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Mobile Device Managers (MDM) and a proxy. Route the device' s searches back to the school's network and monitor via the proxy. I worked in a school district fo

• gruez 7y ago
  Imagine if your sibling/classmates decided to "prank" you by searching up certain terms when you're not looking.
  • leetcrew 7y ago
    in general, you are responsible for whatever is done with your account/machine, authorized or not. if you are doing even the bare minimum to secure the computer, you should not be vulnerable to these kind of pranks from siblings/classmates. if it's unreasonable to expect a child to clear this bar, then they are not yet responsible enough to be entrusted with their own computing device.
    • lovich 7y ago
      That's not been true for almost every device I can think of other than firearms/explosives. If someone steals your car and crashes it are you responsible? If not why are computers different?
      • leetcrew 7y ago
        when a computer is provided to you by an organization, you are usually obligated to take reasonable steps to prevent its misuse and especially to prevent misuse of your credentials. do you really disagree that this is the case?
        • lovich 7y ago
          Does reasonable steps imply "prevent all bad actors in all cases"? Are the users expected to store their machines in fort Knox under armed guard? >if you are doing even the bare minimum to secure the computer, you should not be vulnerable to these kind of pranks from siblings/classmates. This is a statement that reads to me like "implementation is left as an exercise for the reader" type proclamation of how easy it is to secure things. Followed up with a snide remark about children not being ready for the machines. Adults are constantly getting their machines compromised so it really seems like you're just applying a greater standard to people with less experience
          • leetcrew 7y ago
            > Does reasonable steps imply "prevent all bad actors in all cases"? of course not, that's an incredibly uncharitable reading of "reasonable", not even an intelligence agency would set such an impossible standard. keep in mind this whole thread started with a comment about "what if your brother googles something bad as a prank?" I'm literally just talking about setting a password that isn't "password" and locking the computer when you walk away from it. this will protect you from attacks by the vast majority of schoolchildren. if a child can't prevent their friends from misusing their school account, they really shouldn't have one. I'm not sure why this is considered snide or controversial at all.
            • munmaek 7y ago
              Because this argument is tone deaf and ignores that kids are, well, kids. Actual adults have terrible security practices. Are you seriously trying to hold kids, who had no choice in the matter, to the same security standards? They’re kids, and likely won’t even understand the gravity of the situation we’re discussing here. These aren’t grown adults working at a company. They’re kids who had laptops foisted upon them.
              • leetcrew 7y ago
                even in school, it's actually kind of important that students don't let each other trivially access their accounts. if someone logs into your account and bullies a classmate or copies your work, "I left it unlocked in the cafeteria" can't be an acceptable excuse. > Actual adults have terrible security practices. Are you seriously trying to hold kids, who had no choice in the matter, to the same security standards? They’re kids, and likely won’t even understand the gravity of the situation we’re discussing here. > These aren’t grown adults working at a company. They’re kids who had laptops foisted upon them. this is my point. I'm not holding the kids to any standard; I'm just saying this is a fundamental precondition to being entrusted with an account at an organization. if it's not reasonable to expect this of them, the school should not be issuing computers/accounts. the ultimate responsibility absolutely lies with the school.
        • novok 7y ago
          What part about stolen don't you understand? People take reasonable steps to secure their cars, because it's financially painful, but it still happens!
          • leetcrew 7y ago
            why are you and others talking about stolen cars and hardware attacks in a thread about schoolchild pranks? I don't think most organizations would hold you at fault if someone stole your computer and used a hardware exploit to gain access to your account. but if you have a blatantly terrible password or just leave the machine unsecured in a cafe, they will probably hold you accountable for whatever happens. I know my employer would.
        • HarryHirsch 7y ago
          Everyone agrees with that, unfortunately if an unfortunate kid leaves their computer unsecured in a school environment they risk a criminal record if a prankster searches Google with the keywords that trigger the system. In a corporate environment that just won't happen. It's madness, but "if you see something, say something". Or something.
        • nkrisc 7y ago
          Remember, we're talking about children, here. It's absurd to hold them to the same high standard as adults.
      • johnisgood 7y ago
        > If someone steals your car and crashes it are you responsible? I know of at least one country in Eastern Europe where this is true. If someone steals your car and kills someone with it, you are in serious trouble. I do not agree with the law.
    • everlastingfan 7y ago
      Even baby's have a computing device: the brain. When do they get clearance to use their brains?
    • defen 7y ago
      > in general, you are responsible for whatever is done with your account/machine, authorized or not. if you are doing even the bare minimum to secure the computer, you should not be vulnerable to these kind of pranks from siblings/classmates. This makes sense in a corporate or military environment, but is simply not reasonable for home use. You're claiming that one can never allow anyone else to have unsupervised physical access to the machine (regardless of whether it's locked, powered off, etc)
      • leetcrew 7y ago
        I should have been more clear. I'm not talking about sophisticated adversaries performing hardware attacks on a middle school student's laptop. I'm talking about the very basic steps necessary to prevent your brother from googling for porn on your school computer. in the vast majority of cases, having a good password and logging out of the computer when you're finished will prevent these kinds of pranks. if the child can't handle this, they are not ready for their own computer.
        • gowld 7y ago
          No one asked for their own computer. EdTech companies forced it on the kids by bribing and presuring school admins.
          • leetcrew 7y ago
            I'm not criticizing the children. I am criticizing the people who are forcing computers on people who are (according to the responses) not ready to use them in an organizational setting.
  • bitwize 7y ago
    My first computer was a Commodore VIC-20. The more I hear about shit like this, the more I think that should be this generation's first computer, too. Something they can't hurt themselves with. Bring back Apple IIs in the classrooms. And the TV/VCR combo on the wheeled cart.
• markovbot 7y ago
  > Certain keywords in searches would prompt email notifications too. That is so unbelievably disgusting. This kind of abusive invasion of privacy should be a crime.
  • JohnFen 7y ago
    In a perverted sense, this is an opportunity to teach the children a very important lesson: if you're using a machine or network owned and operated by your employer (or, by extension, your school), then you should be scrupulous about only using it for work (or school) business.
    • fetus8 7y ago
      Very firm agree. These devices were school owned, and technically "government" owned property. They were not handed out to the students to use however they pleased. They were to be utilized for digital text books, curriculum, and ancillary education resources that were designed by the teachers and administrators of the district. We locked the devices down so that student's couldn't get to certain kinds of apps, parts of the web, and had to be used with school issued Apple IDs. We (as the school district) were wholly responsible for what the student's did on these school owned devices. It's no different than monitoring what goes on in a school's computer lab, except the iPads are mobile devices.
      • AndrewUnmuted 7y ago
        Why should we just give public schools a pass for providing kids with email addresses and other adult technologies that have no real educational value? Giving devices to kids is not saving on educational costs, and it's not making their backpacks any lighter. Books don't require tech support lines, chat bots, or surveillance tech to keep it all humming smoothly. But worse of all, it's totally outside the proper purview of our education systems. Public schools don't implement, monitor, and protect a new mailbox on every student's property just for school-related mail delivery. Why should they be giving kids email addresses and expecting them to use those addresses? School-issued Apple IDs? I cannot be the only one who reads that with extreme disgust and concern.