Mastering the art of storytelling to drive change.

Unblock Securly - Portable

The oldest trick in the book. For years, students used Google Translate as a makeshift proxy. By pasting a URL into the translate box and clicking the translated link, the request came from Google’s servers, not the school’s. Securly patched this in 2021, but veterans still try it out of nostalgia.

Securly operates on a "block-first" philosophy. Instead of teaching students how to navigate distractions, schools build higher walls. When a student needs to research a controversial topic—say, the history of hacking, or the details of a political protest—Securly often throws up a red "Blocked: Violence" page. When a student wants to access a coding forum like Stack Overflow, the "Chat" category sometimes blocks it accidentally. unblock securly

The student who sits in the back row, furiously typing command lines into a Crosh shell (Chrome’s hidden Linux terminal), isn't just trying to be lazy. They are asserting a small amount of autonomy in a system that monitors their every keystroke. They are trying to prove that no matter how sophisticated the filter, the human desire to explore the open web—even the silly, distracting, cat-filled parts of it—cannot be permanently extinguished. The oldest trick in the book

Michael Golden created The Golden Mean as a place to share his passion for storytelling and to connect with purpose-driven partners who want to master the art of strategic communications.

The oldest trick in the book. For years, students used Google Translate as a makeshift proxy. By pasting a URL into the translate box and clicking the translated link, the request came from Google’s servers, not the school’s. Securly patched this in 2021, but veterans still try it out of nostalgia.

Securly operates on a "block-first" philosophy. Instead of teaching students how to navigate distractions, schools build higher walls. When a student needs to research a controversial topic—say, the history of hacking, or the details of a political protest—Securly often throws up a red "Blocked: Violence" page. When a student wants to access a coding forum like Stack Overflow, the "Chat" category sometimes blocks it accidentally.

The student who sits in the back row, furiously typing command lines into a Crosh shell (Chrome’s hidden Linux terminal), isn't just trying to be lazy. They are asserting a small amount of autonomy in a system that monitors their every keystroke. They are trying to prove that no matter how sophisticated the filter, the human desire to explore the open web—even the silly, distracting, cat-filled parts of it—cannot be permanently extinguished.