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

theguardian.com

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

#231

Post by balabaster »

rahuldottech wrote: post #20

THIS IS NOT OKAY. We can't have children being used to constant surveillance and accepting this as a part of life. It sets them up for so many problems in the future, where they won't understand the serious implications of constant tracking and surveillance. And sure, nothing too bad comes out of this stuff right now in most of the world, but have you seen China? The minute a government decides to do so, all that dat…

The flip side of the coin is that kids learn from a very early age what it takes to slip past the surveillance net. The smart ones watch everyone around them get caught for infractions. Taking note. Quietly gathering data. Towing the line, purposely being caught for the occasional minor infraction so as not to appear too good to be true. Until one day, they disappear from prison in the middle of a storm and take the entire foreman's investment portfolio with them.

Oh wait, I think there was a movie about this...

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

#232

Post by vharuck »

logfromblammo wrote: post #200
JKCalhoun wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At least for me, I don’t find any non religious argument a useful protection against nihilism. You probably also define religion pretty broadly I suspect. I could tell you that there is joy in life, beauty in the planet, happiness in relationships with our fellow humans and this is reason to live — spread love. Is that philosophy, religion (optimism?)? The best "teachers" in my life have taught me, if nothing else,…

I find that art is an effective counter to nihilism, and I do enjoy the irony of liking Dadaist and Surrealist art. When nothing you do matters, everything you choose to do anyway is art. So try not to make ugly art.

> When nothing you do matters, everything you choose to do anyway is art. So try not to make ugly art.

Is that a quote from someone else? I love it and want to properly attribute it when sharing.

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

#233

Post by saiya-jin »

slowhand09 wrote: post #197
rahuldottech wrote: post #20

THIS IS NOT OKAY. We can't have children being used to constant surveillance and accepting this as a part of life. It sets them up for so many problems in the future, where they won't understand the serious implications of constant tracking and surveillance. And sure, nothing too bad comes out of this stuff right now in most of the world, but have you seen China? The minute a government decides to do so, all that dat…

Funny this article coming from the Guardian which I believe is a British publication. And London being the only city in the top 10 for surveillance outside of China. https://www.comparitech.com/vpn-privacy/the-worlds-most-surv...

I think London is there mainly for the amount of CCTV cameras everywhere. The difference between this and place like China is how these tools are used - British society is fair and democratic to a high degree, in China this was never the goal. Of course priorities might change over time.

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

#234

Post by Symbiote »

slowhand09 wrote: post #197
rahuldottech wrote: post #20

THIS IS NOT OKAY. We can't have children being used to constant surveillance and accepting this as a part of life. It sets them up for so many problems in the future, where they won't understand the serious implications of constant tracking and surveillance. And sure, nothing too bad comes out of this stuff right now in most of the world, but have you seen China? The minute a government decides to do so, all that dat…

Funny this article coming from the Guardian which I believe is a British publication. And London being the only city in the top 10 for surveillance outside of China. https://www.comparitech.com/vpn-privacy/the-worlds-most-surv...

The source for the London figure is this article: https://www.cctv.co.uk/how-many-cctv-cameras-are-there-in-lo...

Unfortunately, the source for that article costs £100.

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

#235

Post by goodluckchuck »

foldr wrote: post #64
giancarlostoro wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 anything. First it's the guns, then knives, then machetes. If these alternatives are just as effective as guns, why do you feel that you need a gun? Of course, you know that guns are more effective at killing people - especially large numbers of people. That's why we in the UK have not had a mass killing in a sc…

Anti-gun folks are always so fascinated with "local-news" shootings because it's the only argument that is facially viable.

However, we have a second amendment because "a well regulated militia [is] necessary to the security of a free state." It's the only part of the constitution that expressly explains why it exists, and yet people pretend the issue is something else.

No, the issue is the very survival of our nation. It's how we won our independence and according to the people who did that, it's how we'll maintain it.

So, sure, for the sake of argument, guns are a raw deal at the state and local level, but are you saying they were wrong to expel the British? Or is it more of a "Oh, you needed them them, but you're really never going to need them ever again, I promise." Forgive me if I believe the founding fathers, they've only gotten us this far.

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

#236

Post by ohazi »

chrisseaton wrote: post #203
bobwaycott wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Monitoring and blocking are entirely different .

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

There's usually a legal distinction. Blocking does require looking at the request, but the accept/request decision is made instantaneously and is usually based on a static blacklist (or whitelist). It doesn't necessarily require logging.

Monitoring usually means logging all activity and then automatically or manually sifting through the logs to look for things, possibly much later, and possibly in response to other subsequent events.

Monitoring is considered by most people to be worse, and may come with more legal liabilities.

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

#238

Post by tssva »

Symbiote wrote: post #42
krilly wrote: 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…

> Monitoring internet access on school devices? That's been standard in every single school and workplace for decades. Blocking has been standard in some workplaces, and stricter blocking has been standard in schools, but monitoring isn't. Small and medium businesses and academia often have little or no blocking. No-one gets any alert if I write "I want to kill myself or maybe the president" here (over TLS), nor will…

Every large corporation I have worked with in the last 10 years has monitored internet access. Some block as well as monitor. The either monitor and block via network proxies and/or via locally installed software. When done locally the logs from the software are sent to a central logging system for the software. What the corporations do with that information has varied. Some don't actively look at it unless an issue arises and some send managers regular reports detailing the internet usage of their direct reports.

There hasn't been a company of any size I've worked for in the last at least 25 years which didn't require signing an acceptable use agreement which includes notification that all activities may be monitored.

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

#239

Post by saiya-jin »

chrisseaton wrote: post #180
markus92 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's still blocking, not actively monitoring. Probably because it runs all network traffic through their VPN.

How do you block specific websites without monitoring which website is being visited? That doesn’t make any sense.

Hmm, what about this approach - monitoring adds a certain action on top of that blocked (or not) website you try to access. It gets reported, your credit/social/whatever score goes down. As a kid, you might have a talk with counselor, or your parents with principal. As working adult, you might get a warning or get fired. Your access to foreign travel, sim card, voting etc. might get altered.

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

#240

Post by tssva »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #215
chrisseaton wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you block specific websites without monitoring which website is being visited? That doesn’t make any sense.

For example, downloading a list of prohibited domains to your device and running a local firewall. “Monitoring” in this context implies that someone will be able to later review the websites you’ve visited or tried to visit.

Every enterprises local firewall I know of can report back to a central system for logging.
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