhh, one of your many anti fans I’m certain.
Sex site? Geez, way to go.

# 10 Thomas McGrew said, on September 12th, 2005 at 7:25 pm

That’s bull. This site is awesome, I can’t believe someone would stoop to this. We can only hope this is an honest mistake. Not likely. BTW, Love you on TWiT John.

# 11 Luciano Cossi said, on September 12th, 2005 at 7:47 pm

Hello. I heard you on TWIT. I thought I’d drop by and check out your blog. Keep up the good twit!

# 12 Wysz said, on September 12th, 2005 at 7:55 pm

One blocked webmaster chose to block Websense. It won’t solve the problem, but it may make you feel better. The page about the story is here: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=websense and the message that Websense sees is here: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=websense_banned

I’m guessing that since your blog is called “Dvorak Uncensored,” it was categorized as “sex” by an inhuman computer at Websense based solely on the appearance of the word “uncensored.” Or perhaps your child-safe portal was out of line.

# 13 mike bouchard said, on September 12th, 2005 at 8:14 pm

Holy smokes. I thought there was something wrong with my network today at work when I couldn’t reach your site. I connected no problem when I got home, but later tonight I saw the message concerning Websense. I’ll try and figure out who to email at our office.

# 14 darkmane said, on September 12th, 2005 at 8:48 pm

Pervert!

# 15 Alexander T. Augustyniak said, on September 12th, 2005 at 9:23 pm

Could it be that the title contains the word “uncensored?” It seems to me that this would be the prime target of a keyword-based filter.

# 16 Alexander T. Augustyniak said, on September 12th, 2005 at 9:26 pm

It seems to me that the word “uncensored” in your title would be the cause. I would venture a guess that that word is included on many keyword-based filters.
Regards,
Alexander T. Augstyniak

# 17 Ben N. said, on September 12th, 2005 at 9:39 pm

Could it possibly be something as simple as you use of the word ‘uncensored’ in your title? Either way, that sucks, filtering sucks.

# 18 Waynej said, on September 12th, 2005 at 9:41 pm

right wing conspiracy?

# 19 D said, on September 12th, 2005 at 9:52 pm

WebSense doesn’t always block sites by “URL”. It has IP addresses in it’s database. So if a website is on a server that does virtual hosting, “legit” sites can be blocked accidentally. Yes it isn’t fool proof, but once reported to WebSense, they fix the database on the next update. Not trying to defend their practice, just explain how their database currently works.

# 20 OscarFL said, on September 12th, 2005 at 9:54 pm

I think this is a F**ing Outrage! Sure it could be motivated by a “group-uscule” of bastards inside a big office somewhere…You should definitely make a lot of noise on this… It’s just wrong to submarine a respected journalist like that… just wong. I’m with you Mr. Dvorak.

# 21 chris said, on September 12th, 2005 at 9:56 pm

Just saw this and wanted to just say that when a company scans and categorizes over a billion urls, a few are bound to be wrong. I aman avid follower of TWIT and diggnation and truly respect your opinions but being in this industry, these products definitely help corporations more than they hinder. Take http:www.goggle.com – it is a huge spyware site. Even better, there are tons of sites out there that have keyloggers on them – if you simply play a flash game, you get a keylogger, then everything you type or visit is now theirs……….bank login, work username and password, the code you just programmed that new game with, everything. Not only that, but then it can be set to automatically uninstall. Anyway, I know where you are coming from. I will make sure this is fixed first thing in the morning.

# 22 Beagen said, on September 12th, 2005 at 10:05 pm

These tools really go out of hand.

It’s probably one of those things where they take the word “Uncensored” and add it as part of “Sex”

Because you know, sex is the devil, and any mention of it is pornography!

# 23 GregAllen said, on September 12th, 2005 at 10:20 pm

Oh man, this probably means that I’ll be banned soon, too. My whole (Middle Eastern) country is behind a “net nanny” fire wall. Gotta protect the public!

My plain old hometown newsaper was for the longest time blocked. Nobody seems to know why. I emailed the paper and they thought maybe the fashion section. I suspect the personal ads.

There is a mechanism for requesting that sites be reviewed by a human and indivually unblocked. But they make the process clunky and then they never tell you how they ruled (or if they even got your request.)

This kind of blocking isn’t just a problem with “edgy” sites… it is a problem for sites that archive the internet, for instance. Since some of the old web sites are sexual, we get blocked from _all_ the sites. So even sites that we USED to be allowed to see, we now can no longer can see.

Another example, is that the country blocks web page translation services because these can bypass the black list. They haven’t yet blocked Google cached pages but probably they will.

# 24 a13x said, on September 12th, 2005 at 10:30 pm

Where is all the pr0n? gosh talk about false advertising.

