Legal Action Against Censorware? 173
spoonboy42 asks: "I am a student in a school district that uses N2H2's Bess censorware. We've had to live with it for several years now, and it routinely overblocks sites of real educational merit, while pornography slips on through. Now, it has been revealed that data as to kids' surfing habits is being sold to advertisers. I believe this crosses a line, and I think most of my fellow students will agree. My question is, what legal options do a bunch of minors with very little money have against a corporation like N2H2? Should we try to go through our school board to get the software out of the district (our goal), or should we attempt to take Bess to court?" Sounds kind of shady...would a class-action suit be appropriate for situations like this? Regardles of the legal options that are available, I hope spoonboy will keep us apraised of his situation as things progress. I'm sure other opponents of censorware will be interested in how things turn out as this is a clear illustration of how censorware technology can be misused.
Re:We need open source censor ware (Score:1)
Re:Quit Your Whining and Study (Score:1)
Is a book essential for kids to learn how to read? No. You could get your freind to describe the shape of each letter to you.
Are electronic parts necessary to learn electronics? No, you could learn by just reading schematics (which you would read using the "shape method" I described earlier, and would do the complex math using the "abacus method").
>Online encyclopaedias, dictionaries, and even your mother's homework assignments are areas that would be good to have access to in a school.
Pfft. What a waste. If I want to use an encyclopedia I'll just ask dad what he thinks. If I want to know what homework is due I'll walk the 5 miles to the teacher's house. And a dictionary? Ho nedz dat? Eef yu uze ur mynd u kan steel undarstend mi.
And giving kids access to lower education is a mistake too. Who knows, they might learn enough to suggest we bring these new fangled adding machines into those "upper class only" universities.
Re:Quit Your Whining and Study (Score:1)
Since I'm an AC posting late, I'm sure this will be read by very few, but I felt something needed to be said in response.
Do schools and libraries actually need Internet access in the first place?
No, they don't need Internet access. In fact, we don't need schools and libraries, but I think we both agree that they're Good Things to have around. Despite the sheer volume of crap on the Internet, it holds a great wealth of information for those with the skills to find and evaluate it. Schools and libraries exist for the advancement of knowledge; having Internet access is in line with that goal.
If they do, do they need unlimited access?
The question is not whether they need unlimited access, but whether it is desirable for them to have it. I don't believe many people would argue for the need to view goatse.cx at a public library, but the current filtering technology is inadequate. What's more, the blocked lists in current packages are assembled based on moral and political standards arbitrarily set by the companies that produce them. Unfortunately, it is difficult or impossible for communities to change these standards to fit their own.
If a community wants to require filtering software, fine; the standards of the community are best represented in the local government. Regional and national governments have no place to mandate that a community conform to standards set by N2H2 or Solid Oak.
How is installing censorware any different than just not buying a book?
When a library decides what books to purchase, the librarians have to make value judgements because they operate with limited resources. If a library chooses not to purchase a certain book and you request it, they will likely help you locate it at another library. In contrast, filtering Internet access requires the library to take an active step to restrict access to information, and as I mentioned above, the restrictions are set by the standards of a corporation, not the community. I have a lot more faith in my public library's head librarian than in the staff of Solid Oak. A librarian makes a living providing information to the public and is responsible to the citizens of his or her community. In my experience, librarians as a group are some of the most vocal opponents of censorship.
Imagine for a minute that we have a public library that doesn't have to contend with constraints such as funding or space. Hundreds of millions of patrons have donated all kinds of fiction and nonfiction books. However, some of these don't really serve any academic purpose, and we must Think of the Children, so we hire a company to go through the stacks and pull any book that they deem objectionable. These books are then locked away from the general public. They get some of the smut, but they miss a lot of it, and other books are curiously locked away. Mein Kampf is yanked; it's hate speech. Books dealing with gay and lesbian rights are branded "obscene", as are books on sexually transmitted diseases. Any book mentioning US imprisonment of Japanese-Americans during World War II conveniently disappears. Not only is Farenheit 451 removed, the company we hired threatens the publisher with lawsuits. When a local woman complains, the company launches a barrage of 500 eggs at her house.
Let's face it: Internet access is not a necessary element of a student's first 12 years of education. Even it's value for the freshman and sophomore years of college is dubious at best.
An interesting point. Formal education isn't a necessary element of human life, but in more developed countries, one is at a decided disadvantage without a college education. What's so special about the Internet that it should be shunned as a resource? Kids need to learn how to make effective use of the tools at their disposal, and today the Internet is one of those tools.
On another note, it's not just the students who are using the Internet in education. Online classes are becoming more and more commonplace, and even in high schools many teachers will set up web pages with resources for their classes.
At my engineering school, the same test administered by the same professors for the last 50 years has lower scores today than in the 1950's, when Internet access, calculators and personal computers were unheard of. For all our clever technology, when it comes to our intellectual aptitude we're stupider than our grandparents.
There's more to intellect than memorization and regurgitation of facts, which used to be the prominent style of education in the US. Today, the focus is more on teaching kids techniques for gathering and applying knowledge. Unfortunately, results are no longer as important, so standards have become lax; we do need to strike a balance. However, I don't subscribe to your narrow definition of aptitude. Life is much different now than it was in the 1950s; a different lifestyle requires a slightly different set of skills. Can you sew your own clothes? Grow all your own food? Make your own soap?If anything, censorship in schools needs to go further. Instead of blocking certain sites and locations, censorware should only allow certain sites and locations.
This is patently ludicrous. While limiting access to "approved" sites would certainly prevent kids from visiting mtv.com during study hall, it severely limits the usefulness of the Internet. It's most effective at finding updated and/or obscure information. In college, I wrote a paper on urban sprawl; as a reference, I used discussion from the archives of a mailing list for city planners. Nobody would have thought to add such a resource to the "approved" list.
I really don't feel as strongly on this point, however; I really don't mind the idea of limiting access in grade schools so long as public colleges and public libraries continue to provide unfiltered access.
But with regard to Bess, if you think you can form a lawsuit because a company whose software you used compiled statistics on your usage patterns, you need to have another think. Would you also want to sue Mobil for compiling information on its SpeedPass users? Or Ford, for tracking information on people who purchase its cars? Do you seriously think that you can launch a lawsuit against Home Depot for counting how many people purchased vinyl siding? Of course not. And so you can't with N2H2, either.
Your analogy has a gaping flaw: I choose whether or not I use a Mobil SpeedPass, drive a Ford product, or purchase vinyl siding for my home at Home Depot. When my child is of school age, he will not get to choose what software is installed on the computers--and he will be required to use those computers on occasion. Although Slashdotters have a tendency to object to any sort of data sales, I think most of the furor about the BESS situation is due to the fact that N2H2 is using children for profit. N2H2 started doing this without informing the districts or the children. Furthermore, US law prohibits gathering data on children under 13, and N2H2 is doing exactly that. Finally, one of their customers is the US Dept. of Defense; I don't believe I'm alone in my concern about why they're interested in aggregate surfing habits of minors.
This might depend (Score:1)
You may also consider a lawsuit against the school district to drive the point home.
