You seem to be missing the fact that they are also blocking a lot of sites that don’t fit that criterion, and they’re refusing to even so much as say who makes those decisions, much less institute a transparent process with an easy way to appeal, which, INHO, would be the responsible thing to do in this situation. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be allowed to restrict what schoolkids can access on school computers at all. I’m saying they should deal with it in a responsible and transparent manner, (especially when it comes to what they monitor and what they’re going to do with the spyware on said devices) and it seems abundantly clear from the article that this is not the case.
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In “real life” I have access to Wikipedia. As do the vast majority of “real” people. From work. While using a work computer.
In “real life” my work computer does not include spyware. I have crossed paths with hundreds of people from a vast swath of small to huge companies. None of their computers include spyware.
YouTube. Check. Vimeo. Check. XKCD. Check.
What is being done to Nathan Ringo and his fellow students has nothing to do with “real life”. That you believe it does makes you a fucking idiot.
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Wow, this article is all sorts of messed up. I was one of those horrible, awful, no-good “Directors of Technology” at school districts in IL myself for nearly 10 years, and I can tell you this story is very typical of a student’s impression of filtering systems - and as such gives up a great deal of accuracy and detail for shock value. It sounds like the admin response to him wasn’t great, but since it’s only his perspective pretty tough to tell, so instead I’ll make some quick notes about what he DOES say …
Let’s start with the title - seriously, who thinks web filtering to prevent inappropriate materials from being displayed in a K12 environment is “spying”? He says he first tried getting around the filter in 7th grade, so that means this filter is used for a network that probably serves children as young as 4. This is not “spying” by any stretch or definition of the term. I’ve got young kids myself, and I filter them at home too.
Then, he goes on to bemoan that he “could not find out who makes the judgements [sic] about what should be considered inappropriate.” Really? No filter system that I’ve seen, or used, is completely bespoke, with individuals at the admin or board level hand selecting sites. Large, frequently updated databases are used, with general categories to select from. Since there was some confusion over firewall, i’d guess they are using sonicwall, barracuda, fortinet, or cisco rather than K9 or OpenDNS, but since he apparently never bothered to ask or do research and find out (or look at the URL bar?), there’s no way to know - but FYI all of those databases are publicly accessible and searchable, and allow you to submit suggestions for improperly categorized or blocked sites.
Speaking of which, he mentions that Twitter is blocked, but that they are supposed to use twitter in class. Does he then submit a request to open that site? Usually there’s a button right on the block page that submits to the admin. I’m guessing he ignored it and immediately jumped to “Oh, the oppression! I must crack this thing!” Trust me, overrides for specific sites - and often for specific grades or wifi zones - are not only possible, but an expected part of implementing a filtering software (or as he likes to call it “censorware” - you know, because of the balanced and objective viewpoint here).
He doesn’t mention what other sites he has been so wrongly kept from surfing during school hours, on school devices, on school property, so again, I’m unconvinced that any “rights” have been trampled here. Blocking databases are never perfect, and result in both false positives and negatives, so submitting a request for review is an integral part of making it work better. I wonder again, did he bother asking anyone if they could help before he decided to work around the system?
The board policy may only state that it is to block porn, hate speech, and harassment, but I’m guessing they also block academic cheat sites, VPN, and anonymizers … and I’m sure the policy is written broadly enough that they can choose whatever categories they deem appropriate (I know I wrote my policies that way).
He alludes briefly to the fact that filtering is required for funding. I won’t go into great detail - this is too long anyways, but depending on the district, up to 80% of your network access, telephony, and other computing access can be funded by federal grants that require filtering. It should also be mentioned that filtering is another way to protect the investment they have made in technology - anything that keeps the incidence of malware and viruses from computers, straining the personnel and resources of the tech department further is a necessity these days.
So enjoy your iPad kid, and remember that my tax dollars paid for it, your school worked very hard to qualify for the money to have it, and if you don’t like something stop being a whiner - work to make things better for everyone, not just “crack” the system for yourself and your own selfish ends.
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Here are the relevant policies. They are publicly available on the school’s website, which pops easily via Google.
This policy gives school administrators the power to inflict a wide range of punishments, including for violations of the technology policy.
All students are supposed to be informed of the technology policies. The punishments include suspension, “in-school support,” removal, etc., etc.
http://www.wayzata.k12.mn.us/cms/lib/MN01001540/Centricity/ModuleInstance/10493/502-R_10-12-09.pdf
In 631-R, we get the meat of the school’s technology policies. The following quotations all come from that regulation.
Here is Section V-D, System Security: Firewalls:
The district shall install software and/or hardware (a “firewall”) that limits access to the district’s
computers. Users are prohibited from using software or hardware that is designed to circumvent these
firewalls or to allow unauthorized access to the district’s computers.
