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Sparked by this question:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5571561/bypass-school-firewall-with-a-proxy
Which should have been moved to a different SE site (ServerFault or SuperUser), but seemed like a valid technical question. I have seen several questions of this nature closed in the past.
Should users close questions if they find them objectionable?
Don't censor. It's not your job to enforce every rule that every tin-pot dictator, school administrator, or corrupt politician sets up. If you are actually personally horrified that students might access a website that doesn't meet the standards of their school, don't answer the question, but don't block the acquisition of knowledge just because you don't like the purpose that knowledge will be used for.
In this particular case, of course, the question was off-topic because it had nothing to do with programming, so it was OK to close it as off-topic.
But as a general rule, Stack Overflow exists to spread knowledge, not to give smug people the chance to play petty censorship games. The value of the diffusion of knowledge by far outweighs any interest this community might have in enforcing someone else's arbitrary rules, and we cannot possibly claim to have enough information, or the moral authority, to make decisions over whether or not a given individual has the right to even learn about how proxies work, or how to work around them.
Once again: the question was off-topic, and if you are uncomfortable answering a question which you think will be used in a way you are uncomfortable with, just don't answer it. But to decide that this community has an interest in the repression of the transmission of engineering and scientific knowledge goes deeply against everything that Stack Overflow stands for.
This same question showed up at Super User and we promptly closed it because we do not encourage illegal/questionable behavior on SU.
See this question on Meta Super User for more discussion on this topic:
Specifically, look at Jeff Atwood's answer:
Unless it is a clear call for warez, discussion of DRM should be given the benefit of the doubt.
Per Joel:
I would hate for us to censor legitimate, technical discussion just because what we're talking about happens to be illegal in some jurisdictions. We should have the same standards as universities: we should defend people's rights to free speech.
I think it's VERY MUCH DEBATABLE whether breaking DRM for the purpose of making backups is even illegal. It would be unhealthy if our diamond mods were running around being as strict as the Disney Corporation Inc. on DRM. It is hard to argue that there's anything even remotely socially unacceptable about breaking DRM for the purpose of backing up something you legitimately own.
And we're not even doing it, we're just talking about it.
Therefore, unless the post looks egregiously illegal, assume it is being asked in good faith about removing DRM on things you own, for your own fair use.
(italics in blockquote above are Joel's statement as quoted by Jeff)
In this case, I think the bypassing of school's network by proxies was clearly asking to break the rules/do something illegal...
Maybe the following from the Stack Exchange Network Terms of Service is applicable?
3. Subscriber Content
Subscriber represents, warrants and agrees that it will not contribute any Subscriber Content that [...], (d) is libelous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harassing, hateful, offensive or otherwise violates any law or right of any third party, [...], (e) contains a virus, trojan horse, worm, time bomb or other computer programming routine or engine that is intended to damage, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data or information, [...]
