Blog #2

The AUP is the Acceptable Use Policy. It is a policy that establishes guidelines for acceptable use of items that can and cannot be done regarding the university or companies computers. It is necessary so that the user has a set of rules and regulations it must follow by and the host or network knows it must abide by them as well. All network users are supposed to respect limitations on authorized network resources and information.
I found the AUP of my high school (Episcopal School of Dallas) reguarding computer policy and technology. http://www.esdallas.org/uploaded/documents/academics/US_handbook_08-09.pdf. It states and lists acceptable and unacceptable policies brought forth by using the computer network. Examples are that students may not use their school email for sites such as facebook, myspace and xanga and thet electronic mail may not be considered private. My high school's AUP seems to match the general AUP. It states the terms that are to be agreed upon by both the school and the students and its lists all the materials that are considered prohibited.
The CPIA is "a federal law enacted by congress to address concerns about access to offensive content over the internet on school and at library computers." In other words it mandates that libraries and schools across the country have policies that protect children from materials and pictures considered (1)dangerous to minors, (2) obsecene, (3) child pornography. Schools and libraries also must certify that they are educating minors about appropriate online actions.
At the Episcopal School School of Dallas each student was given access to a network called First Class, which is an intranet. It consisted of email, and each student was given the user name of their last name followed by their first name innitial. Each students password was then handed out by the last 4 digits of their social security number. The first class was located on each school computer. In order to get to First Class at school, a student must first log into the school computer, which uses the same username and password. Through First Class, student notices were sent to everyone, some of which were very ergent. First Class also had teachers folders, which contained assignments and had a school calendar. It was very helpful in many facets. It was easy to use and I had instant access to all my assignments and important reminders. It made communication throughout the school much more easier.
My parents did not have access to our First Class intranet unless we told them or they somehow found out how the usernames and passwords were done. I liked it becasuse I felt that it was the one thing that I had complete privacy to. I would never have to worry about someone hacking into my system to view my account. My parents did have access to our grades which were done via mail to our house. They also could get information through the school website. Other than that i'm sure that had other access to various things but I did not know what exactly they had access to.
I think that web filtering in schools is a vital part to how they can run a network. Many children in schools are not remotely mature to know and understand everything that is on a computer. Many webistes can appear on a computer accidently and I child might freak out. I love what my high school did with websites. There were no websites that were blocked except for spartknotes and websited such as vtunnel. The reason no other websites were blocked was because the school could track exctly what content each student was viewing. If a situation were to ever come up, the school would contact that particular student about the situation. As a teacher and a school, I would be very unhappy with this article. Firewalls and internet filters at schools and libraries have been put in place for a reason. They are not there for someone to seach and look for a resolution around them. The student has its regulations to follow and it is breaking them by going around firewalls and school internet filters. To the fairness of the student, the reason for going around the system many times is to get scholarly information. I know many students at my school used vtunnel to access information that the school had blocked and it was mainly for acedemic websites. Sometimes a firewall or internet filter can block out too much information and it is detrimental to the student.