Is My School Allowed to Do This?

[Summerstorm]

Eh. We had a similar system in school TEN YEARS ago. Isn't that the norm? (Not that the teachers ever bother, also: If you were done you could do whatever you wanted)

I mean: It is THEIR computers, and you are SUPPOSED to use them as intended. You wouldn't protest if they hired teachers with eyes and ears, who make sure you are not fighting/playing/screwing in the back and not doing your damn assignments/read your damn books, or would you?

 

[zach7fours]

A school tried something similar to this in the US, except the program was much more advanced. The school gave students brand new Macbooks with a remote access switch. It was designed to access the laptop webcam at any time, which worked great for stolen computers........until some sick perv decided to start watching students at random times. They saw what boys and girls do with personal computers, and a clever student found out what was going on and reported it. My suggestion: Look into the interaction between personal items and the school. If they monitor things outside their jurisdiction, then yes, it is WRONG.

 

[Smooth Operator]

They are yes, their internets their rules, watch porn at home do school stuff at school.

 

[Esotera]

Get linux on your laptop, they can't possibly make you install a whole OS just so that you can use the internet. (Hoping there isn't a software that works on linux)

How would this help at all? At the end of the day the school is providing the internet connection, and has the right to choose what pages you're allowed to view. Using linux makes no difference to having to agree to their terms.

 

[Tonythion]

You loose almost all your rights when you step onto school grounds. Even if if it a public school there are rules you must follow if not you will be denied entry. Hell people always fight locker searches but it school property not personal.

Computers and internet are school property so even if you use your own computer--their wi fi isn't free.

 

[Gurppa]

Get linux on your laptop, they can't possibly make you install a whole OS just so that you can use the internet. (Hoping there isn't a software that works on linux)

How would this help at all? At the end of the day the school is providing the internet connection, and has the right to choose what pages you're allowed to view. Using linux makes no difference to having to agree to their terms.

My undestanding was that they have some software that lets them see your screen. If that software isn't available on linux, they can't use it. Did I completely misunderstand?

 

[Plinglebob]

Sorry, but the school has every right to moniter what is going on on their network no matter who owns the computer accessing it.

Get linux on your laptop, they can't possibly make you install a whole OS just so that you can use the internet. (Hoping there isn't a software that works on linux)

How would this help at all? At the end of the day the school is providing the internet connection, and has the right to choose what pages you're allowed to view. Using linux makes no difference to having to agree to their terms.

My undestanding was that they have some software that lets them see your screen. If that software isn't available on linux, they can't use it. Did I completely misunderstand?

They may not be able to make you change your OS, but instead they just won't authorise the laptop for use on the school network/internet.

 

[Zeema]

they want to know what Porn kids are watching

nah seriously yeah they can do it. Its there Wi Fi i rekon they should monitor it

 

[Spade Lead]

Yes they are, Universities do it as a standard (in the UK), They will do the same with mobiles, and as a lot of school techies arn't mobile friendly that just mean no wi-fi for your mobile if you have to register your laptop.

Pretty much this. I have been to two different community colleges, since I moved between semesters, and one made me download special encryption to use their internet, the other is just an open wi-fi source. If the school has special user restrictions, you have to abide by them.

No, because this isn't even a case of Sony and the PS3. It's YOUR fucking laptop.

And their internet connection. Your point doesn't really hold up.

Use of the internet cannot be denied since it's necessary for work purposes. Invasion of your effing laptop cannot be allowed because it's your laptop. Answer: The school has to cave in because they must further education and the completion of work. They are not paid to act as Big Brother. No, they really aren't.

Everything I have read up to this point indicates he is in High School, not college (or university, in the off-chance he isn't American), at which point, they are minors, and the school has EVERY RIGHT to monitor the internet usage. They could just install a special code that disallows non-school computers to access the internet. According to you, that would also be an infringement on their rights, and that is also wrong.

The argument in a nutshell, the school is providing the internet, the school has every right to use whatever means they deem necessary to prevent illegal or disruptive behavior.

 

[Esotera]

Get linux on your laptop, they can't possibly make you install a whole OS just so that you can use the internet. (Hoping there isn't a software that works on linux)

How would this help at all? At the end of the day the school is providing the internet connection, and has the right to choose what pages you're allowed to view. Using linux makes no difference to having to agree to their terms.

My undestanding was that they have some software that lets them see your screen. If that software isn't available on linux, they can't use it. Did I completely misunderstand?

I think the issue is that if someone wants to access the internet through someone else's wifi, then that person needs to abide by the conditions that come with that access. So you could install Linux on a laptop quite happily, and the software probably wouldn't work. And it would probably be possible to access the internet (if you could actually get the wifi drivers to work reliably).

But this disregards the fact that this is against the will of the school, and in the eyes of the law qualifies as misuse of a computer system. Essentially, hacking.

I'm not saying that these policies are good, just that the school is allowed to implement them.

 

[FalloutJack]

-Whoa Snip-

Heh, when I said "Why? I didn't." to the other guy? I meant high school. I'm afraid that that's just how it is.