Corruption ... (Score:1)
Let your parents and the school board know. Give concrete examples of sites you can get to that shouldn't be allowed and sites you can't get to that have merit. After Bess it explain these problems and give a solution with a time frame and hold them to that time frame. Don't let them give you something that is open ended.
As far as the viewing habits, find out exactly what they are selling. If all they are selling is a list of visited URLs with no way to tie that back to a person, you might not have much luck getting it undone.
Good luck, make it a big deal and be specific.
SSL-enabled anti-filtering-proxy proxy (Score:1)
--
Re:Quit Your Whining and Study (Score:1)
Re:Why school? (Score:1)
Why school? (Score:1)
Re:I have the answer (Score:1)
Re:I have the answer (Score:1)
-Andy
Re:Unfortunatly... (Score:1)
IANAL either, but this doesn't seem to hold water.
Re:Call the ACLU (Score:1)
If either the ACLU or the EFF wants to take up your case, let me know... I'll give an increased donation to either organization for assisting in a case like this one.
-- Michael Chermside
Re:Quit Your Whining and Study (Score:1)
In the early seventies pocket calculators were banned at our technical college (in puritan Holland) "because they made you dumb".
A few years later I started working for a large international company, I was the only one never having used a calculator, not nice.
Further I object as well to the second half of your blanked statement "-and Study"; part of growing up into a whole human is testing a lot of things in the world around you and the networking experience of the internet is clearly a part of it.
We all know the arche typical Nerd that has only one interrest in life, it's the kind of kid that as an exception is not bad but you don't want a society entirely made up of.
I'm afraid "troll" is a kind moderation.
Legal action is the best! (Score:1)
If just one huge class-action lawsuit succeeded with large punitive damages, all the censorware companies would think three times about their cavalier policies in the future. Let's make them as terrified of being sued as every other company is. IANAL, but IMO there is plenty of damage done by these people which could be proven, with the plaintiff either being someone who is denied access to information, or an onrganizatin whose site is being blocked.
I wrote a script.... (Score:1)
Oh well, there's no such thing as a technological fix for a social problem.
Re:Internet Usage Profiling... (Score:1)
In the post I was responding to you said "Internet usage profiling is nothing new. It's quite common nowadays." As far as I can see you were either saying this to refute that there was a problem (i.e. since it happens a lot it isn't a problem, which as I said seems backwards, if it is a problem then it happening a lot does not improve things and if it isn't a problem then how much it happens is simply irrelevant) or you were just saying it for no reason whatsoever, i.e. a random observation. If there's some point behind the comment then what is it?
Cutting right to the chase: What the fuck kind of fascist purpose do you think the data collection is being used for?
I've no idea... I really doubt that fascists are involved though. I think you're confused.
It is being used for consumer research, for crying outloud! What else would it be used for when the majority of the WWW is focused on commerce nowadays?
Thanks for the info
If you see something horribly WRONG with that, you're nitpicking
I suspect "nitpicking" is a word you only recently encountered and wanted to try out since I can't see why regarding anything as being wrong would be an example of nitpicking. If you really think I'm nitpicking then please elaborate.
and yet again, are looking for another reason to get on a soapbox and complain about some idiotically perceived injustice.
Ah, "yet again". I make a habit of that do I?
The idea of taking action with a school over the whole thing is absurd. Furthermore, put aside your childish American I'm-suing-you bullshit mentality (which is what your focus on the whole "legal liability" translates into) for a second
I think you must be confusing me with someone who has visited America at some point? Or, don't tell me, exposure to American influences over the internet and other media has "warped my fragile mind"? In any event, how does it become MY focus on legal liability? You asserted that somebody (I still don't know who) was "covered" by the contract between the school and the provider. The only thing I can think a contract could cover you against is legal action. If you were thinking of something else then please do explain.
that into consideration it's nice the school is providing connection to something as dynamically moving as the Internet in the first place -- mabye students should appreciate that for face value.
You see, you can make a reasonable point when you try
I don't apply that attitude to everything in life, but generally speaking you should try to accept what is unalterable. Building a strong dislike toward something does not always equal taking action when taking action is unrealistic.
All in all, you made a rather incoherent post and when questioned on the detals you have mostly responded abusively. Not everyone you encounter will agree with you or understand you for that matter. Since that's unalterable I suggest you take your own advice and try to learnt to accept it.
Re:Internet Usage Profiling... (Score:1)
I'm a little confused where you're coming from with that comment. Are you suggesting that the more common something becomes the less of a problem it is (which sounds completely backwards) or was that just a sort of random observation?
Not to sound hostile, but this really sounds very petty. Mainly because I would doubt you are really losing any privacy. A distinct username isn't associated with any of the data, let alone personal information. While you can argue it's the principle of the thing, it still doesn't seem like that big of an issue.
Okay... put it this way: lots of people intensely dislike spiders. If you put them near spiders they become agitated and try to get away. Lots of people have a strong dislike for having data gathered about them. If you start watching them, analysing their behaviour, gathering statistics they become agitated and try to stop you. You may not be bothered by either spiders or by having data gathered about you (if not then this is most probably more of a threshold thing; you get bothered at a different point rather than not being bothered at all) but you should be able to see that neither group is being "petty". They are being subjected to something they dislike, they object and try to stop it. You can argue that they will always be subject to such data collection just as you can argue that there will always be more spiders, that doesn't make mean they're petty.
In any event, the usage contract the school signed with the proxy provider probably has them covered.
Who, the school or the provider? I'm not sure what you're getting at here, if the school is vulnerable to action by the individual then a contract they sigend with a third party (the provider) is irrelevant. If the provider is vulnerable to action by the individual then a contract they signed with a third party (the school) is irrelevant. If neither is vulnerable to action by the individual then any contract they make between them is irrelevant. Or you mean the school can't take action against the provider because the contract lets them collect the data? That may be true but the school could choose not to renew the contract on those terms in future.
It's a waste of energy to dislike something intensely that can't go anywhere.
An extremely defeatist attitude. It'd be pretty depressing if even at school age people had already given up believing they could make an impact on the world.
