I want to scan the pupils incoming and outgoing e-mails for offensive words so that I can enforce our acceptable use policy. Any one got any ideas that are preferably free? Thanks Robin.
On Friday 06 December 2002 11:54 am, s-clarob@st-aidans.cumbria.sch.uk wrote:
I want to scan the pupils incoming and outgoing e-mails for offensive words so that I can enforce our acceptable use policy.
Any one got any ideas that are preferably free?
Do you have your own mailserver at the school? -- Phil Driscoll
Hi
Any one got any ideas that are preferably free? Do you have your own mailserver at the school?
Umm... assuming that this is so and that you have an available Linux box then Mail::Audit and Spamassassin may be suitable. Search http://search.cpan.org for Mail::Audit and have a look at.. www.spamassassin.org There are lots of others which may or may not be better. There was one called mailscanner which is built for RedHat and Debian but can't remember the web site address. -- Thanks Richard www.sheflug.co.uk
On Friday 06 Dec 2002 11:54 am, s-clarob@st-aidans.cumbria.sch.uk wrote:
I want to scan the pupils incoming and outgoing e-mails for offensive words so that I can enforce our acceptable use policy.
Any one got any ideas that are preferably free?
Thanks
Robin.
Hi Robin, Although I don't have any specific suggestions, I would recomend looking into the legal as well as technical aspects of this - i.e invasion of privacy etc.
From the technical perspective, make sure whatever you implement is flexible enough. Bear in mind the embargo AOL had on people from Scunthorpe (look at letters 2 thru 5).
Gary -- Gary Stainburn This email does not contain private or confidential material as it may be snooped on by interested government parties for unknown and undisclosed purposes - Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, 2000
I want to scan the pupils incoming and outgoing e-mails for offensive words so that I can enforce our acceptable use policy.
Don't. Please don't. It's not polite. It means you don't trust them. It has the makings of a police state. But worse, once they cotton on to what you are doing, they'll thoroughly enjoy the game of emailing each other with offensive things that bypass your checks, looking for words you don't know and ways of disguising them that you won't spot. Many years ago a boy here got published in the school magazine one of those non-rhyming non-scanning poems so beloved of trendy young English teachers. It consisted of a four-line verse followed by a three-line one. The first verse was something like From the Elysian fields ... Under the something tree ... Cooing away like doves ... Killing the ..... and this was obviously a triumph of creative writing. It's a battle you can't win. Instead, just come down heavily on occasional things for which there has been a good reason for you to see. -- Christopher Dawkins, Felsted School, Dunmow, Essex CM6 3JG 01371-822698, mobile 07816 821659 cchd@felsted.essex.sch.uk
This wisdom was penned by Christopher Dawkins <cchd@felsted.essex.sch.uk> on Fri, 6 Dec 2002 12:46:20 +0000 (GMT):
I want to scan the pupils incoming and outgoing e-mails for offensive words so that I can enforce our acceptable use policy.
Don't. Please don't. It's not polite. It means you don't trust them. It has the makings of a police state.
But worse, once they cotton on to what you are doing, they'll thoroughly enjoy the game of emailing each other with offensive things that bypass your checks, looking for words you don't know and ways of disguising them that you won't spot.
---oo---Snip How I agree with these sentiments. There are too many ways to cirumvent any filtering to make it worth while the effort. However, occasional monitoring of suspected offenders by hand and appropriate sanctions etc. are woth while if you have a problem. We only allowed internal email. External email had to go through the appropriate teacher to verify that the subject was within the curriculum and the reply came to the teacher for forwarding to the pupil. Some exceptions were made according to subject and need. It also kept the staff on their toes and no staff objected out loud. The World School Network used to offer a good scheme for student participation if there is pressure from the hierarchy. -- Best wishes, Derek
--- Christopher Dawkins <cchd@felsted.essex.sch.uk> wrote: >
I want to scan the pupils incoming and outgoing e-mails for offensive words so that I can enforce our acceptable use policy.
Don't. Please don't. It's not polite. It means you don't trust them. It has the makings of a police state.
But worse, once they cotton on to what you are doing, they'll thoroughly enjoy the game of emailing each other with offensive things that bypass your checks, looking for words you don't know and ways of disguising them that you won't spot.
Indeed, us *teachers* bypass our LEA mail checking easy enough and we're only fractionally as inventive as the children. After a few of my mails bouncing back with warnings, we now all regularly use, for example, 'f@ck' or 'sh!t'. Although I have to admint, I don't wholey agree with the police state arguement. I really do take Chris' point but... I often pick a couple of the naughtier kids for tasks that require a lot of trust (going to my car to fetch my laptop with my keys is today's example). Indeed watching the other children's faces is reason enough. But that doesn't mean I'd never have a quick peek out of the window to check they were doing as I'd asked. Is it a lack of trust? Maybe. If I've left some children back stage to practise their lighting cues for the school production, I'm happy to admint I don't entirely trust that they won't get up to *any* mischieve, and therefore feel I *should* put my head in (sometimes on the quiet), and where necessary steer their behaviour. Isn't looking over their shoulder to inform my decisions part of my job? I can see there is a line. Do I object to my emails being scanned by the LEA? Not sure - I work in a school. I have to tread the line, and scaning specifically for *rude* words doesn't offend me. Getting round it easily is of course illustrated above. Cheers -- Matt Johnson __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com
participants (7)
-
Christopher Dawkins -
Derek Harding -
Gary Stainburn -
Matt Johnson -
Phil Driscoll -
Richard Ibbotson -
s-clarob＠st-aidans.cumbria.sch.uk