Obviously, we here at Mission Mission only believe there is a slight chance the owners of Coffee Bar are aiding the Iranian government with their struggles to censor and oppress the populace. That said, if they are aiding them, they are not trying very hard to conceal it.
Update: Luigi, co-owner of Coffee Bar, gives us this update:
“I spoke with our network administrator earlier and he mentioned that he had caught some people a few months back using our wi-fi (from outside of the cafe) to download porn, which was also jamming up the network for our customers big time. I guess he overshot the security settings a tad and said he would scale back on the settings to allow a larger amount of browsing freedom.”
(Link – Photo and report by le):
“At Coffee Bar in San Francisco, where I often go to work and study, I am blocked from visiting my own website! This is new – it wasn’t this way last week, even. I am honored that someone feels that my site is too much for these laptop zombies in designer denim to take.”
Elly /does/ show her boobs sometimes.
It looks like they’re using OPENDNS’s free filtering, maybe someone was being a little less discrete one day and they were trying to keep the store a family show. You can check if others using similar filtering might see the same issue:
http://www.opendns.com/support/checker/
I’ve never had anything filtered there. How about just asking them before anyone gets all pissed off. It’s a nice place.
We did.
Sorry, I’m not really understanding the correlation between a website being blocked and Coffee Bar’s support of Iran?? Maybe I’m an idiot, but I really think you are taking this a little to seriously. I think an alternative to solving this issue would be speaking to Coffee Bar themselves and seeing whats up, not just assuming they are “aiding the Iranian government”.
it’s not really an issue with Coffee Bar – it actually seems pretty reasonable for them to block torrenting and porn on their network given that it’s a public space with close quarters and everyone has to share one connection.
it’s more of an issue with Open DNS having either a stupid system for figuring out what is actually “porn,” or buying lists of blocked sites from other places that have a stupid system of figuring out what is “porn.” if I wanted to get my site unblocked I could, but I sort of enjoy the intimation of scandal.
also, “Allan Hough”, eyes up here, buddy. don’t you know they have women doctors and lawyers and stuff now? we’ve come a long way baby
so if it’s “not an issue with Coffee Bar” but “it’s more of an issue with Open DNS having either a stupid system for figuring out what is actually “porn,” or buying lists of blocked sites from other places”
so, WHY are you taking it out on Coffee Bar? I don’t think you realize the image this gives the business,and the people work there. Seems pretty shitty a thing to do, especially when your a frequent flyer…
not so nice, or mature. you owe some apologies.
hello, i am not the one who made this post about how coffee bar is the axis of evil. i just posted my amusement at my site being blocked on flickr, and other people who run this blog made the post and linked to my photo. that is why i commented in the first place, because i wanted to make it clear that it’s not an issue with coffee bar. i like coffee bar. i am among the laptop zombies.
hey kevmo,
the next time you want to pad this meaningless blog by reposting my shit in the form of scandal when it wasn’t one, then surrounding it with incredibly poorly written jokes that challenge the already challenged IQ of your readership, why don’t you at least ask me how i feel about it first? i believe my email address is on my flickr profile page. and my website.
yours,
-elly jonez
I agree that this blog is meaningless, but please don’t call Kevin’s jokes poorly written. It’s hard out here for a pimp.
Also, our readership is the smartest, sexiest, tastiest readership in town. Recognize.
It makes sense to ask. and they did and we got what seems a reasonable answer. its nice when you just go to the source.
I love Coffee Bar. It’s one of my favorite work/sip spots in the Mission, but they do have some filtering problems.
One of the ‘anonymizers’ getting caught in their filter is Google Translate. It’s a total chafe when trying to research foreign language content, especially since not much else compares. I hope they figure it out soon.
I love coffee bar and it’s FREE INTERNET. So get a grip and enjoy what they’s provided for you. Gawd, why are SF’ers so entitled. They have to run a business too and Im sure its not cheap. I’ve noticed a sucky trend in immature 20 somethings who start missionmission, missionlocal, sffoodies all being biased without any actual factuals taking place. I guess its the wave of new reporting, kind of like right wing.