Re:Student Rights (Score:1)
ummm... no... they only lose the right to speech which is contrary to an educational environment. you don't have the right to spontaneously organize a protest in the middle of class as its disruptive to the educational environment. but you do have the right to wear a shirt protesting something or another.(the supreme court case you want is Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 1969. "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech . . . at the schoolhouse gates.")
and the press? the last i checked high school press was limited by the fact that the school usually acts as publisher, meaning they pay for the production, printing, and distro of the press. if you want to form an alternative press at your own expense, the school cannot impose unreasonable limitations on its distrobution on school grounds. (college press, i know for a fact, has practically no differentiation with commercial press as far as press rights go.)
the ACLU [aclu.org] is the preeminent source for student's rights info. They've got a whole section on student's rights [aclu.org] on their web site. Good stuff.----
Informed Consent Laws (Score:1)
I would be interested in knowing if anyone has looked at this from the perspective of voluntary informed consent. To do any research in a school (research directed at furthering good education, not marketing) it is extremely difficult for an outside agency (such as a university researcher) to get clearance from the board of education to come in and collect data, and parents are quite skeptical. Here, for example, are Indiana's standards
there is a case that N2H2 would need consent clearance:
[begin quote http://www.indiana.edu/~resrisk/informed.html]
STUDENTS IN INDIANA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The State of Indiana has placed certain restrictions on research conducted in the public schools. The restrictions apply to personal analyses, evaluations, programs, or surveys that: are not directly related to academic instruction; and that reveal or attempt to affect the student's attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, beliefs, or feelings concerning:
[end quote]
The N2H2 data collection meets both points. The standards that I apply to trying to perform quantitative research in the field of education are a lot more strict than those applied by marketing types, but as far as I know the stricter standards are the ones typically applied to the conduct of our school systems at least until some corporation looks like they are going to throw a buck or two the school's way. The important thing is that you remember that the students are generating the data *as individuals*, regardless of how the data is summarized and reported. Aggregate reporting by N2H2 is still performed through individual participation in the activities that generate the data, and the use of human subjects in research always requires the use of informed consent.
Re:Just use an Anti-Censorware Proxy (Score:1)
http://silentsurf.com/ can do that.
Re:Unfortunatly... (Score:1)
Students have a passive roll in this problem.
Ticket buyers are active participants in a process.
Its not like the students said "we want to be censored". The state has decided this for them.
Therefore, regardless of who "purchased" the software, the students will still have rights to protection. I'd be interested to learn if the state was granted a discount (kickbacks?) and knew that info was being sold off.
My experiences (Score:1)
I am a former student of West Ottawa High School
http://www.westottawa.k12.mi.us Holland, MI (yes this was the same city where the whole shit about censorware at the library happened, xref an old slashdot censorship story. If I find it or somebody remembers it, please post the URL of the archive)
In my junior year, they used some IBM shit, netvista I think it was. getting to March or so, they started the Bess, but didn't phase netvista out until late May. Blocked a lot of good stuff, very restrictive, though not much smut could get through (don't remember it being possible to get any, YMMV)
What some of us found out (in my senior year) was that we could bypass the filter altogether by telling Netscape to use the SOCKS proxy (port 1080) from the old netvista proxy. That worked for a while, until we were made, and that port was closed.
I didn't ever go looking for porn at school(instead I used it to do legitimate things that BESS didn't allow), though I know that some students did, using this "backdoor." They were part of what ruined it. Still, I have to believe that even if nobody had abused it (like that'll ever happen. Too many high schoolers are too immature) it still would have been closed b/c the school wanted complete control over what we could and couldn't do.
What really frustrated us was that I and a few of my friends were in a web design class, and often due to the crappy quality of the proxy, often we couldn't even upload our own webpages. not to mention all the wrangling over which services were allowed. I could keep going, b/c this really steamed me, but I probably shouldn't.
One last note on the restrictiveness of WOHS. In my senior year (officially in order to improve our safety, xref Columbine and related [including incidences of adults] as well as to enforce the closed campus policy [except for seniors @ lunch and coop programs]) cattle gates were put up at the parking lot entrances, most doors were locked, and all teachers were required to use security passes like many corporations and hospitals. The running joke was that we were all at West Ottawa Penitentiary. And I can't forget the "We are not cows" gag. Even worse was the fact that our security officer completed his police training, and now carried a gun. If we hadn't been afraid of him before, now we had more reason (he was a good guy, but I still don't like cops, or anyone who I must deal with who carries a gun).
Some of my friends are still students, and I don't envy them at all. Security is tougher this year than last year. I couldn't even get in to talk to a student that I was trying to interview for a paper for my ENG 150 class at GVSU.edu
Re:Don't give up but don't get too excited either (Score:1)
So 18 or not, I still had no rights at school. THAT SUCKS!!!! I could be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but still treated like a child. Nothing like having all the responsibilities and none of the privileges.
I'm not in HS anymore, and am a freshman in college, but I still sympathise with HS students in such predicaments. I could tell of all my experiences in MS/HS, including the false accusations, the invalid/probable illegal suspensions, the tramplings of my rights, and the whole bit, but it would take way too long.
I UNDERSTAND YOU, I SYMPATHISE WITH YOU, I _REALLY DO_ FEEL YOUR PAIN. But I still know that when it comes to a student vs administration, admin almost always wins, b/c they're the adults, and you the ignorant kid.
I didn't tell my parents until it had been happening for 2 years. I regret this greatly, it cost me a lot.
I really need to shut up now. It hurts too much, and I am getting angry over things that are in my past and I can't do anything about. But never think that you're the only one. YOU'RE NOT!!! But maybe you can do something about it, unlike I who did not, b/c I didn't believe I could. I was wrong, but by the time I knew that, it was too late, the damage was done.
Re:Student Rights (Score:1)
In Michigan there is a law that basically says that even if you're 18, you can be treated as a minor if You're a student in/at school.
Get a grip! (Score:1)
Like it or not, you will just have to deal with it. The computer is only one tool to use to do research. Their are these things called books. There are gouping of books call Encyclopedia, and their are news papers and magazines for recent events. Most public libraries subscribe various publications.
I realise a lot of you don't like censorship, but in todays society it required because anybody can sue anybody of the stupidest things. Until society as a whole changes, we will have censorship. Complain all you want, but it will not do any good in this case. You will always have some form of censorship in schools--especially school computers.
Re:trap them (Score:1)
-jerdenn
Re:Just use an Anti-Censorware Proxy (Score:1)
SmartFilter's Greatest Evils - censorware and privacy/anonymity [sethf.com]
Latest Censorware Essay:
What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org) [spectacle.org]
E-rate funds and the CIPA (Score:1)
Re:Why school? (Score:1)
"huhuhuhh, go away. we're like closed or something"
Re:I have the answer (Score:1)
---
Josh Woodward
Work Arounds (Score:1)
B) Have SSH access to a computer off campus, and alot of patience. Sometimes your ports are blocked off for common ones like 20-23, 80, 6665-7000, etc. But with proper configuration, and routeable IP, you can normally get "off the network" via SSH. Next task is to configure Port Forwarding, something which comes standard with SSHd, ssh, and SecureCRT. Simply add a port forward to port 80 of wherever you want to connect, and translate that to a local port (like 81), making sure not to overlap local ports. Now, configure your browser to ignore the proxy for hosts beginning in 127.0.0.1, then connect to 127.0.0.1:81. Why not use localhost? because `hosts' can be configured to redirect that elsewhere, and thats a bad thing. Pitfall? if the people use a seperate server for images and such, you're SOL, because you can't redirect where the refs inside the web pages go, and only relative links work.
We need open source censor ware (Score:1)
Talk to Seniors (Score:1)
These are voters. Get them registered. Talk to the League of Women voters about a voter registration.
Now if you can't get at the League of Women Voters on the net, call them on the phone.
Talk to your parents, teachers, librarians too.
