Smoothwall Visigo

[MattGibson]

Hi Everyone,

 

Noticed this was launched last week, I know of a similar product called e-safe systems which is brilliant but very very expensive.

 

Can someone tell me if this is Smoothwalls own product or simply rebadged under e-Safe Systems? - if it is I guess the pricing will be the same if not similar [emoji107]

[robk]

I believe they changed from e-safe to another similar product, but with a lower cost from what they told me.

[Edu-IT]

So it's not something they have developed? Ah. It reads as though it was.

[Norphy]

I was talking to my account manager at BETT about this, he made it sound like it was developed in-house by SmoothWall

[timbo343]

Also, it comes as a price, im not sure what it is but existing smoothwall customers cant get t for free

[robk]

It could be developed by Smoothwall I didn't ask that question.

[Bigbird7]

From my understanding it has been developed by Smoothwall, they used to be partnered with eSafe but it seems that is no longer the case. It is however a very similar product, basically a key logger with the monitoring and reporting offsite. There is access to a dashboard of your school database. Pricing is on a per device basis and it does seem to work out significantly cheaper than eSafe.

[philipksmith]

Hi All

 

I'm pleased to announce that this is a new Smoothwall product and not a re-badged e-Safe solution.

 

We will be in beta for this product over the next couple of months. If you are interested please send me a PM and I can put you in touch with my product manager (Tim Dalton) who can help you understand what it will deliver.

 

This is an exciting new development for us - we're keen to hear your feedback.

 

Regards

 

Phil

[Michael]

The specs look good here, however it only supports PC and Mac; not iPads for example. This is the same problem with all Safeguarding solutions.

[Smoothwall_Christina]

I would like to add @Phillipksmith's comment.

 

We are currently looking into making Visigo compatible with other devices and there is a lot of work going on to this end as we know how important it is to our customers. I hope this helps!

 

More information will be released in due course.

Edited January 30, 2017 by Smoothwall_Christina
tagged wrong person

[RJohnson91]

This looks very interesting, we are Smoothwall customers and would be very interested in this.

 

Could I have some information sent over to me? @philipksmith

 

Ryan

[timdalton]

Hi Ryan,

 

I'll send you a PM now, will get some details over to you. Happy to arrange a time to have a chat too if you've got questions.

 

Tim

[browolf]

There's a recent reddit thread about visigo here:

[TechMonkey]

That's a kid basically trying to find a away around the school systems. They misunderstand how it works and are trying to get support for their righteous indignation.

[GrumbleDook]

That's a kid basically trying to find a away around the school systems. They misunderstand how it works and are trying to get support for their righteous indignation.

 

They understand enough to question it, and the school are probably informing the parents correctly ... but some parents are not informing their children and the leaving it all up to the school.

[DrCheese]

eh, I sorta see the kids point tho - Outside of school hours there should be the expectation of a certain level of privacy. Yes, I realise he's in a boarding school but you don't go shoving CCTV camera's in every kids dorm room in the evenings so this is along the same lines. Filter it, fine - The school has a duty of care if they are providing an Internet connection - Have a third party company actively monitor it with no good reason other than "You could be up to no good" & act as the moral police for what kids do in their own hours? Not fine.

I worry about the level of surveillance we're normalising with our children at times.

 

I am still extremely suspect of this company & it's not something I would ever recommend a school look at buying into. The data & privacy risks are immense.

Edited January 8, 2018 by DrCheese

[GrumbleDook]

Would a parent take as much control or out on similar software? Yes.

Are the school In Loco Parentis? Yes.

 

And this is why boarding schools and safeguarding becomes .... interesting!

[TechMonkey]

eh, I sorta see the kids point tho - Outside of school hours there should be the expectation of a certain level of privacy. Yes, I realise he's in a boarding school but you don't go shoving CCTV camera's in every kids dorm room in the evenings so this is along the same lines. Filter it, fine - The school has a duty of care if they are providing an Internet connection - Have a third party company actively monitor it with no good reason other than "You could be up to no good" & act as the moral police for what kids do in their own hours? Not fine.

I worry about the level of surveillance we're normalising with our children at times.

 

I am still extremely suspect of this company & it's not something I would ever recommend a school look at buying into. The data & privacy risks are immense.

 

I can see the point he is making but the student is using the school provided internet line, so the school needs to be safeguarding the pupil. My understanding of the system is that terms are flagged and then someone checks the entry, it's not like there is a person watching what the pupil does 24/7. Would you not want your kids looked after if they were searching self harm or suicide? Or if a pupil was using the school internet to harass another pupil?

 

The CCTV analogy is incorrect. I bet they have CCTV monitoring the main gates and the boarding house doors so if a pupil decides to sneak out or if someone tries to sneak in it can be found or investigated afterwards. The CCTV is not there because the pupil may be "up to no good" but because the school has a duty of care so needs to actively protect the pupil.

 

We also don't know the levels set so you are prejudging. As mentioned, I don't know the system intimately but it may be after hours the system relaxes and only flags major safeguarding and bullying, it may have sites flagged as not monitored. For all we know the system may be set to be very allowing because the IT manager has similar concerns but this particular pupil has been caught trying to look at something particularly troubling and had a slap on the wrist.

 

I'm not sure why you would be extremely suspect of this company and not the others that run similar services. It also seems overly judgemental to say you would never recommend to a school when a school may have requirements that these solutions meet exactly and you would denying the school what they want/need.

[DrCheese]

I'm not sure why you would be extremely suspect of this company and not the others that run similar services.

 

Not sure where I said it was just this company I'm suspect of - I don't like the idea of having an external company view content produced from within a school. It sounds like a data protection nightmare & ripe for abuse. We're all aware these systems produce false positives & what if confidential data from say, the business managers machine went out & this was abused.

 

The CCTV analogy is incorrect

 

No, it isn't. - But as GrumbleDook says that the boarding school acts as "In Loco Parentis" so I suppose they have the right to do so. I'm not versed on how much a boarding school would get involved with what would be considered private time outside of standard school hours (and therefor it would be the parents responsibility) I do totally understand that yes they are using the schools Internet connection, just think personally there should be some balance between school hours & out of school hours (If this isn't the case) but again, as I don't work in a boarding school I'm not qualified to speak on it.

 

I bet they have CCTV monitoring the main gates and the boarding house doors so if a pupil decides to sneak out or if someone tries to sneak in it can be found or investigated afterwards.

That is a different thing entirely to the point I made about dorm rooms.

 

It also seems overly judgemental

I am allowed an opinion & this is mine.

Edited January 8, 2018 by DrCheese

[TechMonkey]

Not sure where I said it was just this company I'm suspect of[/Quote]

I am still extremely suspect of this company[/Quote]

 

I am allowed an opinion & this is mine.

Ah, so not a technical discussion, an I am right discussion.

[DrCheese]

What's your problem, really? I'm not saying "I'm right, your wrong" at all, just how I feel about it. If you think it's a good solution for you then more power to you. Edited January 8, 2018 by DrCheese