Reply to post: Re: Privacy? What's that?

Re: Privacy? What's that?

@Lee D

From what you've said it sounds like it's overall a "good" tool and the idea of flagging certain keywords, restricting/blocking others isn't automatically a massive invasion of privacy. The example you gave is exactly the sort of safety net this sort of thing should be used for,

My issue (and yours too, by the sounds of it) is that it's too much of a blanket demand without anyone with any technical knowledge involved in constructing the details of the demand itself.

It also leaves open the option of massive amounts of abuse if, for instance, an under-funded school (aren't they all?) in a rough area (socio-economically deprived, in trade-talk) ends up with a "creepy IT guy" who then abuses it. To what could quite easily be a horrific level (think of a cross between the Rotherham stuff and that guy who compromised-then-blackmailed kids into committing abhorrent acts and got nailed for it recently).

It's all about balance really, and unfortunately our current (and many prior) governments and both mentally and morally unbalanced.

You're bang-on about GDPR not stopping it either, as much as I champion the intent behind it and (hopefully) its execution there are some worrying loopholes. Governments can add in their own exemptions for specific cases and there's no chance of something that uses a demonised vision of the internet combined with think-of-the-children rhetoric getting overturned.

However, I'm fairly sure I'm correct in thinking that the current law doesn't mandate biometrics and I can still kick up a royal stink about it should my kid's school try and impose it. And I certainly won't let them monitor anything emanating from my house or a device I'm responsible for. That being said, BYOD is for fools and I'd have to strongly question any school that hopes letting a host of variously malware-infected devices onto their network, not to mention enterprising script-kiddies/proto-hackers looking to demonstrate their chops and build some notoriety.

EDIT: To directly contradict what I said above about such tools in schools being broadly a good thing (albeit with a list of caveats longer than my unusually-generous manhood):

The entire PREVENT strategy is among the most ill-targeted, segregationist and fear-mongering policies I've ever fucking laid eyes on.