A French character in last year’s production caused endless security problems because of her name. You see Securus sends an automatic alert to the Assistant Head who acts as Big Brother to the school’s ICT and Network system. Whenever children or even members of staff use the Internet to search out potentially offensive material or use inappropriate language such as swear words, the system sends an automatic alert to Big Brother. The character in the play was called Fanny. But we never told the director about the alarms she regularly triggered.
The system is expensive but invaluable. It provides passive monitoring of the most effective kind. No one can claim they are being watched- unless they do something wrong, or at least capable of misinterpretation. A teacher, for example, researching a topic on racism for a History class might prompt the alert. Similarly, song lyrics down loaded for Music can be a trigger point.
Not that this is a problem- we prefer a sensitive system that we can ignore if we need to. The on screen alert reads: ‘ severe violations are pending.’ Our censor then logs into Securus and can read the exact date and time of the potential offence and the actual computer. It applies to lap tops and use both in school and at home. A click to view option allows him to see what the material is and make a decision about whether there is the need to follow it up.
If a child uses emails to be offensive, the system will pick it up. Two students have had their access rights withdrawn because of their hacking skills, even though they are taking ICT GCSE. Securus tracked them down. A couple of years ago we had a data leak but the system identified the computer immediately and we were able to find the culprit within hours and limit the damage caused.
It’s an effective deterrent and allows us to sleep easily, knowing that INTERNET violations can’t take place undetected. But it can give Big Brother some privileged inside information. Recently someone used inappropriate language in an email that told us of a secret she was about to break. Yes- she was pregnant and no- it wasn’t Fanny.
The system is expensive but invaluable. It provides passive monitoring of the most effective kind. No one can claim they are being watched- unless they do something wrong, or at least capable of misinterpretation. A teacher, for example, researching a topic on racism for a History class might prompt the alert. Similarly, song lyrics down loaded for Music can be a trigger point.
Not that this is a problem- we prefer a sensitive system that we can ignore if we need to. The on screen alert reads: ‘ severe violations are pending.’ Our censor then logs into Securus and can read the exact date and time of the potential offence and the actual computer. It applies to lap tops and use both in school and at home. A click to view option allows him to see what the material is and make a decision about whether there is the need to follow it up.
If a child uses emails to be offensive, the system will pick it up. Two students have had their access rights withdrawn because of their hacking skills, even though they are taking ICT GCSE. Securus tracked them down. A couple of years ago we had a data leak but the system identified the computer immediately and we were able to find the culprit within hours and limit the damage caused.
It’s an effective deterrent and allows us to sleep easily, knowing that INTERNET violations can’t take place undetected. But it can give Big Brother some privileged inside information. Recently someone used inappropriate language in an email that told us of a secret she was about to break. Yes- she was pregnant and no- it wasn’t Fanny.
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