iSean

US schookids run amok on internet | The Register

It all began last Autumn when the education authority supplied around 600 Apple iBook laptops to students at the high school. Naturally, they came complete with net-access-limiting filtering programme, and snooping software allowing the powers that be to see just what their charges were up to.
The administrators had not, however, reckoned on the sheer determination and machiavellian cunning of the students. They quickly found the admin password allowing unrestricted internet access - not by a keystoke logging black op or extracting it from the IT manager at the point of a gun - but rather because it was taped to the back of every machine.
Unsurprisingly, the miscreants immediately ran amok online, surfing with impunity and indulging in that most forbidden of fruits - iChat.

i am at a loss for words here. these students “stole” a password that administrators were stupid enough to tape to each student’s iBook??? and, the students downloaded iChat and now face potential felony charges. i think this is an example of gross negligence by administrators. they dropped the ball and now they’re trying to pass the buck! you know, i could live with the students getting into trouble for breaking the acceptable use policy and facing detention or loss of the use of technology, but a felony? oooh boy, this is silly. the school should chalk this up to a learning experience and . . . then they should actually learn from it.

and, i know that the article might not be telling me everything, but i think i get the gist: 1) passwords were ignorantly supplied to students, 2) students used passwords to access the web unlimitedly, and 3) they were caught. is it more complicated than i am seeing?

i think this is just a sign of the times in which we now live. kids are flocking to the technology world and the adults are trying to grasp hold of the various concepts. kids experiment with little regard for consequences and adults are pretty much failing to even experiment, let alone jump on board beyond the cursory levels. this creates a huge disconnect between generations. and, what the older generations do not understand, they fear. iChat is a wonderful communications tool. i use iChat AV and i can have live video chats with anyone around the world and the video is shown in full motion (30 frames/second). it’s awesome and it’s free (the kids downloaded a free app that comes standard on the machines they were using). iChat was used on CNN recently to talk with a guy in japan (from his home computer) and i think they plan to use it more. what a wonderful solution for communicating on the very cheap with anyone. ah well, i am sure this will play out better than it sounds right now.

This entry will be deleted after I get around to addressing some of these issues
I. surveymonkey.com issues
II. phpBB experiences
III. blogger.com experiences
IV. blackboard experiences

i guess i am settling on a blog topic for now . . . teaching online and in a cutting edge way. i will use this blog to help trace my steps as i try and improve my online teaching and as i test out new tools along the way. as some of you already know, i am using WordPress for my blogging tool. i signed up with bluehost as my internet hosting company and i am extremely happy with the services they provide for the money. they give me 50 MySQL accounts, which is pretty awesome. my blog takes up 1 SQL database, but many of the other tools i use take up a database as well, and bluehost gives me 50. my last host gave me 2, so you can guess how excited i am to be able to test so many services out for no extra cost. the nice thing about bluehost is that they make installing these extra services (e.g., WordPress, Moodle, phpBB forums, etc.) as simple as clicking a button. no knowledge of php or mySQL is required. nice.

more later as i fiddle. oh, here’s a banner to get you started (just click — and no, i do not work for the company):

this is my 3rd attempt at starting a blog. i think my first few attempts were hampered because i had no objectives for why i was starting a blog or who my audience would be for the blogs. this time, i think i’ll try writing for myself and perhaps others in the ed tech arena and see where that leads me. i’ll probably ramp this thing up in the next month or so and i’ll think things through before then.