Hold Censorware accountable (Score:1)
If I were a censorware author... (Score:2)
Then [richardsrealm.com] I'd [alsscan.com] just [furnitureporn.com] have [lycaeum.org] to [getannie.com] update [alcoholinks.net] the [babygotback.com] blocked [whackalot.com] list [wilbo.com] with [screammyname.com] whatever [google.com] it [jenniferheart.com] turned [gloria-brame.com] out [siberianlinks.com] they [puritytest.com] were [link-o-rama.com] hitting [yahooka.com] the [http] most. [thecorporation.com]
Re:Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Score:2)
If you are forced to sign an agreement, then it is not binding in court. So you can still sue, the school forced you to sign their agreement, on pentilty of lower grades if you didn't. That is not legal.
Getting a court to agree depends on how good your lawyer is of course, so contact a good one instead of taking my advice.
A very impopular opinion (Score:2)
Well you do use the school's hardware, the school's internet connection. Some schools don't use censorware as such, but block IRC and napster ports and the popular gaming sites with a firewall. They don't want the kids to waste the school's resources on things that have nothing to do with education, and could even get them in trouble with concerned parents.
If they didn't use censorware, some concerned parents could say: you are doing nothing to prevent our children from being exposed to porn, we are going to sue to get the computers removed from school. Now at least the school are doing their best, which isn't that good, as censorware doesn't really work.
As for monitoring surfing habits:
As long as they don't log your identity along with the surfing habits, it's the legal equivalent of standing in a store and taking notes on kids' purchasing habits. Nothing you can do.
Spam their logs with thousands upon thousands of visits to sites selling religious and educational books, health food, geriatric healthcare sites, www.whitehouse.gov etc, and make the data useless.
Re:Rating Censorware (Score:2)
Ah.
Their testing isn't political, but they do have a separate lobbying agenda that is left-wing in nature, advocating for nationalized health care in particular and greater government regulation in general. (I read the mag when I visit my parents, my dad's been subscribing since before CU stepped up its lobbying.) CU isn't anywhere near as bad about this as, say, the AARP, but it's worth noting. The irony is that their unbiased product testing is the best replacement for ham-handed government regulation. Go figure.
Re:Rating Censorware (Score:2)
Actually, that hasn't been true for years. Consumer Reports has been pushing a left-leaning political agenda, socialized medicine in particular. Product reviews are still their primary focus, but I won't subscribe because of their politics.
The linked article is good, if lacking in specifics (which sites are "controversial"?). Just be aware that CU is not apolitical.
Re:Rating Censorware (Score:2)
I said I won't subscribe to their mag (ie, won't give them money which would support their lobbying agenda), I didn't say I don't listen to them. Big diff.
More to the point, the poster I was replying to called CU "conservative", which is what I was trying to correct.
Re:Primary/secondary schools DON'T NEED INET ACCES (Score:2)
Re:Internet Usage Profiling... (Score:2)
These apps are pure evil and must be abolished. It's just another crutch so that parents and teachers can blame somebody else when the kids go astray. There's no way software can replace parenting and proper supervision.
The horrific side effect is that it keeps our populace ignorant of the rules and laws of our society, which I don't think corporate America has any qualms about. I'll bet SpoonBoy42 here would hit a brick wall if he tried to use the internet at school to look up ways to usurp Bess's market position.
Censorship helps nobody and is typically a tool of oppression. Let's not reenforce a precedent and casually let this issue slip by.
Re:Just use an Anti-Censorware Proxy (Score:2)
Re:lawsuit a-go-go (Score:2)
Be poster kids (Score:2)
Re:Channel 1 (Score:2)
The only thing you can do as a student is try to behave like more of an adult than you are treated. If you can do that, you win.
Use the right language (Score:2)
Re:Quit Your Whining and Study (Score:2)
*Gives the ability to communicate with students from foreign countries
*Allows students something to learn about in their free time
*gets students interisted in things they would not normally be interisted
Cons:
*things which adults wish them not to see (we all know everything that fits in that category)...
As both a students and a network assistant, I can truly say that censorware SUCKS. We tried it, and found that it just does not work.
The reason it does not work is this: I would say 10% of the porn sites that I come accross are stationary sites (such as whitehouse.com). These websites are banned at the district forewall level. It is these sites that students say "hey, check out whitehouse.com", and then they see it. The other 90% of the sites are run using redirectoin servives and free webhosting. These sites will never be able to be blocked in time because they change URL's every 12 hours, and this is a lot quicker than the censorware will ever catch the majority of them.
We have put a policy into place:
You are caught viewing porn or other such material, immiediate consequences are at the bare minumum loss of rights to use any computer in the district for any reason.
You ask, how many have been caught? The answer is 2 last year and 1 this year. If you think there are a lot more you are wrong. Most people in my school do not know I am a network assistant (self-created title, we really have none, but its the best explanation), so they do not know I am watching. If I haooen to see something wrong, I simply go to that machine and check the users history folder. I have yet to see any that had more than 1 instance of this accidently happening.
ok, that was not all on topic, but you get the idea.
Re:E-Rate: Censorship required (Score:2)
Re:Channel 1 (Score:2)
Not the same at all. Channel One is a one-way broadcast. They send 10 minutes of signal (with a couple minutes of ordinary commercials) but they get no information back from the schools. The ads are targeted in the same way that MTV is targeted -- teenagers buy stuff like acne pads, scooters, and cola. Duh. Annoying, but I'd like to see you find ANY law it violates.
Collecting web click data without consent is A Bad Thing. Doing it on children under 13 is definitely a federal crime [slashdot.org].
Children's Online Privacy Act (Score:2)
However there is one huge hitch in the law. That hitch provides that the school can act as an agent of the parent in consent issues. This would seem to contradict the "spirit" of the law itself.
That being said I do believe that if enough parents strongly voiced objections to the collection and sale of information on children under 13 to third party entities, something would be done.
In case it is NOT done, simply collect documentation and enlist the aid of your local media. School officials tend to dislike media attention on subjects that may imply they are involved in child exploitation.( I view this as child exploitation, I hope you do too. )
Regardless of the age limit in the Children's Online Privacy Act, the collection and sale of information concerning minor children in schools simply should not be done IMHO.
Link to the Children's Online Privacy Act Press Release:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/9910/childfinal.htm
Link to the full text of the rule ( note the first link is a PDF at 270K ):
http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/9910/64fr59888.pdf
http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/9910/64fr59888.htm
Link on how to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/cop
And a link to the FTC Privacy Initiatives Page. This page has even more links to other pertinant information:
http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/index.html
Hope this helps a little!
Re:You're not going to like this, but... (Score:2)
My rant to protectice parents: Censorware is a symptom of laziness and neglect in parenting. If you are truly concerned about what your child sees, then see it with them! Explain what they see, or better yet, teach them how to surf without reaching questionable sites. (You DID know that can be done, right? )
This is what the problem here is exactly: Lack of parental responsibility. The school is not a babysitter, nor is the TV/game console, and neither is the computer. If you are a parent reading this, and you expect your children to become model citizens in society, then take responsibility for your children's actions. If you are a child reading this, take responsibility for your own actions as well.
