Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

They filter OUT family friendly sites? So only the fun ones are left then?

How times change. I remember looking at blurry porn on my schools' computers back in the day.

I guess they've gotten really militant and over the top with this blocking software.

Yep, in a lot of these web filtering packages, the categories are built for what makes parents mad. Sites that tell Timmy it's okay to be gay make parents mad.

I don't know why schools bother. Just build a white list of school approved indoctrination and be done with it.

Maybe NAMBLA will help them out and file an amicus curiae.

So the ACLU went to the media before the school received the letter.

motive?

Uh, school districts purchase these services from outside companies. They're not singling out frotteurism.

KingVJ: So the ACLU went to the media before the school received the letter.

motive?

Ca$h money. Better call up Jesse Jackson

Penman: Uh, school districts purchase these services from outside companies. They're not singling out frotteurism.

But they do customize the block lists on their own.

cman: While they are at it, why not unblock sites that deal with gun safety? It is educational information that will save lives.

Gun safety? There's no such thing.

paygun: Yep, in a lot of these web filtering packages, the categories are built for what makes parents mad. Sites that tell Timmy it's okay to be gay make parents mad.

Done in four.

minordisaster: Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

Quit whining.
When I was in highschool, we had no computers and suspected gays got beat up, bullied and harrassed.

She cited a few examples of websites being blocked that provide help to teens who are being bullied over being gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or trans-gender.

Yeah, cause viewing these websites on a school computer will keep you from getting bullied.

paygun: Yep, in a lot of these web filtering packages, the categories are built for what makes parents mad. Sites that tell Timmy it's okay to be gay make parents mad.

I don't know why schools bother. Just build a white list of school approved indoctrination and be done with it.

They're famous for blocking legit sex ed stuff as well, so i think it's just anything that mentions sexuality in even an indirect way.

cauth002: She cited a few examples of websites being blocked that provide help to teens who are being bullied over being gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or trans-gender.

Yeah, cause viewing these websites on a school computer will keep you from getting bullied.

Actually, they can. There are websites out there that tell you of your legal rights (and yes, students do have the legal right to not get beaten up or harrassed), and there are websites that help you deal with it when it's already happened.

Anyway, I remember our school's blocking page. I'm not sure if the software followed through, but it told you that you had tried to access porn -for things like GLAAD or art (OMG, scary boob!)- and that it was sending a message to the principal's email.

AbbeySomeone: minordisaster: Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

Quit whining.
When I was in highschool, we had no computers and suspected gays got beat up, bullied and harrassed.

Sifora: cauth002: She cited a few examples of websites being blocked that provide help to teens who are being bullied over being gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or trans-gender.

Yeah, cause viewing these websites on a school computer will keep you from getting bullied.

Actually, they can. There are websites out there that tell you of your legal rights (and yes, students do have the legal right to not get beaten up or harrassed), and there are websites that help you deal with it when it's already happened.

Anyway, I remember our school's blocking page. I'm not sure if the software followed through, but it told you that you had tried to access porn -for things like GLAAD or art (OMG, scary boob!)- and that it was sending a message to the principal's email.

My comment was aimed towards the likelyhood of the bully getting a glimpse of seeing you click on those websites. When I was in school, the computers were very public...and the bullying would be insane if they saw a kid on a GLAAD website. It's just the way it is.

But as to what you were saying about the importance of the websites themselves, I agree.

cauth002: She cited a few examples of websites being blocked that provide help to teens who are being bullied over being gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or trans-gender.

Yeah, cause viewing these websites on a school computer will keep you from getting bullied.

Well, this is officially the dumbest comment I've read today.

Why give support to victims? That's really your argument?

JohnAnnArbor: What happens if you try to watch a clip from "Glee"?

The bullies breaks out into song and dance, and you still get beat up.

Maybe they feel that students shouldn't be using school computers to question their sexuality? in any way shape or form.

minordisaster: Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

You complained? What a whiny little biatch. It's people like you who make people walk on eggshells day in and day out because you've made political correctness into an institution. fark you.

gameshowhost: You don't understand - just looking at some of that stuff can turn you into a hermaphrodite.

+1

minordisaster: Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

Most schools are pretty clueless about running the filters. They just select the safest option and then go home. Most of the time they have no idea what they block or not block.

/runs our company's filters

minordisaster: AbbeySomeone: minordisaster: Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

Quit whining.
When I was in highschool, we had no computers and suspected gays got beat up, bullied and harrassed.

Ha!
True stories. 70's suburbs - but at least we could party, screw around, etc without getting AIDS or having the government in our faces. We didn't have cellphones either and we managed.
/goml

My high school ended up putting a lot of actual art sites on the block list because they container pornographic images.

Sites with such content as Michelangelo's David and DaVinci's Vitruvian Man. Can't let us teenagers be scarred by seeing naughty bits!

/drove the art teacher nuts
//her argument was that pretty much anything was porn to a teenager, blocking legitimate sites only harmed our education
/still agree with her on that

Vangor: Students using school computers to browse such sites are already questioning, or more often coming to terms with in a polarized society, their sexuality. I see nothing wrong with sites which are age appropriate providing support for students. Emotional and social development are two important purposes of schooling, and I can consider no useful reason for blocking such sites except to send a message those orientations are incorrect or wrong, which is a terrible, flawed, and dogmatic rationale.