Here is VI-A, Privacy:
The District System is to be used only for educational purposes. The district reserves the right to read,
listen to, or otherwise access files and information stored on the District System. Users should therefore
have no expectation of privacy in any message or file created, sent, stored, or received using the District
System.
Users are prohibited from forging, altering, or otherwise concealing the identity of the person sending
messages or other forms of communication with the District System.
Here is IX: Enforcement of the School’s Technology Use Policy and Regulations: Students
Violations of the district’s Technology Use Policy and Regulations and any rules or policies
promulgated in accordance with these regulations may be grounds for discipline, including required
training or education or penalties including but not limited to revocation of the privilege to use the
District System and other disciplinary actions as outlined in the Student Discipline Policy (502) and its
regulations and the Pupil Fair Dismissal Act and other state and federal laws. A student or employee
engaging in unacceptable uses of the internet when off district premises and without the use of the
District System also may be in violation of this policy as well as other district policies. In situations
when the district receives a report of an unacceptable use originating from a non-school computer or
resource, the district shall investigate such report to the best of its ability. Students or employees may be
subject to disciplinary action for such conduct including, but not limited to, suspension or cancellation of
the use or access to the district computer system and the Internet and discipline under other appropriate
district policies, including suspension, expulsion, exclusion, or termination of employment.
My comments
Crucially, the firewall policy is not limited to school property. It appears to bar any access outside the firewall by any student.
These policies, as usual, are vague and broad. Notice also that even outside the school, you can still get in trouble for unspecified violations - perhaps by tampering with the school-issued iPads.
The Director of Technology can only impose a punishment if there’s been a violation of the rules. If there’s been a violation, then yes, it looks like he can do whatever he wants - he has a wide range of punishments to choose from.
From the policies quoted above, it appears to me (and I say this very reluctantly) that our hero has violated the firewall policy. Firewall blocks websites. Student does not harm firewall, but visits websites anyway. Student has “circumvented” firewall. I’m open to rebuttal.
I agree these policies are potentially dangerous, and in their desire to shield their students from things they’ll (eventually) meet anyway, overly censorious. But that doesn’t mean the administrators are legally wrong. Those in power will enact laws to legitimate their actions whenever they can.
The Eleventh Commandment is, “Don’t get caught.” You can not get caught, or you can fight as an activist by informing other students that the school spies on them through their iPads. You will never convince petty bureaucratic authoritarians that they are wrong.
Like other commenters here, I believe BoingBoing had a journalistic responsibility to investigate the story to some degree - to do something more, however slight, than merely publishing this account. It’s a well-reasoned, detailed, and convincing account, but BoingBoing should have done a Google search to check out the policies, at the very least. It takes 10 minutes.
When I see something like this, I write a letter. Such national responses can make a real difference in the outcome of student cases (remember the student suspended because she briefly possessed a razor blade which she’d convinced her suicidal friend to give her? Quickly reinstated after massive negative feedback. http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/20/sixth-grader-suspended-for-taking-razor-blade-away-from-suicidal-student-throwing-it-away/). BoingBoing’s lackluster journalism will make me less likely to take action on a story from them in the future.
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Can’t argue with any of that, agree totally.
Well thank you for involving yourself in a grown up discussion. If you’ll check my previous responses you’ll see that I’ve accepted that the filtering appears to be way over the top. But you break rules, even seemingly unfair ones, you get in trouble. THAT’S real life.
Just leaving this here:
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“appears to be”…
Yup. Fits the definition.
And, I don’t care. Your previous responses are irrelevant. I was responding to … well … I am confident you will eventually figure it out. I did quote you.
But you break rules, even seemingly unfair ones, you get in trouble. THAT’S real life.
You have drifted off-topic.
Arch Linux, huh? You know Nathan, if you keep going the way you have been, you’re likely to wind up becoming an expert on computers and the net and know so much that you will be able to laugh in these censors’ faces without having to fear their petty wrath. Maybe even be able to consult with legislators that can free the Land of Jessie from prying and spying in the name of ‘education’.
This may be your last chance to turn away from your life of crime and become a model citizen. You’ve been warned.
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No. We don’t know what actual sites are being filtered, for what reasons and for which students. The vague column justifies the vague words, because given current knowledge, I can’t be more precise.
You quoted me referring to one thing, and implied that it was about another. You quoted me saying schools should be preparing them for real life - in a post in which I’m referring to punishment, not the filtering itself.
No. This is an article about punishment for bypassing filtering in schools (and other aspects of filtering), so seems pretty on topic.
Let’s start with the question about whether anybody actually SAID that was spying. The title doesn’t always refer to the first thing talked about, you know. Because to me, the web filters were just the start of his experience, provided for context, and his experience later included things like spyware put on the iPads, which WOULD count as spying, if true (you could also argue that however they found out that he had been bypassing the filters might count as spying as well, but that’s a little iffier). At the very least, they seem to be awfully protective of their right to do so, and refusing to outright state how, if at all, they’re restricted.