 

[Roserari]

The school is paying for that internet, so they are definitely allowed to do that.

 

[deleted_by_strongbad]

Depends on the policies of your country, any sub-governments (like in U.S. State, County, & City), whether or not the school is public or private, and what you mean by allowed, like allowed by the core policies, or allowed by implementation of those policies.

In U.S. by the core policies of public access of public institutions it is technically not kosher to restrict a citizen's access to public space/institutions, so a public school should TECHNICALLY allow any US citizen full access to the school's internet, gym, etc. By that logic though hunting permits could only be issued by private land owners for their own lands, library cards & late fees are bs, and curfews on public parks are illegal. Obviously, none of that is the case because the ways that we implement the policies allow for all of those restrictions, with which restricting your internet use is pretty much in line with. If the school is privatized then anything short of publicly flogging you is pretty much within their right.

So if it is a US public school, it is not allowed, but every court in the country allows it.

 

[Davey Woo]

Not only are they allowed to, I'm pretty sure that schools and colleges are in some way legally required to track the Internet usage of students on site. They are supposed to for various reasons like child protection, cyber bullying etc.

There's also the other point that most people have made that they are providing the Internet service to you so they are allowed to track that usage, as long as they tell you that they're doing so.

 

[Starke]

Note: I know someone is going to pop the question: well, why don't they use their own mobile phones? Our classes are quite small so hiding isn't easy and our teachers aren't push overs. If anyone is caught with a mobile phone out, they loose it for a week in the teacher's drawers and nobody wants to loose their phone.

The Phone confiscation thing? That they can't do. I'm pretty sure that's still petty theft. Get a decently expensive smartphone locked up in the teacher's drawer, and file a police report and see what shakes out, if you're really curious. But, the internet connection thing? Yeah, that's certainly legal.

 

[Araksardet]

Given that there are computers available for you to use that presumably have USB ports, i.e. you can't reasonable argue that you need *your own* laptop... well, they still don't have a right to stick things on your computer (or they shouldn't have the right, if they do), but they certainly have the right to punish people bringing their own laptops, just like they would punish someone using a mobile phone in class. EDIT: Or maybe not; the poster above suggests they aren't allowed to take phones. That's interesting - has anyone ever challenged teachers on this, legally? I do wonder how that would play out.

Check with local authorities, that's your best bet. Thing is, they're not forcing you to install their software - they're giving you the choice of using their (presumably adequate) computers free of charge, or using your own with the monitoring malware in place. Yes, it's a gimmicky choice at best, but I don't think the law really cares on that point. Assuming their computers are up-to-date, there is no really plausible reason for both refusing to use their computers and then refusing theirmalware, except if you're trying to circumvent their regulations (which they do have the right to establish, as far as I know). So of course they're going to try everything to monitor your use. If it isn't legal, they'll probably keep doing it until someone takes them to task, so check the legal system out.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

Yeah they can do that. Or atleast, they can do that here in The Netherlands. My old highschool systemadmin blocked the most popular gamingwebsites and profile websites. He even tried to block youtube.

Tried, because teachers need it sometimes as well and I guess he couldn't figure out how to only allow teachers to access it. So he would only close the English youtube, but leave the others open. Soon everybody at school was browsing through a Polish youtube.

 

[PAGEToap44]

My school simply blocked Facebook and other sites, including this one, so people just bought internet sticks for their laptops.

I too believe they shouldn't block sites like Facebook, but there's nothing stopping them.

 

[Wintermoot]

have you considered installing a Linux partition on your laptop? I,m sure those kind of program,s don,t work under Linux you would still have it installed on your laptop but you decided to boot a other OS.
problem BB program?
my school blocks out those sites also anything that contains dirty words (even if it,s part of a word or isn't meant in a erotic way) 80% of the time you can circumvent it by using a HTTPS page.
or set your laptop to a guest account and say it,s your brothers/dad,s laptop

 

[Zeriu]

(Just to let you know, class ended for me back in June but this question has been popping in my head.)
Alright, so for about a year now, our school has implemented a "Big Brother" watch over school computers. More specifically, allowing teachers watch student screens and interact with them via their own desktop. They did this to make sure students aren't accessing Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc during school hours which make sense I guess. Of course, eventually some people at school found a loop hole by bring in their own laptops from home instead of using the public laptops at school.
But then the school decided to counter it by forcing students to register their laptops with the school before allowing them access to the internet allowing the school to monitor the activity of anyone accessing the school's internet.
So I'm wondering, are they allow to do that?

Note: I know someone is going to pop the question: well, why don't they use their own mobile phones? Our classes are quite small so hiding isn't easy and our teachers aren't push overs. If anyone is caught with a mobile phone out, they loose it for a week in the teacher's drawers and nobody wants to loose their phone.

They permit you to access the Internet they paid for. If you don't shell out any money to pay for it, you dear sir have no right to use their connection to access anything they don't allow you to access.