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The community has previously decided that "Users / Customers of Enterprise or Service Provider Networks" are off topic, followed by this description.

Questions from end-users of enterprise/service provider networks are off-topic. There is no point in assisting an end-user since there isn't anything they can do (if the problem is a corporate networking or ISP issue). If the problem is the user's, they should ask on Super User

We have gotten a number of questions by end users that don't quite fit this description and taken at face value may even be considered on topic, but ultimately they are about bypassing some sort of network security or policy. For instance, this recent question:

How many Mac adresses have a switch in output?

Should we add to this end-user description to explicitly make such questions off topic? If so, what would you suggest for wording?

Edit: I was hoping to get more feedback on this. Here is another example that was posted today:

How browsec works?

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Since this is a forum for professional networking, I consider helping people to bypass network policies (for a network over which they have no control) to be unethical. I have to think how I would feel if that were my network since an anonymous OP may actually be a user on my network.

Questions related to bypassing network security or policies, except where they relate to preventing such breaches, are off-topic. Assisting in breaches of network security/policy may leave discussion participants open to criminal prosecution and/or civil damages.

White-hat network hacking may be an exception, but it may also be something that shouldn't be discussed in such an open forum. This can be compared to the software/hardware flaw disclosure debate. The vendors (or in this case, the network managers) want to have a chance to fix the problem before it is revealed to the general public. It is a fine line that I want to stay as far away from as possible since there are legal and civil ramifications.

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  • I agree and was hoping the community would back something along these lines. I can definitely agree with the first sentence of the proposed wording, but some may feel the second sentence is a bit too harsh although I personally am okay with it as well.
    – YLearn Mod
    Commented Sep 9, 2015 at 18:19
  • The second sentence isn't meant to be harsh; it is meant to be a warning of what is actually happening in the real world.
    – Ron Maupin Mod
    Commented Sep 9, 2015 at 18:24
  • Since we have had more community approval of this answer and no dissenting viewpoints, I am marking this as answered and have edited the proposed wording (with some changes) into the page.
    – YLearn Mod
    Commented Sep 20, 2015 at 15:45

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