Re:But nobody complies... (Score:2)
Most schools might, but others will send you to jail. The colonization of our minds by advertising is proceeding apace. Sleep soundly citizens! [adbusters.org]
trap them (Score:2)
Who me, cause trouble? Nah.
standing (Score:2)
Public endangerment... (Score:2)
My suggestion would be to find a sympathetic adult to go to the mat with you. It's absolutely necessary. It's almost tradition to dismiss cries of fould from students, but once a parent or respected member of the community makes clear that they won't leave until the matter's addressed --- that's a different storey. Select someone that will stick by you, is even tempered, eloquent, persuasive, and preferably connected. A teacher, librarian, youth group leader, or parent would be good choices.
For your part, start preparing a list of sites that get through and shouldn't, and sites that should get through but don't. Be prepared to demonstrate, and make sure that both are relevent (show the worst sites that get through, and the most educational sites that are blocked).
Finally, note that using a service that tracks children's browsing could conceivably pose a tangible threat to the children. There's no way in telling who buys, or receives what information and how detailed it may be. Were the information to fall into the wrong hands (a local child molester wannabe), the results could be devastating. And if something like that ever happened (and it certainly will someday), don't think for a second that child's parents won't sue that town or the state right into bankruptcy court.
Re:Talk to the board first (Score:2)
Bear in mind also that you live in one of the most publicly anal-retentive countries in the world, where politicians and their sponsor corporations pay only lip-service to serious issues like this because the real votes lie in pandering to the large numbers of under-informed adults.
Have you tried the school-l and schoolweb-l mailing lists? These are specifically for discussing general education matters and internet matters respectively in relation to K-12/Highschool education. Mail me [mailto] for details: for security the list details are not on the regular Web interface for LISTSERV lists.
Peacefire censored... (Score:2)
At my work they censor peacefire, but this still does the trick:
http://a1.g.akamaitech.net/6/6/6/6/peacefire.or
Re:Even we teachers dislike it. (Score:2)
No, please God no! They did that at the Waterloo County Board of Education (WCBE) which is now the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) and the internet never sucked worse.
It blocked out so much stuff I was surprised that www.disney.com wasn't blocked.
That plus the blocking was done by domain name, not IP. www.anonymizer.com was blocked, but www.anonymiser.com was being allowed.
I remember sites like www.nintendo.com being blocked. Sounds like there's no use for it, until you realize that kids get a lot more interested in education when it applies to them. Eg: English class. Learning how to write essays. How many kids would do a better job of writing an essay on what they enjoy? Most.
Well, none of the students could do it on comparisons of video game systems. Too bad really, since it would be a great opportunity to learn essay writing.
Remember the Chinese proverb:
Tell me and I may forget.
Show me and I may remember.
Involve me and I will understand.
Students can't understand their learning when it doesn't involve them.
Re:Just use an Anti-Censorware Proxy (Score:2)
--
Re:Rating Censorware (Score:2)
Actually, I was thinking conservative as in a conservative approach to testing, etc. not conservative politics.
While I have not really seen a copy of the mag in a while, my first impression of the magazine is not political, but testing. I certainly can see their political views as mild, given the example. They do not go over the top in politicizing their results, that I know of. Given the consumer advocacy element of their message, I suppose you could position them as liberal, but this might not be quite right. And some folks get polarized by anything they see that does not line up with their views.
But the bottom line is that they say the software is basically junk, producing 20% or more of the time undesirable results.
And they are positioned to make the point.
Re:Quit Your Whining and Study (Score:2)
That's where you are in second grade. You can't stop there.
I guess we would have to agree that we disagree on that matter. Particle physics is one of the fields (astronomy is too) where it takes a very long time for printed media to catch up with material made available by research institutions on the web. There is no way you can learn about current research in particle physics without using the web at least weekly. As for researchers, people on the house here rarely consult printed media anymore.
Now, if we're talking 15-year-olds, it is not critical that they have access to the latest results. If they get access to it, however, it will significantly enhance their education. I get kids coming up to my office to interview me about things like general relativistic world models. To let them in, of course I demand that they are well prepared, and they really are, and they have been using the web to gather information that is hardly available to them by any other means.
However, what is most essential about giving them access to the internet, is something that has been mostly neglected in normal education: Kids are taught about what to think, but not how to think. How to filter out the crap in the Real World [tm] in which the internet is important, is so important that if you neglect it, you will have been given an education that is hardly useful.
School is supposed to prepare you for the Real World[tm], how can you possibly have an education without proper exposure to the internet?
Re:Why school? (Score:2)
Around here you would... (Score:2)
I can see that things are very different around here. For one thing, kids have formal power from the time they begin at school. From about age 12, kids elect representatives among themselves to represent them in the School Board. In some schools, these representatives may be ignored, in which case they may have a hard time being heard the way they are entitled to, but in my school, when I was in the pupils council in 7. grade, they sure listened to us.
Secondly, censorware doesn't have a good name around here. Especially in Denmark, they have a few highly clued people in high positions. Recently, the Danish Minister of Culture [www.kum.dk] said she would consider a ban on censorware in public libraries! What happened is that one small public library put up censorware on their computers "to protect the children". Both the largest associations of librarians in Denmark oppose this, and the minister said she hopes the librarians will sort it out themselves, but also that she felt that the filters threatened free expression, she would interfere. She also was also cited saying that people seeking legitimate sex education would be hindered by the filters as one particular concern.... I have a link to the story in Norwegian newspaper, in Norwegian [aftenposten.no].
First, I would go to my parents and voice my concern to some of my best teachers first. For one thing, the Univerals Declaration of Human Rights [un.org] states in Article 26 that parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. Thus, the school should be careful about restricting you internet access more than what your parents say. If you find some good teachers who agree with you, preparing an argument as to why censorware is bad and illegal, is a really good school project, especially if you're preparing a lawsuit! :-) It would take an understanding of relevant laws that are beyond the curriculum, for sure...
However, I don't think a lawsuit would be your best primary move, I'd say first go for your school to drop it. Now, if you had the formal power we have, you would have a nice paved road to follow, but since you don't, I guess there are other people's advice here will be useful than mine.
Around here, I think the best way to kill censorware as a commercial product is to refer to fair trade practices regulations. It sounds to me like you don't have the same regulations like we do. For one thing, if someone advertises their product saying "our product protects your children from seeing pr0n", they would have to prove it. Of course, the censorware of today is pure snake oil, and all you would have to do is a short demonstration of that fact, and they're out. I think it would make a hell of a lawsuit here, I would consider it just for the fun of it.... :-)
Since you don't have a paved road in this case either, would have to work hard to get someone in power to understand that censorware is snake oil, and that it is not only that current block lists are poor, it's that any AI based software just can't work, it will remain snake oil for all foreseeable future. If you are able to get them to understand that, I think you've come a long way.
It's good that you're going to take up a fight! There are probably many who are suffering from these filters but who are not as intelligent, enlightened and resourceful as you, and who are not able to take up the fight. So go get 'em! :-)
Re:But nobody complies... (Score:2)
The problem with capped Karma is it only goes down...
Isn't there a law covering this already? (Score:2)
Wasn't there a law passed recently (within the last year) that requires companies who collect information on minors online to fully disclose what that information is AND to get parental consent?