# 25 Gage said, on September 12th, 2005 at 10:35 pm

I was happy to send Websense Enterprise the following statement,

So you ban Dvorak.com? Was there any investigation into this decision before you banned this site? There isn’t any sex in this site you bozos. You are part of the politically correct retarded in this country. Not only have you pissed off people but people with brains. Maybe you can appease the people who think that the fascist Bush is a hero but not those of us with their eyes open. I purpose a toast to your stupidity. Cheers!

# 26 skyhighrockets@comcast.net said, on September 12th, 2005 at 10:37 pm

If i had a guess, they sent a bot on your site, it found the word “Uncensored” in your title, and auto-catagorized you into that catagory.
I hope this gets fixed.

# 27 Lonnie said, on September 12th, 2005 at 10:47 pm

Hey I thought there was porn her! I like my porn dirtier than this!

# 28 site admin said, on September 12th, 2005 at 10:50 pm

“Uncensored” has been in the title for over a year..and it’s not in the URL.

# 29 ZX said, on September 12th, 2005 at 10:54 pm

sex has never been in my mind when i have thought about John C (thankfully) but maybe dvorak means something else in other countries?

# 30 Adam said, on September 12th, 2005 at 11:00 pm

I’ll have to try it from work tomorrow… Corporate has us behind Websense (which has made it fun to do news, sometimes, since sites that we are either reporting on or need for the news have been blocked)

-A

# 31 Charles Oliver said, on September 12th, 2005 at 11:12 pm

Don’t let them ban this site or you’ll have nothing to plug on TWiT (by the way: dvorak.org/blog ) !!

Maybe John’s been doing something he’s not telling us about…

The plot thickens…

# 32 Michael Boman said, on September 12th, 2005 at 11:32 pm

Good luck with your research on this matter, I’ll try to do what I can to help you out. Will we hear about this on the next TWiT? Would love to get a status update.

# 33 Richard Brill said, on September 12th, 2005 at 11:48 pm

And Pc Magazinge gave them an award….

# 34 Tim said, on September 13th, 2005 at 12:48 am

Sue! Sue! Sue! Or sick the TWiT army on them…

P.S.- John, your site does not render the comments part of the page properly in Safari on the mac. The bottom half of the comment box and the “Say it!” button are below the bottom of the screen. FYI.

# 35 Lungsi said, on September 13th, 2005 at 3:55 am

TWIT team (post TechTv team) will always come back whoever tries to play tricks or pull a quick one…..

Let’s just educate these n0000bheads

# 36 R Taylor said, on September 13th, 2005 at 4:01 am

You had a nice little site, but no, you wanted the numbers. You bought those crazy Limbaugh loving people over here, and now it’s war, and those people are so much better at it. By the way Tim, install Firefox. Dvorak has one of his grumpy things going about Safari and the site.

# 37 David Ferguson said, on September 13th, 2005 at 4:25 am

It would seem that they have re-assigned the designation of your website. to something less “porn-ish”

# 38 MV said, on September 13th, 2005 at 4:26 am

So, when can we expect those SEX posts to start? You might as well start now, as you have been already accused of it.

# 39 Matty Blayze said, on September 13th, 2005 at 5:03 am

I wonder if they will be going after DoubleWrapped.Com next?

# 40 brad said, on September 13th, 2005 at 5:31 am

i use to really like you until i found out you were just another ‘Bush Hater’ … you honestly thing the president of the USA even knows who you are or cares about this little website?

give me a break .. i dont mind honest criticism .. but it is this kinda BS that drives me crazy

# 41 A Clarke said, on September 13th, 2005 at 5:32 am

Here is the URL to leave them a nastygram…

http://www.websense.com/global/en/AboutWebsense/ContactUs/ContactUs.php

Here is what I left them…

Why in the world would I use a filtering service that ranks http://www.dvorak.org as a sex site? Looks to me like you are selling water and calling it wine.

# 42 Michael Lewis said, on September 13th, 2005 at 5:34 am

“There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”

# 43 Alex Norris said, on September 13th, 2005 at 5:40 am

A site I work for, http://www.nisbetdesign.com was categorized as containing nudity by the filters in use here at my school. (We use N2H2) I sent them several emails asking where they found nudity because if it was on my server, hey, I’d like to see it!

There was none, and eventually the site was removed from their blacklist. I’d just like to know what kind of an idiot put it there in the first place.

# 44 Ian said, on September 13th, 2005 at 6:07 am

maddox has been getting this treament for awhile… but his blog is a little different then yours.

# 45 Rob said, on September 13th, 2005 at 6:12 am

Didn’t you have a blog entry with the word “Transvestite” in it recently (regarding the showers in the New Orleans refugee site)? I suspect that “Uncensored” + “Transvestite” caused the site to score higher on whatever filter they’re using and pushed it over the top to “block site”. Good luck on getting the site re-cleared.