If they’ve nothing to hide, why are they being so secretive about it?
And you feel that it’s a GOOD thing that the person in charge of the filtering has the right to block anything they deem appropriate. Huh. Interesting.
He also informed other students about what was going on and tried to get him to take action about it. “Whining” as you call it, often IS doing something to help. It’s often the first step.
Of course, that assumes that the people with power are actually willing to alter their policies.
I suspect at some point he might have, but was told something like “if you have nothing to fear you have nothing to hide” or “this is the policy and it stays” or “stop whining.” In fact, I suspect he’s gotten responses like these many times when he’s brought some issue (whether related to the computer policy, or the lunchroom policy, or something else) to a school authority figure’s attention, and then eventually decided it wasn’t worth bothering to ask.
It occurs to me that you may have been honest here to a degree you were unaware of when you wrote it.
- Poor reading comprehension
- Thinks it’s a good thing to be able to block anything you feel like.
- Dismissive of valid concerns of students
Yes, it seems you ARE qualified to be one of those “horrible Directors of Technology.”
Perhaps if you’re ever in such a position in the future, you can focus on being a GOOD Director of Technology.
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You’re just guessing there. Why wasn’t that in the piece? Seems an important thing to say.
Way to go, Nathan. This kid has some serious brass ‘balls’. A smart IT company would do well to keep an eye on this kid, as soon as he graduates!
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Informed guessing, based on clues from the rest of his story, along with my own experience and from talking to others. It usually seems to be hammered in quite efficiently to students: stupid rules rarely get changed by pointing out how stupid they are, the best you can usually do is work around them. Maybe this is also preparing them for the workplace, where the same often seems to be true. If so, and he didn’t try to work within the system as suggested, then consider him well-prepared in that category.
I should have added one more caveat, though, “I suspect at some point he might have, or witnessed somebody else doing so to no results”, as that’s one of the ways it happens and spread. Our visiting horrible Director Of Technology suggested:
Which, by the way, is also guessing, but, let’s say it’s true. Twitter was blocked, even though it’s required in one class. Do you think that NOBODY among the students pointed it out? Like, the first day? He didn’t say “it was blocked for 1 day and then it was pointed out it was interfering and it got unblocked”, so unless we’re going to “guess” that that was the case, without any evidence, we’re left with either believing that nobody brought it up, or that some people did, and nothing changed, reinforcing the message that bringing it up isn’t the solution, working around it, is. We also saw him bringing up privacy issues (admittedly, after he was caught), where he DOES say he was told “if you have nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear.” Not “you’re right, there are privacy issues here, let’s work to get them cleared up.” Not even “there’s a balance, but let’s talk more about how that balance is struck and what safeguards are in place that it won’t be misused”, but rather was given the most asinine mantra of the surveillance state. That’s one more piece of evidence for his worldview that bringing up issues among the school authorities does NOT get them solved.
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Unfiltered internet access is “lax”?
The kid is in 11th grade. I have one of those at home and he’s legally able to drive multi-ton vehicles on highways, have sex and get married and join the military (only the last two require my permission).
But you think parents allowing high school students access to the open internet is negligent? Ignoring teens easy access to actual, real-world sex, 13 year olds can legally see nudity in movie theaters without parental consent.
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In my opinion. Depending on the child.
Not if they were my imaginary kids. Or maybe, because it would depend on the parent knowing the child well enough to know what the child should see, a luxury that is absent in schools.
The college (full f, you know, people who are legally adults, who can marry, vote, go to war, etc.) at which I did my access course for university uses even more ridiculous filtering than the OP describes; for instance, it wouldn’t allow you to view samples of HTML code for IT classes. The IT dept. had NO way of overruling or requesting sites were whitelisted, as I asked. This stuff is pernicious idiocy hard-sold to every damn educational establishment on the planet. It needs reigning in.
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I, too, am shocked – SHOCKED – that this non-journalism source is not practicing journalism!
Their Nuclear-Regulatory Oversight is also notoriously lax.
TL;DR: PAY PAL WILL MAKE U REFUND 4 FRAUD! U WILL SEE U THIEF! Will not buy again (does this come in green?)
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They were just teaching you to hack around the firewall as part of your IT education.
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I never managed it. I forget what it was called, but the thing was fucking hardcore. If I’d had a laptop at the time, I think pingtunnel might have worked, but it was seriously good software (well, you know what I mean). Definitely beyond my capabilities (at least without admin level access on a box).
You’ll excuse me if I don’t find your opinion of parental fitness and age appropriate material particularly germane for me and my kid.
As for your imaginary kid - what exactly do you think is going to stop him from seeing the movie he wants to if he has $8 in his pocket?
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