Filtering, how do you determine what gets blocked?

[localzuk]

We've had a discussion today about what gets blocked by the school, ie. what is too naughty for the kids to see.

 

Our rule of thumb remains as 'if it can be seen in The Sun, or a clothing catalogue, then we don't block it'.

 

What level of blocking do you use?

[Geoff]

Basically, your doing it right. It's subjective.

[Wils86]

Block it all, my rule is if its entertaining its not educational yes I am that evil lol

[_Bat_]

Block it all, my rule is if its entertaining its not educational yes I am that evil lol

 

That's edugeek out then lol.

[Wils86]

thats the perk of being the IT tech I am above the rules

[tsky]

We're supposed to have filtering that blocks everything naughty, risque or unwanted.... the sad truth is that most of the stuff gets through.... brilliant one Cachepilot... nice work letting all the pr0n through

[Domino]

if anything is remotely questionable in my eyes it gets blocked...

 

If people request an unbanning it gets reconsidered

[OutToLunch]

Our rule of thumb remains as 'if it can be seen in The Sun, or a clothing catalogue, then we don't block it'.

 

Would you let your students sit and gawp at page 3 of the Sun or the Victoria Secret catalogue at their desk then? Although in theory it sounds sensible - and we'd certainly come down less hard on a student who is 'lingerie shopping' it's still not really acceptable in the classroom. I tend to err on the side of caution, nobody's complained about Nuts magazine website etc being blocked yet!

[sparkeh]

Working in primary schools, we have to be extra careful about filtering so its locked down pretty tight.

 

Teachers logging into the LA portal get a more relax policy on the understanding that all content is checked before being used in class. Generally this followed apart from some hair raising exceptions!

[john]

Mine is maybe a bit tight at times but then if we hit something blocked that shouldn't be then I go and review it and update it

[EduTech]

We dont need to have to think about it! the LEA have it down pretty tight! meaning even "we" cannot get on half the sites we want so the kids have no chance.

 

But we do have a Student Proxy so we can block any new game/proxy sites that pop up and the LA have not got round to doing it.

 

James.

[NeoPlosive]

We're supposed to have filtering that blocks everything naughty, risque or unwanted.... the sad truth is that most of the stuff gets through.... brilliant one Cachepilot... nice work letting all the pr0n through

 

Do you just have CachePilot filtering?

 

If so it may be best for you to push for a managed filtering solution - primarily because of your legal responsibility to prevent minors accessing indecent innapropriate material.

[tsky]

That was the county-wide "managed" solution... we're currently ripping it out to replace it with one that we manage internally so we have more control over what is and isn't blocked.

 

Like most things in education.... "managed service" doesn't ACTUALLY MEAN what it says on the tin. Coming from years in industry, it's been amazing to see what shiznit companies get away with just because they're dealing with education.

 

ho hum!

[fafster]

We operate a default-deny policy. If the teachers need a site open for use, then we unblock it.