Florida School District embarks on mission to monitor private internet activity of all students

[NightHawkeye]

From the "Our kids are so important", files: Orange County Public Schools to monitor students on social media | WKMG 6

School officials acknowledge the online snooping might raise privacy questions. But board member Linda Kobert said the district is taking advantage of "new tools to protect our children."​

 

[seashale76]

It's important to realize a few things. 1) School board members are elected by the public to their positions. 2) A huge majority of drama and fights occurred at school that were planned on Facebook and other social media sites back when I was teaching. I don't imagine that trend has changed. 3) Quite a few parents out there aren't doing their job. If they did this wouldn't be an issue in the first place. 4) Teachers already are told that their social media is monitored and to be careful of what they post on the internet as consequences can follow. 5) Kids need to be taught by someone that their on-line posts can cause problems for them. It's best they discover this before it costs them a job one day. 6) The same people that complain that schools do nothing about bullying and fights likely are the same ones that are moaning about this school district monitoring on-line posts.

 

[HannahT]

This will be interesting to watch.

As long as they don't go over line I don't have problem with it. It is a safety issue for them, and it could help with bullying, etc.

I just don't want to see some kid getting suspended because they bit the pop tart in the shape of gun, and posted the pic on facebook! Some schools feel the need to do that on school grounds during their lunch period, but on the kids off time? They need to leave that alone.

 

[NightHawkeye]

It's important to realize a few things. 1) School board members are elected by the public to their positions. 2) A huge majority of drama and fights occurred at school that were planned on Facebook and other social media sites back when I was teaching. I don't imagine that trend has changed. 3) Quite a few parents out there aren't doing their job. If they did this wouldn't be an issue in the first place. 4) Teachers already are told that their social media is monitored and to be careful of what they post on the internet as consequences can follow. 5) Kids need to be taught by someone that their on-line posts can cause problems for them. It's best they discover this before it costs them a job one day. 6) The same people that complain that schools do nothing about bullying and fights likely are the same ones that are moaning about this school district monitoring on-line posts.

I have a few additional thoughts:

- Law enforcement doesn't have the funding to monitor social media just for criminal activity. What makes the school district believe they can effectively monitor more than a few students for everything from criminal activity to rude behavior?
- Civil rights violations will be among the first protests heard.
- How much will property taxes go up for businesses and residents to support this?
- Why would students care about anyone monitoring their online activities anyway?
- How will this program improve education?
- Who is the point of contact for abuses?

 

[South Bound]

It's important to realize a few things. 1) School board members are elected by the public to their positions. 2) A huge majority of drama and fights occurred at school that were planned on Facebook and other social media sites back when I was teaching. I don't imagine that trend has changed. 3) Quite a few parents out there aren't doing their job. If they did this wouldn't be an issue in the first place. 4) Teachers already are told that their social media is monitored and to be careful of what they post on the internet as consequences can follow. 5) Kids need to be taught by someone that their on-line posts can cause problems for them. It's best they discover this before it costs them a job one day. 6) The same people that complain that schools do nothing about bullying and fights likely are the same ones that are moaning about this school district monitoring on-line posts.

Bovine skubulon. Potential 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendment violations aren't suddenly OK because it seems like a good idea.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

It's important to realize a few things. 1) School board members are elected by the public to their positions. 2) A huge majority of drama and fights occurred at school that were planned on Facebook and other social media sites back when I was teaching. I don't imagine that trend has changed. 3) Quite a few parents out there aren't doing their job. If they did this wouldn't be an issue in the first place. 4) Teachers already are told that their social media is monitored and to be careful of what they post on the internet as consequences can follow. 5) Kids need to be taught by someone that their on-line posts can cause problems for them. It's best they discover this before it costs them a job one day. 6) The same people that complain that schools do nothing about bullying and fights likely are the same ones that are moaning about this school district monitoring on-line posts.

I'm about 50/50 on what you just said

While I do agree that there's a certain learning experience to be had by understanding that your posts on the internet are available to the public eye...if you put it out there for the world to see...don't be upset when someone in the world sees it.

Now, if the school were using some sort of online wiretapping to intercept private chat sessions, or if they were forcibly taking a students phone or tablet then looking at their facebook page or something like that, then we'd have a problem, but it doesn't sound like that's what's happening.

The part we fundamentally disagree on here is this being used as some sort of "bullying prevention" program. Bullying has been around since long before the internet, i think it's naive to think that monitoring facebook posts will lessen the issue. You might be able to thwart a plan the first couple times, however, the bullies will catch on to that and just go back to planning their bullying efforts the old fashion way.

 

[Cearbhall]

Now, if the school were using some sort of online wiretapping to intercept private chat sessions, or if they were forcibly taking a students phone or tablet then looking at their facebook page or something like that, then we'd have a problem, but it doesn't sound like that's what's happening.

I agree. The article doesn't make it completely clear what they will and will not have access to. It says "publicly available social media communications," but does that include things that you're only supposed to be able to see if you're Friends with the person?

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I agree. The article doesn't make it completely clear what they will and will not have access to. It says "publicly available social media communications," but does that include things that you're only supposed to be able to see if you're Friends with the person?

If it's Facebook they're talking about, I'm not sure how the teachers would even see that unless the student added them as a friend so I don't think that will necessarily be an issue.

If anything, that'll teach students about the value of the privacy settings tab

 

[Cearbhall]

If it's Facebook they're talking about, I'm not sure how the teachers would even see that unless the student added them as a friend so I don't think that will necessarily be an issue.