# 46 Rob said, on September 13th, 2005 at 6:14 am

Hm, looks like the word was “Transgendered”, not “Transvestite”. Still pretty lame if that’s what did it.

# 47 Alex said, on September 13th, 2005 at 6:25 am

Dvorak Uncensored Censored! Now THAT’s a headline!

# 48 Dominik Lukes said, on September 13th, 2005 at 6:51 am

Just a nerdy comment on the meaning of Dvorak in other languages. It comes from Czech and, aside from being a common Czech name including that famous 19th century composer, it implies someone ‘courteous’ or ‘polite’ – so no danger of being confused with pornography.

# 49 Ed Campbell said, on September 13th, 2005 at 7:01 am

I thought someone would have mentioned this, by now. Not only is “uncensored” in the content; but “org” is in the url. Some dork who designed the bot probably included a stipulation for “orgasm” — and we have the obvious result.

# 50 michaeljosh said, on September 13th, 2005 at 7:14 am

I’m thinking that they somehow classified it this way because the site is called Dvorak Unsensored. The bot must have probably thought Dvorak was some porn star and the site contained uncensored video of him or her.

# 51 Chris Eaton said, on September 13th, 2005 at 7:47 am

I guess we figured it out. You need to change your blog title from “Dvorak Unsensored” to “Dvorak Gone Wild”

# 52 James Hill said, on September 13th, 2005 at 8:18 am

The left wing comments on this blog would have to be relevant and tactile to get the right wing worked up enough to do this.

# 53 gadlaw said, on September 13th, 2005 at 9:32 am

A very interesting and disturbing thing. How would you go about knowing if your site was on any of these lists in the first place? Does anyone keep a list of nonporn sites that are blocked or how effective such blocking software and companies are in their efforts?

# 54 AlanHelbing said, on September 13th, 2005 at 9:34 am

I’ll bet the bots saw “uncensored” in you Title and flagged you.

# 55 Chris Dickerson said, on September 13th, 2005 at 9:37 am

It’s a right-wing conspiracy to keep John down! First Bush causes Katrina now he’s shutting down Dvorak.org!

# 56 Richard said, on September 13th, 2005 at 9:48 am

I blame global warming, and the fact you get no spam.

# 57 Rick Pali said, on September 13th, 2005 at 9:49 am

The Websense lookup tool now reports this:

URL: http://dvorak.org
Category: This site is not categorized by Websense
Database version: 92362
Database date: 12 Sep 2005

It seems the outcry has been sufficient. Are people who were blocked able to get through now?

# 58 0x1d3 said, on September 13th, 2005 at 10:11 am

Yeah Probably because of the Uncensored part. I hope it doesnt mean it is blocked at school. Defiently put a call in and metion something in the next TWiT.

# 59 ak8b said, on September 13th, 2005 at 10:30 am

I just received a nice response from Websense saying they are going to fix this in the next database release. It turns out that another site on the same IP (virtual hosting) DOES qualify for the rating. Nice quick response from them! The email I received from them is at http://www.ak8b.us/websense_response.txt

# 60 Sounds the Alarm said, on September 13th, 2005 at 12:12 pm

I blame Jesus.

# 61 A Clarke said, on September 13th, 2005 at 12:48 pm

Followup…

Apparently my nastygram did the trick. Here is what they sent me…

Hello,

Thank you for writing to Websense.

The site you submitted has been reviewed. We have made the necessary
changes in our database and the site is correctly classified under the
category News & Media in today’s publication of the database.

Thank you for your assistance.

The Websense Database Services Staff
TL

# 62 Krozgrov said, on September 13th, 2005 at 1:24 pm

It appears that Websense finally got some sence and unblocked this site. I work for a corporation that uses that POS internet filtering software. Looks like they pulled there head from there arses. LOVE THE BLOG!!! Maybe G4 will bring back Silcon Spin.

# 63 John Gilmore said, on September 13th, 2005 at 1:29 pm

How many readers will throw out their third-party censorship software after reading this thread? And how many will just complain about the right-wing conspiracy? YOU, reader, have the power to remove the baleful influence of censorship from your own Internet experience. We stopped the censorship laws but you are free to censor yourself — now what choice do you make? Complain, or act?

# 64 site admin said, on September 13th, 2005 at 2:27 pm

Thanks all, for your support. And Gilmore is right. This stuff has to go.

# 65 Pat said, on September 13th, 2005 at 5:00 pm

Since I first became aware of the pornographic depths your site has acquainted itself with, I have prayed for you. And for your site. I see that the Lord has granted my prayers. You have seen the light and will leave that dirty sex alone. This is all part of the Lord’s Intelligent Design to wean sites like this from the evils of SMUT.