It would seem these datapimps have a disclosure problem here unless they're throwing up their privacy statement in front of the students whenever they access the web through their software.
STFW - I'm sure I've heard this recently.
Try the ACLU (Score:2)
www.aclu.org [aclu.org]
Re:Try the School District first (Score:2)
1. What they are trying to accomplish.
2. Why they use software that does not achieve that goal.
3. What they are trying to accomplish (needs re-asking in the face of the bullshit "it's all we've got" argument that they'll give to #2.
4. Whether their half-measures are worth banning legitimate sites.
Keep it open, keep it public, keep a record. Bring a camcorder to the meetings. Petty bureaucrats are less willing to be their usual moronic selves on film. Again, the taxpaying, voting parents are important to have on hand; they get very indignant at stupidity and waste in their local government, espesially when it hurts their kids. They might even go along simply because you guys are willing to take a stand. Good luck.
Re:What you need to do... (Score:2)
Anyway, my point is not to brag that I'm luckier than you... I essentially wanted to back this paln -- get the teachers and librarians to help with petitions. But my suggestion -- don't stop bugging the school board until they give in, unless they threaten to file a complaint against you for harassment. :) (And if they do that, threaten to file a countersuit...) However, I wouldn't recommend that you jump to a lawsuit right away. If you run out of things to try, maybe legal action is in order. But I suggest that you bug the school administration, the school board, etc. Eventually, they'll at least give due consideration to your idea. But don't do it on your own. I disagree with the above post, a bunch of serious students would have some weight. Getting teachers and librarians to join in is even better, but don't stop because you can't get teachers to join your cause.
Again, I can't help you a lot, my experience with getting stuff blocked consists of not being allowed telnet access through the firewall, and I was told that if I talked to the head of the computer department, I could probably get it opened for my account...
_________________________________________________
Re:Try the School District first (Score:2)
Don't show what it lets through; show what it *doesn't* let through. Showing that the software lets bad sites through will result in them wanting to make it more restricting. Instead, show them what it *doesn't* allow through.
_________________________________________________
Internet Usage Profiling... (Score:2)
Not to sound hostile, but this really sounds very petty. Mainly because I would doubt you are really losing any privacy. A distinct username isn't associated with any of the data, let alone personal information. While you can argue it's the principle of the thing, it still doesn't seem like that big of an issue.
In any event, the usage contract the school signed with the proxy provider probably has them covered. It's a waste of energy to dislike something intensely that can't go anywhere.
E-Rate Regulations (Score:2)
There is a new problem this year with E-Rate. E-Rate is national money used to subsidize technology in schools. Basically, as school can get almost 60% back of what they spend of technology (computers, broadband internet access, etc.) However, there was a new decision made that to be eligible for ANY E-Rate money, the district must use some censorship software. The bottom line, our district now uses this software on all schools.
The problem is not what the Parents want or even the school district. From a purely fiscal approach, we CAN'T afford to not get this E-Rate money. If you want to complain, this has to go to the national level, call you congressmen.
Unfortunatly... (Score:3)
Most laws protect only the OWNER of the product against problems with the software. IE) you can't sue ticketmaster for outragious ticket prices because the stadiums are the ones paying for the service. Also you can't sue MS for damages because the OEM purchaned the software not you.
The best you can do is organize with the parents in the community, show them how screwed up the system is. When you convince them that the software is not working then tell them that not only are they paying gobs of money for the software but the company is now profiting from your information by selling it to advertizers.
Just don't give up.
Good luck, and happy fighting.
Talk to the board first (Score:3)
E-Rate: Censorship required (Score:3)
Vice President Al Gore urged Congress on Monday to pass legislation that would require schools and libraries using federal subsidies for Internet access to block inappropriate material from children. "As we connect every school and classroom to the Internet, we must protect our children from the red-light districts of cyberspace," Gore said. http://www.techweb.com/news/story/TWB19980323S0011 [techweb.com]
And it passed: http://techlawjournal.com/censor/19990624.htm [techlawjournal.com] and allowed to stand by the Supreme Court. http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/00/149865.html [newsbytes.com]. So for many rural and urban school districts, they don't have any choice. Censorship is required by law -- either that or back to a single dialup connection. :)
Of course, the school may not receive e-rate funding, in which case, they may be required by other local/state laws to filter access.
Channel 1 (Score:3)
Re:Don't give up but don't get too excited either (Score:3)
Did your parrents sign a document allowing the censorware software to track you browsing habbits? I bet not. This is where you fight. FInd a few parrents that are outraged at that. Get the most articulate ones to spearhead the suit to throw out that nasty software that is tracking kids browsing habbits. Only use the censorware's inabillity to properly as an additional hook to kick it out.
Re:Isn't there a law covering this already? (Score:3)
Thrown out as unconstitional.
MOVE 'ZIG'.
Re:Get over it! (Score:3)
"Can we go to Mount Splashmore?"
"No"
"Can we go to Mount Splashmore?"
"No"
"Can we go to Mount Splashmore?"
"No"
"Can we go to Mount Splashmore?"
"No"
"Can we go to Mount Splashmore?"
"If I say yes will you shut up?"
"Yes. Can we go to Mount Splashmore?"
"Yes!"
Just use an Anti-Censorware Proxy (Score:3)
http://osiris.978.org/~brianr/ians/ [978.org]
Or the many others here:+ Proxy%22 [google.com]
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Anti-Censorware
There's even an SSL encrypted one, but I don't know the URL for that one off hand.
--
It's difficult to start something... (Score:3)
Now, it has been revealed that data as to kids' surfing habits is being sold to advertisers.
Here's your edge. No one's going to listen to you complain about having censorwear in the high school. Granted, we all know of its drawbacks and its dubious legality issues, but you don't have the power as a minor to fight back. But where there's profit involved, there's power.
There's one thing that you haven't made clear yet, and there's two paths to take depending on the situation.
1) The school district has set up a contract with N2H2 over the profiteering mess where the district shares in the profits.
2) The school district does not profit from N2H2 and N2H2 did this on their own account.
Situation 1 is going to be the most difficult to counteract, because it's going to involve numbers. First off, for both situations, LET YOUR STUDENTS KNOW...EVERY ONE OF THEM. Power is in numbers. Then, let your parents know that you as students are being profited against your own free will by a corporation. Bypass the school district and write letters (with AS MANY signatures -- in ink -- as possible...yourselves and your parents) to your state/country legislatures and your govenor and let them know what's going on. Also, write a brief synopsis of what is going on and send it to news broadcasters, local and national (it's a lot easier now with the internet, although I suggest you send it both by internet and also by formal snail-mail).
The problem with the first situation is that you can't counteract it by yourselves. Since you are minors, you lack the legal rights (which are in the hands of the school board) over a situation such as this.
If the second situation is what's occuring, it's much easier to deal with. You can do everything I listed in situation one, but you should begin though with the school board instead. At the next school board meeting, get the biggest herd of students you can muster (believe me, when two hundred+ kids show up for a school meeting, PEOPLE WILL HEAR, especially the news) and introduce this problem at the meeting, or call in early to get it on the agenda and have a student leader address the problem. Having your parents there as well would help.
