Students and Staff must treat school computers as "G" rated public terminals .. sadly, the real world is much less forgiving. <br><br>Whilst it is nice to live in a country that is generally democratic, relatively free and mostly safe, .. imagine cutting the ties or being responsible for the death of an overseas political dissident who is trying to securely communicate with their child in Australia.
<br><br>Would you report them to the authorities or take steps to help protect their new life and safe identity?<br><br>I quite agree with Cameron, there were better things to do with this money beyond software filters to improve the resilience of our students to issues such as cybercrime, fraud, online bullying, Internet and porn addiction. If it the view outside is dangerous then paint all the windows of our magic-school-bus black.
<br><br>Regards Roland<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 26/08/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">victor rajewski</b> <<a href="mailto:askvictor@gmail.com">askvictor@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
And then there is onion routing (TOR) which renders any sort of filter<br>obsolete (just ask the Chinese)<br><br>vik<br><br>On 8/26/07, Stephen Digby <<a href="mailto:digby.stephen.p@edumail.vic.gov.au">digby.stephen.p@edumail.vic.gov.au
</a>> wrote:<br>> The Australian Government seems to be hell-bent on wasting money on an ineffective home and ISP filter systems which are very<br>> likely to be bypassed easily by simple strategies including the huge and growing number of "anonymous proxy" sites.
<br>> These sites provide a window within a window. The school, home or government computer registers that the user has gone to the proxy<br>> site..... and stayed there. The inner window then allows the user to go anywhere, look at anything without any trace.....
<br>> As in so many areas of law enforcement (in or outside school), the only real deterrent is a "climate of fear" regarding severe and<br>> public punishment for offenders caught by traditional methods - surveillance, informers, mistakes by the perp (
e.g. storing images<br>> on local machines for later viewing).<br>> ====================================================<br>> Stephen Digby, Learning Technology Manager<br>> mailto: <a href="mailto:admin@cheltsec.vic.edu.au">
admin@cheltsec.vic.edu.au</a><br>> Cheltenham Secondary College <a href="http://www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au">www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au</a><br>> Ph: 613 955 55 955 Fx: 9555 8617 Mb: 0431-701-028<br>> ====================================================
<br>> I photocopied a mirror just to see what would happen... Now I have an extra photocopy machine. Steven Wright<br>><br>> -----Original Message-----<br>> From: <a href="mailto:offtopic-bounces@edulists.com.au">
offtopic-bounces@edulists.com.au</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:offtopic-bounces@edulists.com.au">offtopic-bounces@edulists.com.au</a>] On Behalf Of Cameron Bell<br>> Sent: Saturday, 25 August 2007 4:39 PM<br>> To: Information Technology Teachers' Offtopic Mailing List
<br>> Subject: Re: [Offtopic] Free government pornography filter<br>><br>> Which is why I find it amazing that there are many schools that still think that banning, blocking, filtering and removing access<br>> will solve everything.
<br>> Kids are now downloading porn straight to their mobile phones. That bypasses any filters we have in place.<br>> Cheers<br>> Cameron<br>><br>> <a href="mailto:stephen@melbpc.org.au">stephen@melbpc.org.au
</a> wrote:<br>> > Student cracks $84m porn filter<br>> ><br>> > By Nick Higginbottom and Ben Packham, August 25, 2007 12:30am<br>> > <<a href="http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22304224-421,00.html">
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22304224-421,00.html</a>><br>> ><br>> > Schoolboy takes 30 minutes to bypass filter Leaves impression filter<br>> > still working Cracks upgraded filter in 40 minutes
<br>> ><br>> > A MELBOURNE schoolboy has cracked the Federal Government's new $84<br>> > million internet porn filter in minutes.<br>> ><br>> > Tom Wood, 16, said it took him just over 30 minutes to bypass the
<br>> > Government's filter, released on Tuesday.<br>> ><br>> > Tom, a year 10 student at a southeast Melbourne private school, showed<br>> > the Herald Sun how to deactivate the filter in a handful of clicks.
<br>> ><br>> > Parents easily fooled<br>> ><br>> > His technique ensures the software's toolbar icon is not deleted,<br>> > leaving parents under the impression the filter is still working.
<br>> ><br>> > A former cyber bullying victim, Tom feared a computer-savvy child<br>> > could work out the bypass and put it on the Internet for others to use.<br>> ><br>> > Tom, who spoke to Communications Minister Helen Coonan about cyber
<br>> > safety during a forum in May, said the Federal Government should have<br>> > developed a better Australian made filter.<br>> ><br>> > "It's a horrible waste of money," he said.
<br>> ><br>> > "They could get a much better filter for a few million dollars made<br>> > here rather than paying overseas companies for an ineffective one."<br>> ><br>> > Cracks replacement filter
<br>> ><br>> > In response to the Herald Sun's inquiries, the Government added an<br>> > Australian designed filter, Integard, to the website yesterday, which<br>> > Tom cracked within 40 minutes.
<br>> ><br>> > Senator Coonan said the Government had anticipated children would try<br>> > and find ways to get around the NetAlert filters, and suppliers were<br>> > contracted to provided continuing updates.
<br>> ><br>> > "The vendor is investigating the matter as a priority," Senator Coonan<br>> > said.<br>> ><br>> > "Unfortunately, no single measure can protect children from online
<br>> > harm and ... traditional parenting skills have never been more important."<br>> ><br>> > Family First Senator Steve Fielding, a long-time campaigner for cyber<br>> > safety, said cracking the software showed the need for compulsory
<br>> > filtering by Internet providers.<br>> ><br>> > "You need both. You need it at the ISP and at the PC level," Senator<br>> > Fielding said.<br>> ><br>> > "The Government has not listened to common sense and it leaves kids
<br>> > exposed."<br>> ><br>> > The filters are designed to stop access to sites on a national<br>> > blacklist, bar use of chat rooms, and can be tailored by parents to<br>> > stop access to sites.
<br>> ><br>> > Filters 'don't address bigger issues'<br>> ><br>> > Tom stressed the filters were missing the mark by a long way<br>> > regardless of how easy they were to break.<br>
> ><br>> > "Filters aren't addressing the bigger issues anyway," he said.<br>> ><br>> > "Cyber bullying, educating children on how to protect themselves and<br>> > their privacy are the first problems I'd fix.
<br>> ><br>> > "They really need to develop a youth-involved forum to discuss some of<br>> > these problems and ideas for fixing them."<br>> ><br>> > The $189 million NetAlert scheme includes $84.4 million for the
<br>> > National Filter Scheme, plus funding for online policing, a help line,<br>> > and education programs.<br>> ><br>> > The Government will also offer the option of filtering by internet<br>> > service providers.
<br>> ><br>> > Under its filter program, households can download the filter from<br>> > <a href="http://netalert.gov.au">netalert.gov.au</a> or have it sent out on to them.<br>> > --<br>> ><br>
> > Cheers, people<br>> > Stephen Loosley<br>> > Victoria, Australia<br>> > _______________________________________________<br>> > offtopic mailing list<br>> > <a href="mailto:offtopic@edulists.com.au">
offtopic@edulists.com.au</a><br>> > <a href="http://www.edulists.com.au/mailman/listinfo/offtopic">http://www.edulists.com.au/mailman/listinfo/offtopic</a><br>> ><br>> _______________________________________________
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