The lists of websites being blocked on Lipscomb’s Internet server are growing, and students are beginning to notice the change.
Some links that are shown on Facebook are going through to a blocked website domain. Even the occasional link to sites like BuzzFeed lead students to a blocked domain screen.
“I understand why they block some websites — for example when I’m trying to stream stuff — but I find it really frustrating when I go onto Facebook and try to look at links that friends post and it takes me to a blocked website,” junior Sandra Cronin said.
Junior Scott Coffey said that Lipscomb is blocking some of the news sites he checks.
“Some websites that I personally use that Lipscomb may block are some LGBT news sites and some streaming sites that can host copyrighted content,” Coffey said.
Director of information security and infrastructure Dave Wagner explained how Lipscomb chooses to filter the Internet.
Websites are broken down into 59 different categories. Lipscomb picks five out of the 59 as being the most important.
Each site is broken down further by the material that it hosts. Websites that feature anything related to alcohol, drugs, gambling, hate/discrimination and pornography are automatically blocked from the server.
Other categories are blocked under suspicion of containing advertising-supported software, malicious software and file sharing. Those sites are blocked in order to keep students’ computers and the Lipscomb server from being contaminated with viruses.
“I think that it’s good and it definitely keeps with Lipscomb’s policy on everything when it comes to keeping up a good Christian environment,” Coffey said. “However, I do think there are some things they go overboard on blocking.”
Lipscomb uses the program OpenDNS to filter the Internet. The Campus Life Office then makes the ultimate decision on what classifies a website to be blocked.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb University