Internet Filtering for staff

[TronXP]

We are having some discussions about the internet filtering that staff have on our system.

I would like some information from you edugeek members please.

1) Is there any legal reasons for staff to be filtered on the internet if so any references?
2) In your school are your staff filtered?
3)If so are they filtered the same as students??

And if you don't mind could you leave your name, establisment and job title (or pm me it)

Thanks to you all in advance

Andy

[Domino]

We here filter staff - mostly to avoid time wasting (also if you remove the ability to do wrong doing, no one can be accused of it)

However they do have more freedom than students (webmail, youtube, etc), but we've only recently had this ability since installing Smoohwall School Guardian.

Before that we were running through a single filter - which was less than ideal.

[jcollings]

We are having some discussions about the internet filtering that staff have on our system.

I would like some information from you edugeek members please.

1) Is there any legal reasons for staff to be filtered on the internet if so any references?
2) In your school are your staff filtered?
3)If so are they filtered the same as students??

And if you don't mind could you leave your name, establisment and job title (or pm me it)

Thanks to you all in advance

Andy

1. Not sure if there is a legal reason although I guess you have a duty of care to staff.
2. Staff are filtered her
3. It is exactly the same filter as students use.

[monkeyx]

We use squid (linked to AD) to filter for staff and students. Staff have a different set of filters for students. Staff filters cover personal mail systems, as we want them to use the school mail system for work not hotmail et al.

We also use logging capabilities of squid to link usernames to all web sites visited.

There has been a need at times to retrieve usage details for both staff and students. We use sarg to help with this.

[RabbieBurns]

we have just turned off the main filtering proxy for the staff.

The only thing they have been warned about is opening unknown pages when the whiteboards are switched on.

There was that case in america where a woman supply teacher let the students see an adult popup and got the jail. (well, thats america)

[andy]

I guess it is also handy for the teachers to know what is and isn;t available to students while planning lessons.



Andy

[OutToLunch]

1 - Not that I know of.
2&3 - Staff are logged (and made aware they are logged) but not filtered here. Haven't had any problems with that route...

[SYNACK]

Here staff are filtered. We also do it to stop the staff wasting to much time. It also a safety thing as it helps prevent the staff from getting themselves into trouble.

They are filtered slightly less severely than the students

[pallen]

Filtered the same for staff and pupils. Staff need to be protected to ensure they dont accidently access things they shouldn't, especially when working with children.

It is also in our AUP that the network is provided for work use only. As a result it cuts down the need for surfing for holidays etc, and anything that is suitable for the staff should also be suitable for the pupils.

[tom_newton]

Would suggest that similar rules apply as for any commercial employer - duty of care, etc.

Wonder if Tony has any comments?

[dave.81]

Staff aren't filtered bar adult sites, they are logged though.

[amfony]

i dont know about tony, but anthony does! (thats me by the way)

We filter our staff, one because we pay alot for our web filtering (surfcontrol AKA websense now) so why not use it hey, two because staff shouldnt have free-for-all access to any resource so why internet? three to stop time wasting and the like.

[ArchersIT]

IMO all internet access should be filtered at a certain level. If no filtering is done then, as some other people have mentioned, there may be "Duty of care" problems in the event of an issue.

Staff are now filtered the same as students. When the filters were different we kept getting fault calls that the internet was not working as "The students cant see this web page - it is fine on my laptop"!

This does not seem to cause many problems.

Jonathan

[tom_newton]

@Anthony - you seem to make a good substitute for Tony da Shep (AKA grumbledook)

If you really are paying the crazy money that surfsense/webcontrol are asking, please do talk to me or one of our down-under resellers - we can definitely save you some coin!

[SpuffMonkey]

Yes - same for staff and students during school hours, more relaxed out of school hours - this was mainly for 2 reasons - as above, you get a lot of irritating calls about students not being able to get to pages that the teacher can, and also that the teacher's login becomes a lot more appealing to hack, if they have unrestricted access.