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Clear backpacks, monitored emails: U.S. students under constant surveillance

theguardian.com

201–210 of 560 posts

Re: Clear backpacks, monitored emails: U.S. students under constant surveillance

#201
post #32
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But the reality is that schools are a lot more dangerous than they were just 10 years ago. Do you have a source for this?

Not trying to take a side (though I'm against clear backpacks and monitoring), but here's a chart I found quickly: https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/V8zMSpOAM50-sxWp--S6J... Shootings are still rare, just less so.

I suppose if you're comparing 2018 to 2008, then sure. But that seems cherry-picked, since it looks like shootings were more common before then. Then you also have to consider that the population has been growing, so per-capita shootings might be down? And then there's the question of whether body-count is going up. I think combining all of these factors makes the data-set very noisy. I'm sure that OP has the best intentions and likely believes that schools are more dangerous than 10 years ago, but I don't think the data bares that out.

Re: Clear backpacks, monitored emails: U.S. students under constant surveillance

#202
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which bit of this are you upset with specifically? Monitoring internet access on school devices? That's been standard in every single school and workplace for decades. The clear backpacks are silly I'll admit, and also pointless. I agree that kids getting conditioned to be okay with surveillance is bad, but this is all coming from the private sector right now. In China, you now have to submit your face to be scanned…

It's not just internet access though. They flag private emails as well, is that not a violation of privacy? Also, I find this part highly disturbing: “They don’t really give you a list of things not to do,” he said. “Once you’re in trouble, they act like you knew.” This is eerily close to a typical oppressive state. See a troublemaker, make up a rule that you can prove they broke, punish them. Not a similar scale, of…

>They flag private emails as well, is that not a violation of privacy?

No. If you are using a school/employer provided email account you should be using them for school/work stuff. If you are using a school/employer device, you should be using them for school/employer stuff.

If you want to tell Jack or Jane that they fuel your fire and you want to do sexy time or that you violently soiled your pants and wondered if they could bring you their gym shorts to the upstairs bathroom then use your own device on your own service.

Re: Clear backpacks, monitored emails: U.S. students under constant surveillance

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of places in the EU routinely monitor customers and block certain websites. Rail companies blocking streaming sites for just one very reasonable example. It can’t be as simply illegal as you say it is.

Monitoring and blocking are entirely different .

How can you block without first monitoring what sites people are trying to access?

Re: Clear backpacks, monitored emails: U.S. students under constant surveillance

#204
post #9
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unpopular opinion: basically no one dies by guns in schools so don't even bother with clear backpacks.

Exactly. Force schools to quantify this risk against others. More kids die cycling to school than by guns.

Yeah you are right. Following your logic and your risk assessment, I assume you are getting your children firearms rather than bicycles for Christmas, Happy Holidays...

Re: Clear backpacks, monitored emails: U.S. students under constant surveillance

#205
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With repression and fewer liberties, mostly?

I don't get the sense that people in Sweden or Germany feel over-burdened by a lack of liberty.

Germany has barely made it to the 30 year mark of “not being a dictatorship” if you count the East. America has been one of the freest countries in the world for at least 150-some years.

Re: Clear backpacks, monitored emails: U.S. students under constant surveillance

#206
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With repression and fewer liberties, mostly?

I don't get the sense that people in Sweden or Germany feel over-burdened by a lack of liberty.

Animals raised in captivity also don't give off the impression to be too burdened by their situation from the perspective of a casual observer.

Re: Clear backpacks, monitored emails: U.S. students under constant surveillance

#207
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather just shut down the schools than give up any more rights. If you haven't noticed, our Federal government is totally out of control and has gone rogue and I don't think it's a very good idea to cede any further power or individual rights to that monster. The right to bear arms was paid for in blood and not just once. Good men laid down their lives so we could have these rights. That a few kooks will shoot up…

> The right to bear arms was paid for in blood and not just once. And worse, gun restrictions only benefit criminals. There's plenty of people who legally own firearms and protect their homes and their property legally. They also avoid plenty of crime since criminals tend to run when a gun is pulled on them especially in stand your ground states. They've tried banning everything in England and criminals will still ki…

> They've tried banning everything in England and criminals will still kill people with just about anything. First it's the guns, then knives, then machetes. You can run over people, are you gonna make cars illegal too?

We just had a Terrorist attack last week. He was armed with 2 knives and he killed 2 people before being taken down by some people with a fire extinguisher and a narwhal horn (I shit you not).

I'll take that over dozens in any shooting spree with victims in the dozens thanks.

And no, a "good guy" with a gun would have made things worse before you even start with that bullshit.

Re: Clear backpacks, monitored emails: U.S. students under constant surveillance

#208
post #201
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not trying to take a side (though I'm against clear backpacks and monitoring), but here's a chart I found quickly: https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/V8zMSpOAM50-sxWp--S6J... Shootings are still rare, just less so.

I suppose if you're comparing 2018 to 2008, then sure. But that seems cherry-picked, since it looks like shootings were more common before then. Then you also have to consider that the population has been growing, so per-capita shootings might be down? And then there's the question of whether body-count is going up. I think combining all of these factors makes the data-set very noisy. I'm sure that OP has the best in…

[deleted]

Re: Clear backpacks, monitored emails: U.S. students under constant surveillance

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask Venezuela or Iraq or Iran or Hong Kong or basically any of the countries in the Arab spring how it’s going for them right now.

Can we can also ask Denmark, Sweden, Germany, or other European countries that tend to be considered the US's economic and cultural peers?

Sure, but I'm not sure the answer would be relevant. As an analogy, just because you haven't used your first aid kit doesn't mean you won't one day need it. To the contrary, we have many examples of countries that left the first aid kit behind only to realize they desperately needed it.

Re: Clear backpacks, monitored emails: U.S. students under constant surveillance

#210
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a poor comparison though. Both of the others provide other benefits: a method of commuting to school or exercise. Potentially even scholarships. Fashionable backpacks do nothing.

Imagine you're a teenage girl and you need to carry sanitary products with you. I imagine that for some of them this is essentially a nightmare scenario. That's a direct harm to kids.

This is a good point and I hope they can work around it (such as by allowing small opaque bags inside the bag).
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