Again, it's ethically wrong that a corporation is profiting on your behalf without your authorization, but because you're a minor, this authorization lies in the hands of the school board and your parents. But belive me, the power is in numbers.
Last spring, a nearby town's principal decided that it was in the school's best interest, due to a drop in the budget, to fire five teachers while giving himself a payraise over the next five years. Once the students heard about it, THE ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL (about 900 students) held a rally during the schoolday in the gym. The principal showed up to defend his position (of which he had none, but he tried to defend it anyway). At the next school board meeting, the principal was neglected his payraise in the budget proposal.
lawsuit a-go-go (Score:3)
"Only amateurs attack machines; professionals target people."
Quit Your Whining and Study (Score:3)
I'm consistenly amazed why the /. crowd, which is usually open-minded about many issues, fails to even consider the other side of this censorware coin:
- Do schools and libraries actually need Internet access in the first place?
- If they do, do they need unlimited access?
- How is installing censorware any different than just not buying a book?
Let's face it: Internet access is not a necessary element of a student's first 12 years of education. Even it's value for the freshman and sophomore years of college is dubious at best. (How much time have we all wasted with email and web browsing? I'm glad no one is counting.)At my engineering school [stevens-tech.edu], the same test administered by the same professors for the last 50 years has lower scores today than in the 1950's, when Internet access, calculators and personal computers were unheard of. For all our clever technology, when it comes to our intellectual aptitude we're stupider than our grandparents.
If anything, censorship in schools needs to go further. Instead of blocking certain sites and locations, censorware should only allow certain sites and locations.
But with regard to Bess, if you think you can form a lawsuit because a company whose software you used compiled statistics on your usage patterns, you need to have another think. Would you also want to sue Mobil for compiling information on its SpeedPass users? Or Ford, for tracking information on people who purchase its cars? Do you seriously think that you can launch a lawsuit against Home Depot for counting how many people purchased vinyl siding? Of course not. And so you can't with N2H2, either.
Quit thinking you're so important that your browsing habits actually matter. They don't, and it is the mark of the self-absorbed to be paranoid, because paranoia makes people feel that their cause is that much nobler. But in your case, there is no data that even ties you as an individual to any marketers, so claiming damagers--the basis of any lawsuit--isn't even a plausible option. It's time to drop the ideas of removing Internet access blocks from your school's browsers. It's time to stop spending time surfing the web. And it's time to start studying for your classes, which is how you will get into a good college, where you will continue to study for your classes, which is how you will get a good job, where you will continue to study, which is how you will do something good and make a difference in this world.
(If I've been harsh in my wording, I apologize. My intent was not to troll or throw out flamebait, but to seriously present another facet--one which is rarely seen here--of this issue.)
--
Re:Quit Your Whining and Study (Score:3)
I think so. It is an important way to learn about what is going on around you right now. That's what libraries are for, learning.
>If they do, do they need unlimited access?
No, not completely unlimited. But they need access that is unlimited as far as true learning goes. And that line is fuzzy. Is Michaelangelo's "David" art, or pornography?
>How is installing censorware any different than just not buying a book?
Installing censorware is different then buying a book. It is like buying a book and ripping "offensive" pages out of it, IMHO.
>Internet access is not a necessary element of a student's first 12 years of education.
I disagree. Of course, when I was at elementary school (which was in the 80's) everyone said the same about the C64 computers they installed in a few classrooms. "Waste of money, can't learn nothing with a computer" was a popular line.
>it's value for the freshman and sophomore years of college is dubious at best.
Guess you've never taken a distance education course lately. Most of them are ONLY done over the internet.
>the same test administered by the same professors for the last 50 years has lower scores today than in the 1950's
I bet if I gave you a test in geography from the 1700's you'd have a hard time too. Why would one want to learn out of date facts? "In Fact, once this fast food fad is over, man may, someday, land on the moon".
>Instead of blocking certain sites and locations, censorware should only allow certain sites and locations.
Instead of buying certain books for the library, they should only let people read certain books in the library. "Hey son, is that MAD magazine I see? That is BANNED. You are hereby fined one credit for a violation of the library reading statues. Now get out, and don't come back until I see you reading something wholesome and educational like 'Anne of Green Gables'".
>Would you also want to sue Mobil for compiling information on its SpeedPass users?
No. But I would if they had SpeedPass on every road and dirt track in the world. That's because I like choice.
>Or Ford, for tracking information on people who purchase its cars? Do you seriously think that you can launch a lawsuit against Home Depot for counting how many people purchased vinyl siding?
Then buy a Chrysler, or buy Siding from Beaver Lumber. *You* have a choice. These kids *can't* say "I don't like this school. I want to go to one that doesn't treat me like a second class citizen."
Let's put it this way. I'm going to assume you live in a country where your phone lines are generally provided by one company (for your area) and that you can't get another company to drag fresh ones to your house (legally). If your phone company blocked what numbers you could phone (saying that 1-900 #s are wrong) would you just give up and take it?
>It's time to stop spending time surfing the web. And it's time to start studying for your classes
So you think that people doing distance education should just drop off the face of the earth? Wow...
>which is how you will do something good and make a difference in this world.
No, you can make a difference to the lives of thousands (if not millions) of students by getting a law put in place banning the improper use of censorware.
Schoolboard (Score:3)
You'd be amazed how far a group of kids can go attending a schoolboard meeting with parents in tow (I did this once to help get our school district wired for ethernet in 1996).
Re:Quit Your Whining and Study (Score:3)
Which century are you living in? Well, you can can go to school without net access, I did, I remember, but the amount of useful information out there is huge. It opens up an entire new world!
Of course, there are enormous amounts of crap out there too, but if the kids are not taught how to identify crap when they are in school, they will come out of school with a serious handicap.
Finally, my mother's a teacher, and she puts next weeks homework on the web every sunday, so that the kids can check it whenever they like, whether at school or at home. Also, parents can check out the pages and see if the kids are doing their homework.... :-) Anyway, my mother is 62, but she sure thinks the net is essential for school work at any level.
But nobody complies... (Score:3)
The bonus for schools using Channel 1 is that they get free TVs. This is a very good thing actually - we've used our TVs to do in-school shows instead of having to heard everyone to a single room (and I get to do the whole production because nobody else seems to know how...). However, we cheat. We do some of those productions during Channel 1. Also note that students may do other things on there own, even if Channel 1 says they can't. Parents are allowed to remove students from any class, etc. that goes against what they feel is right - including the time that Channel 1 is on. And since no school I know of gives a Channel 1 "grade", they can miss it for the whole year.
PS - Channel 1 is also off in my class room right now. Lightning strike...
The problem with capped Karma is it only goes down...
Route through someplace else (Score:3)
Just use SOCKS [nec.com]. Find a college buddy or anyone with a box on broadband and throw up a socks 5 server. Then put SocksCap on the boxes at school. Download all of this here [nec.com].
Now you can use the local applications and they will route all requests through the remote box. This is also a very good way to get around port limitations. If a school only allows port 80, but you want ICQ, just use SocksCap on port 80. Whee!