Amen

Gosh, see how many comments this got? The power of prayer.

# 66 Smith said, on September 13th, 2005 at 6:16 pm

What a relief! I tried to visit this site while at work today and found it was blocked. I thought for sure the company’s internet cops had me in their sights.

# 67 AB CD said, on September 13th, 2005 at 6:41 pm

I don’t think its just the word uncensored. If the comments are included, there’s probably enough keywords hit for their filters.

# 68 Canada Drew said, on September 13th, 2005 at 8:02 pm

Must have something to do with the new methodology those a$$clowns are using at WebSense”less”. They call it “intelligent design” (yet another fcuking buzzword!)

# 69 MV said, on September 14th, 2005 at 2:28 am

Whenever this happens I use the DrunkMenWorkHere.org website’s mirror project.
http://www.drunkmenworkhere.org/146

# 70 Glue-Sniffer said, on September 14th, 2005 at 2:48 am

Over use of the words “Dick” & “Bush” in reference to Dick Cheney & George W. Bush? Politics are so perverse.

# 71 Mandolin said, on September 22nd, 2005 at 4:17 am

This is why most censorware products aren’t worth the money – my alma mater had Net Nanny installed on the lab computers my freshman year. However, that prevented people from, say, writing a paper about gender because that word would cause Net Nanny to freak and shut everything down. Needless to say, three weeks into the semester, Net Nanny was long gone.

So this really doesn’t surprise me much… good to see it’s been unblocked, though.

# 72 Garold said, on January 12th, 2006 at 7:05 am

It seems your site is unblocked by the version of websense I am on now, however I think it is older. Those links someone posted on websense being censored by others, they are blocked by websense as “TASTELESS” which is the most absurd and vague thing to say.

I am also a technician and all my computer related studies/work have problems with websense. Everything I try to use is blocked as 1)tasteless 2)hacking 3)gaming 4)proxy avoidance. It makes me sick the byas these people have against IT professionals and the internet in general.

# 73 karkat said, on March 23rd, 2006 at 4:52 am

Websense is horrible I can’t get on myspace or even just play games like jezzball (tear) Someone needs to banish this stupid thing. It’s a horrible monster attacking schools. I can’t even go on some websites for projects. Can someone tell me how to get on myspace with websense

# 74 Mike said, on March 25th, 2006 at 2:41 pm

That doesn’t surprise me – it’s Websense we’re talking about. Its filtering mechanism is horribly inefficient.

What does surprise me is why so many employers use their sub-par service, when there are better ones out there.

# 75 sirjoebob said, on April 8th, 2006 at 8:17 pm

hello…. first of all…. i am not familar with your site…. i actually found it while (ironically enough) determining a manner to backdoor websense and get people into sites that the great WEBSENSE deems inappropriate…… but anyway, websense was probably a part of hitler’s plan, taken by modern facists (known commonly as the Congress and white house) and employed to “protect America’s youth from the ravages of the roeal world….” cathcy slogan…. surprised they don’t use it….. basically it is just a way to fake protection so that schools can require children who can barely spell to use the internet and claim that they are SAFE! HA! i think not….. just a tip for the admins of websense: it is easier to access porn on their service (literally sites like trueporn and stuff like that) than stuff about games…. come on now, lets prioritize…. websense is just another bull crap utility that allows teachers and parents to do nothing and feel great about doing it…… WEBSENSE=GAY

# 76 adonis said, on August 20th, 2006 at 11:01 am

wow. Websense really sucks!. I’d featured your site at http://forum.tupah.com

# 77 DAWAYNE said, on September 14th, 2006 at 11:39 am

This is a fucking outrage I can’t even check my FUCKING emails shit this crap.

# 78 tyler said, on October 25th, 2006 at 6:41 am

sss

# 79 christian said, on November 3rd, 2006 at 9:39 am

its fun tryin to get past websense so i havent got past most of it yet…

# 80 Thomas said, on December 6th, 2006 at 1:56 pm

Well they arent exactly the smartest group out there i think but we can all agree on one thing. They do a good job most of the time.

Yes I am joking

# 81 canary said, on February 27th, 2007 at 8:43 am

websence is gay!!

# 82 xiaoxinwow said, on March 12th, 2007 at 5:22 pm

# 83 Kobra said, on May 20th, 2007 at 11:20 am

I encourage webmasters everywhere to block them before they block you.

209.132.99.0 – 209.132.99.255
63.212.171.0 – 63.212.171.255
209.132.98.0 – 209.132.98.255

# 84 JamesDvorak said, on September 13th, 2008 at 10:07 pm

Hello John,

Looks like someone fat-fingered the word “Twit” when catagorizing your web site.

WebSenseless is more like it.

James

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