This post is not about Linux in schools (I Support that whole-heartedly) it is about School Policies which is where I think the real issue is. (Please forgive the length)
I have to say that I whole heartedly agree with Niels Voll's post. I have a few things I'd like to point out myself. Some of my points will be based on an educated guess about how the CBE works. If I am wrong please correct me.
- I Imagine that neither the Principal nor the Technician could help you change any policies regarding use of school computers even if they wanted to. They are likely set at a higher level within the CBE
- I am not defending the CBE, however they have the thankless task of making sure that not only their computer systems remain un-tampered with, they are also responsible for protecting young people from the endless parade of sicko's that can be found on the internet. You only have to watch the news to hear about the seemingly endless number of young people your age who are duped into meeting some guy somewhere.
- For every one person like you who would never abuse the system, or let yourself come to harm, there are ten of your classmates who will. If they make an exception for you, the other 10 will say why not me?
- Most security policies in place in any organisation are in response to an incident that has already occured. Example: where I work, we were constantly firing people for inapropriate use of the Internet. So we implemented policies restricting Internet use to only those who need it for their jobs.
- If I were a policy maker for a school board, I would forbid any software that allowed access to a computer system not under my control, (Our company has exactly this policy) for the simple fact that when you ssh to an external PC, you can then use that remote computer to access resources that are forbidden by CBE/School Policy such as Chat rooms, IRC, etc... Like I said earlier, I am NOT asserting that YOU would abuse this access, only that it is virtually guaranteed that others would.
- If you need to move homework from home to school and back, they should of thought of this and set up some type of method to do so. (FTP server on a DMZ that scans for viruses, etc...) If they do not have such a system in place, they should, and this is where you should focus your efforts.
- Your Parents should be the ones assisting you with this, If the School requires you to submit projects and homework in electronic format, they must provide a means for you to move that work from home to the school and back, If not, they are interfering with your ability to do work they require you to do. As a Parent myself, I would be very concerned, and would get involved immediately.
My 2 cents.
Robert Toole Systems Engineer KN Logistics / Calgary
Andrew Graupe wrote:
Thank you for the support I have received. Firstly, I would like to clear up a misconception. I am not running OS X. I am running Yellow Dog Linux, which is essentially, Red Hat 8/9 ported to the PPC. Secondly, some people have accused me of "wasting time to change the school board". If this were true: I would try to get all new computers with Linux pre-installed. I haven't done this. Secondly, I am merely trying to stop the school board from moving against me, if anything. During the two weeks I was gone, I was told that new "acceptable use of electronic resources" were put into place, including monitoring of all removable media, such as flash drives. As of now, PuTTY is considered on the banned list. Another observation is that I don't REALLY want linux, I just want connectivity to home. This is partially true, in that I am not willing to put enough effort into it to get unrestrained forms of Linux at school. Let's face it: if SSH to home bothers them, my chances are pretty much nil anyway. Secondly, I DO want connectivity to home. This is one of the most attractive features, as I can check an unmonitored (GASP!) e-mail address, and be able to work at home without sending files back and forth via my CBE-mail account.
Lastly, some of you have criticized my treatment of the tech and/or the principal. I reiterate: you do not have to send e-mails yet. I will try for another day doing it the "nice" way. There is also some urgency about this, as a rather large project of mine is on my G3, with no easy way to get it to school. Even if I used my CBE-mail account, I could not transfer it, because downloads are disabled for "security reasons". I accept that the tech probably has no end of idiots trying to f*** things up on a regular basis. I know someone who had password-dumping utilities for Win2k. I am not saying he is wrong to be concerned about security. I accept that people are inherently dishonest, especially around my age. That being said: his efforts could be directed to a more productive area than trying to stop me from accessing my home computer. My goal is only to let myself and others use SSH. Once again: DO NOT e-mail yet. If I can get PuTTY approved today, there will be no need and I really will have wasted your time.
BTW: some people have mentioned web-based SSH clients. Although I have had some bad experiences with them (not working, taking hours (lit.) to load), I am willing to try them again. My question about this is: what will be gained from using a web-based SSH client? I think (based on previous experience) that the tech would still be worried about it. However, this would have the advantage of also working on the macs. Can anyone suggest a good web-based SSH client?
Thanks for your support,
Andrew
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