Tony, We have a Watchguard Firebox firewall that does content filtering including much of the proxy stuff, and we use that in conjunction with a Squid proxy server. Squid allows me to filter urls based on keywords. This seems to do a pretty good job of blocking most unwanted content (and once in a while some wanted content in which case I can add specific sites to a safe list). However, I think the most effective deterrent is the fact that 'misuse of school technology' gets the students' technology privileges taken away for 30 days. To increase this effectiveness the students have been made fully aware that ALL internet traffic is logged and monitored. It only took a few students getting 'caught' for word to spread. I am not saying I do not still get a few students trying their luck that I will miss something, but I think the fact they know I'm watching and there are definite consequences deters many.
That being said, our current policy is very vague and we will be revamping that to be a brand new AUP for next year. We did the same for teachers last year. I think that documents such as these are essential and it must outline consequences that will be enforced. Otherwise it is just a piece of paper that took a long time to create. Rambling finished. Have a great Wednesday. Chad Frerichs Network Administrator Okoboji Community Schools Milford, IA 51351 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Richardson,Tony Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 7:32 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [info-tech] MYSPACE and FACEBOOK Thanks Tim, We can't afford LightSpeed at the moment too many needful projects sucking up the money. Anyway we have Aristotle that informs of Proxy use and I have set keywords as you mention. What your telling me is that the reality is that the issue has to be handled through board policy. The problem at Humboldt is that the High School principal will not enforce any network policy that causes her to have to discipline kids. Humboldt has a long way to go before it becomes a properly managed district. Thanks for the input. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tim Buenz Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 6:29 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [info-tech] MYSPACE and FACEBOOK LightSpeed does a pretty good job with blocking these proxies. Plus we can block keyword searches such as proxy, proxie, etc. We also have keywords like unblock, myspace, etc. in our suspicious search engine query report that gets sent to me daily. If students are trying to bypass or bypass the filtering their internet access is removed for a period beginning at 3 wks. Tim -- Tim Buenz Director of Technology Jefferson-Scranton CSD 204 West Madison St. Jefferson, IA 50129 http://www.jscsd.org (515)386-9256-office (515)386-3591-fax On Wednesday, April 25, 2007 4:57 AM, Richardson,Tony <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >Hello All, > >Has anyone out there found a way to actually stop the use of MySpace >and Facebook on school networks? These HTTP Proxies appear to be >unstoppable. Is there some kind of "signature" for these two social >network services that I could use in the Intrusion Prevention Filter on >my firewall? HELP! > > > >Tony Richardson, >Technology Coordinator >Humboldt Community School District >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --- [This E-mail Scanned For Viruses By Declude Virus Scanner] [This E-mail Scanned For Spam By Declude JunkMail] --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus on the server aea8.k12.ia.us] --------------------------------------------------------- Archived messages from this list can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --------------------------------------------------------- --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus on the server aea8.k12.ia.us] --------------------------------------------------------- Archived messages from this list can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --------------------------------------------------------- --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus on the server aea8.k12.ia.us] --------------------------------------------------------- Archived messages from this list can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ ---------------------------------------------------------