Of course, if you're paranoid you can also tunnel socks through ssh, which would encrypt your entire Internet session. Who's collecting your data now?
-Justin
Try the School District first (Score:3)
Don't give up but don't get too excited either (Score:4)
What to do... (Score:4)
Here's what you do:
Talk to your fellow students and get them to talk with their parents about the censorware situation. Stress the collection of your surfing habits and the censorware company's porfiting for them. Parents (read: NIMBY mothers*) will probablly become outraged at this alone. Also mention that the censorware blocks legitimate sites and allows naughty sites through anyway.
Talk to some of the teachers at your school. You might find some that support you. Ask them to talk it over at faculty meetings.
Try and find out how much it costs your school to license the censorware. Write into your local newspaper(s) explaining how much of a waste of taxpayer dollars censorware is. Cite some examples of legitimate sites being blocked (leave the naughty ones out). The public HATES property taxes and a good chunk of them go to the local scools. If the public sees their peoperty taxes being wasted, the mayor will get a few calls about it.
Take your parents to school boards meetings and bring up the issue there. They are going to want a viable alternative to the censorware. Here's one: an acceptable use contract signed by the students and parents that says if you do bad stuff, you loose computer provliges perminantly and faculty supervision of computer use. Stress that only a real human can watch someone properly, no comptuer can replace that.
Now remember, all these steps need well thought out planning. When you write to your local paper, make sure that you sound professional and have a professional appearance. Don't make yourself look like a bratty kid. You must gain support by others and you're only going to do that through good arguments. This might be a good time to read up on debating skills which you might need to face off against the school board.
* NIMBY = Not In My Back Yard. These are the people who yack on their cell phones all day yet cry foul when someone wants to put a cell phone tower within a mile of them, and the like. Give NIMBY females kids and they turn into whinny pains in the butt that you can't get rid of. It sucks to face off against them, but if they're on your side, nothing between heaven and earth can move them.
Wall Street Journal on censorware data-selling (Score:4)
Web-Filter Data From Schools Is Put Up for Sale by Company [google.com]
Sig: My Latest Censorware Essay:
What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org) [spectacle.org]
Rating Censorware (Score:4)
The point here is that this is a referance from a source that they both know and trust. They have a heavy reputation for being unbiased, and they work at it. Mind You, it is oriented to Adults with children, but they do approach the matter in a factual manner. Here is their take on some of the more "controversial" aspects of the censorware debate.
Bottom line, if you as a kid go in and protest, well "duh", you tend to get ignored. But if you go in with a nice conservative magazine not known for politics, but trusted for sensible judgement, and they support you, then it tends to cut through the BS a little. Of Course, there will still be certain defense mechanisms, but it opens a chink in the armor.Not surprisingly, the censorware companies are incensed by the report.
Re:What you need to do... (Score:4)
The problem being, peacefire is blocked by every censorship program I've ever had inflicted upon me.
Is it just me, or is blocking every site as "crime" which says bad things about iGear sort of immoral?
Re:Talk to the board first (Score:5)
I would strongly suggest you find an "advisor", preferably a librarian, teacher or administrator to assist and guide you in your efforts - no doubt they are at least somewhat familiar with the politics and dynamics of the school board. They should come with you to the board meeting, although they do not need to participate in the presentation. They are there to advocate for you, to lend legitimacy to your efforts in the eyes of those who may not be so enlightened about the validity of minors' concerns, and to help you make the best presentation you possibly can.
In your preparations, be very organised. Focus on the two of three points that will best achieve your ends: (1) the software prevents you from visiting valuable research sites; and (2) the software is being used to violate your privacy to enrich this greedy corporation.
On (1), as others have said, make sure you have a long list of sites. However, you should also detail the merits of the top 3 and be prepared to answer questions on the top 10. Have at least a few notes on each site to refer to if a question is asked about its content. You should have some screenshots of the top 10 so people can see and understand what this resource is you are trying to access so that they can see for themselves how valuable it is.
On (2), make sure you have one or more good analogies to what this company are doing that could be understood by someone who has never used a computer in their life. Remember, you're addressing the least common denominator here - the general public. Make your arguments relevant to these people by couching them in terms of everyday life.
I would not raise the issue of the software failing to block some sites - it complicates the discussion unnecessarily, and does not advance your position. It might even hurt your position by suggesting to some that (a) you are a troublemaker who wants to look at porn; and/or (b) stronger measures are needed, like disconnecting the 'net completely. If someone raises this issue, simply deflect it back to your main arguments by stating "We're not trying to look at porn, so it doesn't matter. We're much more concerned about the fact that this software prevents us from using the 'net for our education and invades our privacy." This should win you some points *and* avoid an emotionally-charged "morals" issue.
To summarise, prepare very well, partner with an authority figure who is respected in the community and in school politics, and organise your presentation very carefully so that every point you make comes back to your central argument: we need to get rid of this software.
Good luck!
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Score:5)
My school had the same problem with software called Altiris Vision. I took the matter into my own hands, and removed the Registry key that ran the program on Startup, and was expelled from the district. It was probably for the better.
I'm re-uploading the page I did on the ECPA. You can get it here [arez.com].
Hope that helps.
-Andrew
----------
Re:trap them (Score:5)
And you won't find any censorware reports on censorware.org [censorware.org] these days. Michael Sims (yes, that Michael Sims, Slashdot YRO editor) shut-down the censorware.org [censorware.org] site, in a failed coup d'etat to control Censorware Project. Some of the material is now on a different site, censorware.NET [censorware.net].
The history is given in my essay below. Michael Sims has taken to abusing his Slashdot editorial position, to downgrade my postings whenever I mention what he did. Maybe this'll slip through. It's worth burning the karma over it.
Note censorware.NET [censorware.net] would also like Michael Sims to stop confusing people over the domain names. No luck so far.
Sig: My Latest Censorware Essay:
What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org) [spectacle.org]
Call the ACLU (Score:5)
So, if you want to really stir some shit up, you can call them and see if they can use your situation as a test case. We know for a fact that the ACLU thinks that censorware in public institutions is unconstitional [aclu.org]. (I also know some of the law students there, so I'll tell you that they're pretty nice people, too.) You could be that test case, if you felt you were up for it -- you wouldn't have to pay a dime in lawyer's fees, but you'd probably have to spend a lot of time in courtrooms, and talking to reporters. But who knows, some people really like that stuff. Good luck.
What you need to do... (Score:5)
Then, start a petition. I don't suggest giving it to students, because the Big guys' response will be that of "yeah, of course the students want the censorware gone." Get teachers to sign it. Get librarians who have to explain to students why they are shown a "Bess can't go there" page when they want to get the information they need. Explain to them how N2H2 is selling out to advertisers the browsing habits of the school's students. Propose your petition and list to the school board, along with convincing arguments why any type of censorware is bad, and how it's just a replacement for proper supervision. Check out Peacefire [peacefire.org] for arguments against the most common censorware applications. Good luck to you, and I'd like to hear the outcome of your scenario, as I'm in the same situation with Bess.