False Rumors About Online Surveillance

Hi everybody. I thought I'd better write this note in response to my entry this morning below. I've had a few concerned staff members ask some questions.

Regarding the blocked websites, logged traffic, and surveillance; hopefully I can clear up some "myths" about why the Tech Department is "monitoring" your use of the computer.

The head of the Tech Department, David Brooks, wrote a great piece on his blog concerning this very issue in an attempt to answer some questions about the new "AUP" last fall. That post is found here:
http://blog.weber.k12.ut.us/dbrooks/archives/8

I'd like to highlight a few items and post them here.

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Mr Brooks:
I can tell you from a philosophical standpoint what the policy is not meant to be:

• It is NOT an attempt to watch teachers online activity.


• It is NOT an effort to spy on teachers.


• It is NOT a meant to target reasonable and appropriate activities of teachers on their prep time or before and after school.

With apologies to any that might be offended, I would like to paraphrase a famous 18th century American who stated a leadership dictum about managing behavior “I do not govern the people. I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.”

...

I have heard some discussion that online shopping is being targeted. This is not the case. I will leave it to the individual to determine if their online activity is appropriate. Some activities are clearly not. Personally, I don’t believe shopping online falls into the inappropriate category. Nowhere in the policy does it mention shopping specifically.

May I also address some other misconceptions that are being circulated:

1. Fallacy –The district is watching everything I do online. This is NOT the case. While all online activity is logged, there is upwards of TEN THOUSAND PAGES of logs generated every day!!! In an attempt to better protect children, a computer scans those logs for offensive words and pornographic images. No person is looking at those logs regularly. When suspect activity is discovered by the computer, then those specific logs may be looked at more closely to determine if children are at risk. 10,000 pages is simply impossible to review.


2. Fallacy — The district is reading my email. This is NOT the case. While email is not private, that does not mean it is read by somebody either. Weber district mail servers handle over 300,000 email messages everyday !! The volume is enormous. The subject and body text of the email is scanned against a “dictionary” of offensive words or text. Problem email is flagged. Hopefully, spam is discarded, and flagged emails may be reviewed further.


3. Fallacy –Teachers can’t do “legitimate research” because the web filters block sites that are necessary. The fact is that sites will be unblocked on request of a teacher for use in their classes. Tech services just needs to know about them.

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Please feel free to comment, and I will do my best to answer your questions.

Thanks.

Justin.