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Net Blocking

At some point this week the school's blocking software went into overdrive. Of course this happens just as I begin a research project... I'm wondering if a parent started complaining or if some elementary school child started chatting during math.

On Monday, I have write a letter to someone decrying this henious move. First, do this net nazi realize that the library doesn't bother to stock research materials any more? All of the "books" are several years old and magazine subscriptions were stopped because it's all online. Categorizing the New York Times as "adult" and thus being blocked is stupid. Especially since not all the NYT URLs were actually blocked. For my part, I'm a bit disgruntled that anything with blogspot in the url is blocked because now my students can no longer check homework for class at school or download various forms. (the school does have it's own site that I could use, but the URL is too long for any of them to remember and takes approximately 10 minutes to drill down to from the main page. Not a good option for transient users who can't set up a "favorites" list.) Nor can I send them to any of the valuable blogspot sites. Thank God the research papers are about biographies and not bodily functions, because anything remotely connected to "naughty bits" on the human body is blocked. Cancer and pregnancy are horrible things that no one under the age of 18 should even be aware of... While we're talking about it, I haven't seen any porn on the Nascar website, but there are some pornographic chat logs on the Spokesman-Review site, detailing the ensuing mayoral scandal. Guess which one this software currently has blocked?

Yes, there should be some blocking on school computers, but do we need to set the blocking software on extreme? Why bother with paying for internet connection? Instead of wasting all the time (and money) with blocking software, pay someone to build an intranet and start buying books again. That's the only way you're going to keep anyone from really finding the "bad stuff".

Or we could educate the students on the usage guidelines of school computers and give actual consequences for those caught violating those guidelines? It is still a school and education is our purpose.

26 days left

Comments

Fred said…
Our filter is a bit stingy, also. I can't get MSNBC.

Who knows? Maybe Microsoft isn't giving the district a good price on software!
6:03 AM
Bud Hunt said…
I hate Internet filters. I wrote a poem about my hatred that I shared at a poetry slam at my school earlier this year.
I'm glad, though, that my district's filter doesn't seem as limiting as yours. I wonder, though, how long it will be . . .
And how we can fight back.
7:03 PM
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