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Let's take this a step further --<BR>
<BR>
Who polices these policemen?<BR>
<BR>
On whose desk does the buck stop?<BR>
<BR>
Somebody has to make the decision to allow/disallow certain sites. Who are they?<BR>
<BR>
One teacher who has commented to this list on a number of occasions said that her students went to search for information about the SDLC. And the sites were blocked.<BR>
<BR>
Say what?<BR>
<BR>
The SDLC is part of our study design.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Maggie<BR>
VK3CFI <BR>
<BR>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">On Sun Jan 13 8:41 , Russell Edwards <edwards.russell.t@edumail.vic.gov.au> sent:<BR>
<BR>
</edwards.russell.t@edumail.vic.gov.au></span><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(245, 245, 245); margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px;"><BR>
On 13/01/2008, at 6:55 AM, Maggie Iaquinto wrote:<BR>
<BR>
> Yes, Russell. This all sounds like the 'Great Firewall of China'.<BR>
><BR>
<BR>
Actually, it is a lot, lot worse than Chinese Internet censorship. <BR>
Theirs is a blacklist. Ours is a whitelist. Because the internet is <BR>
vastly larger than what can be practically hand-checked, it's <BR>
impossible for any list to cover a significant fraction it.<BR>
<BR>
Actual numbers are pretty uncertain but as rough guide:<BR>
<BR>
Number of sites on the internet: ~100 million<BR>
Number of sites allowed by the Education Channel: 200,000<BR>
Number of sites blocked by Chinese Communist Party: 20,000<BR>
<BR>
Fraction of sites blocked by Communist Party: 0.02%<BR>
Fraction of sites blocked by DEECD: 99.8%<BR>
<BR>
As you can see, what is left for Chinese citizens can still reasonably <BR>
be called "the Internet". This is not the case for Education Channel- <BR>
only provision.<BR>
<BR>
Russell Edwards<BR>
Whittlesea Secondary College<BR>
<BR>
><BR>
> -----Original Message-----<BR>
> From: <a href="javascript:top.opencompose('itapps-bounces@edulists.com.au','','','')">itapps-bounces@edulists.com.au</a> on behalf of Russell Edwards<BR>
> Sent: Sat 1/12/2008 8:21 PM<BR>
> To: Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List<BR>
> Subject: Re: [Year 12 IT Apps] OT Internet Access<BR>
><BR>
><BR>
> On 12/01/2008, at 1:26 PM, <a href="javascript:top.opencompose('murch@tpg.com.au','','','')">murch@tpg.com.au</a> wrote:<BR>
><BR>
> > Hello all. We have just changed service providers and both staff and<BR>
> > students have been blocked<BR>
> > from so many sites. Staff have to get the technicians to give them<BR>
> > access to sites that they may<BR>
> > want. So, we have different access rights but only on individual<BR>
> > requests. It is so annoying<BR>
> > because most of the web 2.0 that I want to use is blocked.<BR>
><BR>
><BR>
> It sounds like you might be on an Education Channel-only policy for<BR>
> students, as is my school. It is a whitelist filter: everything is<BR>
> blocked by default, only hand-selected sites are allowed. They won't<BR>
> answer my emails for figures but based on what I could dig up, about<BR>
> 99.8% of sites are blocked. It is appalling and by no stretch of the<BR>
> imagination should be referred to as "internet" provision. I could go<BR>
> on and on and on about why it's bad, specifically how it goes against<BR>
> VELS and PoLT and every other fashionable buzzword, and have done so.<BR>
> At my school we convinced everyone who needed to be convinced but in<BR>
> the end it comes down to liability, and the policy remains.<BR>
><BR>
> The EC-only policy should be officially deprecated or banned by the<BR>
> department but instead they encourage it. As far as I can tell it is<BR>
> 0% driven by pedagogy, 0% by genuine concern for student welfare, and<BR>
> 100% legal backside-covering. Both the Department and principals/<BR>
> schools/technicians are trying to duck liability. Maybe IT teachers<BR>
> should encourage parents to take a class action against the Department<BR>
> for *not* providing proper internet connectivity. That might shake<BR>
> some sense into them.<BR>
><BR>
> Russell Edwards<BR>
> Whittlesea Secondary College<BR>
><BR>
><BR>
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