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I work indirectly for a Japanese government as an English assistant. They block all known internet email, file stores like dropbox, and have recently stopped the use of USB flash drives.

I used to use microSD but several schools don't have the readers. I am currently transferring files using fileconvey but saving a picture of the entry code is a pain.

These are just my own Word files- not control over download. Is there somewhere where I just upload and download from a public website? They don't really care about internet security as they have outdated Internet Explorers and no discernable security software.

schroeder
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user2617804
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    You can always spin your own server (plus a trivial web framework) and perform HTTP/HTTPS uploads there. That is why blacklist blocks are silly. – grochmal Oct 01 '16 at 00:19
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    Have you've asked them how file transfer should be done? If they have a policy to block all this they might have also a policy on how file transfer should be done properly. – Steffen Ullrich Oct 01 '16 at 05:18
  • The "proper" teachers have an email system but mainly the bureaucrats don't give a damn- a lot is done on paper. Almost only one computer for all teachers- a few laptops and perhaps another for student test results. This is for my reuse of information and I don't care if it totally publically accessible. – user2617804 Oct 01 '16 at 07:01
  • Launch your own wordpress blog (free) and upload files as attachments. – schroeder Oct 01 '16 at 07:25
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    Whether or not the files are yours, is the content yours? – schroeder Oct 01 '16 at 07:27
  • All content is either mine or the dispatch company that I work or downloaded- none is the produced by the schools or education bureaucracy. – user2617804 Oct 01 '16 at 07:49

3 Answers3

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I'm afraid this is not the expected answer, but mine will simply be don't.

You are asking for a workaround to circumvent a security policy! If you were an employee, that would be enough for serious sanctions including the risk of being fired.

The correct way to deal with problems like that is to kindly express your needs to your manager or your contact in the organization, explaining that you cannot work because of the security policy and asking what is the recommended way. If the answer is what you want to do is exactly what this policy wants to forbid you will have to analyze one level up with your manager or contact to see how you could change your way of work to comply with the security policy.

There is always a balance between useability and security, and each organization puts the cursor somewhere because of its own security requirement and accepted risk. And if you work (even indirectly) for an organization, you have to fully respect its security policy.

Serge Ballesta
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  • You are most welcome to stop doing anything because of the undefined security policy of a Japanese government organisation. They just banned USB Flash drives in one day. Not circumventing- downloading and uploading is permitted. – user2617804 Oct 01 '16 at 11:55
  • +1 on @serge's answer. like seriously. – mireille raad Aug 07 '19 at 23:47
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As some others have commented, the best way is likely to be for you to create your own content server. It really isn't hard and I expect you will find a number of organisations that will provide one very cheaply - maybe as low as a few USD per year.

Look for one that offers easy setup of a content management service (CMS) such as WordPress or Joomla or even better for your needs, OwnCloud.

Then you can upload your files there and download them wherever you need them. Indeed, why not make it even easier and ditch the "files" altogether and use web pages instead if you can.

One thing to watch out for is smart filtering devices that your employer might use, these may be smart enough to learn that your site is untrusted and block it from up/downloading files anyway. That's another reason to switch from files to web pages since those are far less likely to get blocked.

It should not need to be said that you need to take care with the information you handle this way and only ever use personally created content that your employer or anyone else cannot lay claim to. Check your terms of employment for any clauses that might mean anything you create in the job doesn't belong to you.

Having said that, if they are really not that bothered, you are unlikely to have an issue as long as you can demonstrate the value and ensure that the content is legally and morally shareable.

Owndrive is based in Norway and has a free tier for OwnCloud so you could try it out and nothing lost if it doesn't work. There is a longer list of providers including a decent list of free ones on the OwnCloud website.

Bluehost are supposedly both reliable and cheap for Wordpress and other hosting. Costing just a few dollars per month. If you can get away with plain WordPress then wordpress.com have a free tier.

Julian Knight
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Assuming you have a printer, you should use something like http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/134427-a-paper-based-backup-solution-not-as-stupid-as-it-sounds to make paper backups of your files.

emory
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