If anything, that'll teach students about the value of the privacy settings tab

Well it said "the company will assist district law enforcement and security personnel in monitoring," which could open the door to anything. This isn't just the office lady at the high school being tasked with glancing at Facebook profiles.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

You know you can set the privacy settings so that only your friends can see your page so um...

Also.. why the heck are people using Facebook for a gauge on how a person is and then make them suffer real world consequences over it? You know you can make fake profiles right? I wonder how long until somebody gets in trouble from a fake facebook profile that has stolen their likeness?

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Well it said "the company will assist district law enforcement and security personnel in monitoring," which could open the door to anything. This isn't just the office lady at the high school being tasked with glancing at Facebook profiles.

I would think they'd need Facebook's cooperation with efforts like that...the local law enforcement team and the company are unlikely to have the skills required to hack into Facebook. (The security engineers for Facebook have 7-figure salaries for a reason). Plus that would then put the school district and police on the wrong side of the law since hacking is illegal.

...and I don't foresee the court granting a warrant for a local police district to search Facebook's data for bullies.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what their plan is for getting access to that...

 

[KCfromNC]

From the "Our kids are so important", files: Orange County Public Schools to monitor students on social media | WKMG 6

School officials acknowledge the online snooping might raise privacy questions. But board member Linda Kobert said the district is taking advantage of "new tools to protect our children."​

Perhaps some of the tech savvy kids in this school district should start "monitoring" the internet activity of school board members and school administrators. You know, keeping track of web sites they visit, stores they order from, and so on. Or heck, even which actual brick and mortar stores they go to on weekends. There's no issue with privacy here, since it is just to make sure none of them are doing anything which might be endangering children and all that.

 

[CyberPaladin]

Well it said "the company will assist district law enforcement and security personnel in monitoring," which could open the door to anything. This isn't just the office lady at the high school being tasked with glancing at Facebook profiles.

To be fair though we are talking about one of the largest school districts in the country the fact that there outsourcing the work to a third party rather then trying to do it themselves shouldn't be that surprising. Besides it'll be a good lesson for the kids considering how many employers check new employees and monitor current employees cyber foot print.

 

[Vylo]

I am so glad social media wasn't a thing when I was in school. I didn't even see my first computer lab til junior year.

 

[Ada Lovelace]

From the "Our kids are so important", files: Orange County Public Schools to monitor students on social media | WKMG 6

School officials acknowledge the online snooping might raise privacy questions. But board member Linda Kobert said the district is taking advantage of "new tools to protect our children."​

This sort of seems like it's a few steps behind the times because social media that require users to have accounts are used less frequently now for cyberbullying as an increasing number of apps and sites that allow for anonymity become available and popular. Yik Yak allows people to just jump on and post yaks for people in the surrounding area to read without needing to create an account or choose a handle, and so it eliminates the fear of retribution for misconduct. It's frequently used for cyberbullying and shenanigans. There is a geofence that is supposed to disable it from working on K-12 school grounds, but it's easy to climb over the fence, so to speak. Last fall at a high school here in LA there were a stream of yaks with apparent bomb threats that prompted a campus evacuation for several hours as the LAPD came and did a sweep. Compounding the problem was that this happened on Election Day, and the school was a polling site so that generated even more havoc.

To me the effectiveness of SnapTrend for high schools would be limited, and could be disproportionate to the potential problems. It could end up driving more students from social media accounts like Facebook and Instagram that do have more means for accountability to Yik Yak or other popular sites like Ask.Fm which lets people post questions or comments anonymously. Apps like SnapChat and Yik Yak were created in part because of increased monitoring of conventional social media leading to a desire for more privacy and less of a concern about consequences.

Another issue I see is that adults could misinterpret "teenagese" and act in a way that causes more embarrassment or stress than benefit. It monitors social media searching out content expressing whether someone is depressed, unhappy, or sad, because it believes it can then provide intervention as deemed necessary, which is benevolent in intent but could be disastrous in application. Something intended to be facetious like "Gonna blow brains out. #Stress" taken literally could actually create more stress and embarrassment for the student depending on what action was taken. Another issue is that students wanting to cause problems for someone else could make a fake account with their name.

 

[Sistrin]

Teachers already are told that their social media is monitored and to be careful of what they post on the internet as consequences can follow. 5) Kids need to be taught by someone that their on-line posts can cause problems for them. It's best they discover this before it costs them a job one day.

This is true. When using school computers tied to the school network both teachers and students need to be aware the equipment isn't theirs, therefore they don't have the same expectation of privacy as if they were on their personal computers.

 

[Aldebaran]

We've accepted having everything we do monitored by the government, and Facebook and Twitter have encouraged us to divulge everything we do. Monitoring kids and what they do on the internet just takes advantage of what we've already given up and takes it a step further.

 

[seashale76]

We've accepted having everything we do monitored by the government, and Facebook and Twitter have encouraged us to divulge everything we do. Monitoring kids and what they do on the internet just takes advantage of what we've already given up and takes it a step further.

Yes- but telling people their social media fixation is something they need to get over doesn't go over well. They get defensive about it and give all sorts of lame justifications for why they absolutely need to persist in over sharing their lives. I loathe Facebook, et cetera. I don't think people need it in their lives at all. In fact, I often feel I should extend my thinking to forums like this too. None of those sites believe in privacy. They monitor everything, yet everyone will conveniently ignore that fact until it personally bites them or others they know in the butt.

 

[Lost Angel]

If you want privacy from the school, don't use social media in school and shield your public identity. It doesn't take rocket science to keep your activity adequately hidden from employers and schools.