THIS. And a school's computer may be safer than using their own in which their evangelical wingnut parents may be monitoring.

My school filter occasionally blocks the school website.

And it's an online school.

/No, I'm really not trolling, the IT guy's busy counting to potato.
//Ultrasurf. Gods bless Ultrasurf.

OscarTamerz: Maybe NAMBLA will help them out and file an amicus curiae.


Why would the North American Marlon Brando Lookalike Association have an interest in this?

See, here's the thing. I really can't get a read on you. Are you being a schmuck, or are you being serious? Because, on one hand, it would be easy to read these comments as having come from an utter turd. On the other hand, it could be a very tongue-in-cheek assessment of the days of yore as told by a fifty-something.

Either way, waxing nostalgic over 70s suburbs is boring at its best.

I do tech stuff for a school district.
I just checked, and we allow access to GLAAD, GLSEN, PFLAG and PFLAG Canada.

xen0blue: minordisaster: Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

You complained? What a whiny little biatch. It's people like you who make people walk on eggshells day in and day out because you've made political correctness into an institution. fark you.

Seconded!
The school can block what is deemed not proper content for school grounds, you're free to look at whatever you want at your home on your own time. Tired of all kinds of people making an issue out of things that don't even belong in the setting of a school. There is a lesson plan and unless that class was Why does my penis grow when I think about penises 101, there is no reason to be searching for those sites at school. People like this are the same as the damn fundies, none of you are really that special. At least the gays earn the butthurt the old fashioned way, NTTATWWT.

What is wrong with that? Those websites should be censored out.

Problem solved :) (new window)

KingVJ: So the ACLU went to the media before the school received the letter.

motive?

Shaming and naming. If you're accusing them of AWing.... well, that's kind of the point. And it works as a tactic too.

Yea, real problem with filtering out deviant sexual content in a school setting.

Lol

No, not really.

Go to a library and beat off there to your freaky shiat.

minordisaster: Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

Wow you had the Internet in high school? Did you get your mommy's permission to post on Fark?

/off my lawn

shiattynick: xen0blue: minordisaster: Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

You complained? What a whiny little biatch. It's people like you who make people walk on eggshells day in and day out because you've made political correctness into an institution. fark you.

Seconded!
The school can block what is deemed not proper content for school grounds, you're free to look at whatever you want at your home on your own time. Tired of all kinds of people making an issue out of things that don't even belong in the setting of a school. There is a lesson plan and unless that class was Why does my penis grow when I think about penises 101, there is no reason to be searching for those sites at school. People like this are the same as the damn fundies, none of you are really that special. At least the gays earn the butthurt the old fashioned way, NTTATWWT.

Spoken like a person who truly has no clue what GLSEN is. Good job.

Vangor: rubi_con_man: Maybe they feel that students shouldn't be using school computers to question their sexuality? in any way shape or form.

Students using school computers to browse such sites are already questioning, or more often coming to terms with in a polarized society, their sexuality. I see nothing wrong with sites which are age appropriate providing support for students. Emotional and social development are two important purposes of schooling, and I can consider no useful reason for blocking such sites except to send a message those orientations are incorrect or wrong, which is a terrible, flawed, and dogmatic rationale.

Well, since you're clearly the arbiter of rationality and reasonableness, I'll just change my mind, okay? Perhaps the school doesn't feel that any kind of sexuality belongs in school. you make it sound like they're giving penis-in-vagina lessons in one room and then scolding people for being gay in the other.

minordisaster: See, here's the thing. I really can't get a read on you. Are you being a schmuck, or are you being serious? Because, on one hand, it would be easy to read these comments as having come from an utter turd. On the other hand, it could be a very tongue-in-cheek assessment of the days of yore as told by a fifty-something.

Either way, waxing nostalgic over 70s suburbs is boring at its best.

For starters, I don't give f*ck what a spoiled, whining b*tch like you thinks. I am relating facts, not waxing nostalgic.
I don't believe anyone but proven assholes should be discriminated against, but don't feel that my tax dollars should pay for you kids to not only get free internet to check FB or post pics of teachers that hurt your feelings, but also kick down for the tantrum lawsuits that follow.
All these things that you take for granted are available because people older than you, like myself and many others here, have worked to provide them for you.
Grow the f*ck up.

tankjr: minordisaster: Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

Wow you had the Internet in high school? Did you get your mommy's permission to post on Fark?

/off my lawn

Nope! I'm a rebel! Sometimes I don't even finish my vegetables!

school filters don't always work. sites like www.fhgakfhgshregfbhfagfjhagbwekfhFARKjak.gov would be blocked, even though it's obviously not a real site, simply because of the FARK thrown in there.

shiattynick: xen0blue: minordisaster: Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

You complained? What a whiny little biatch. It's people like you who make people walk on eggshells day in and day out because you've made political correctness into an institution. fark you.

Seconded!
The school can block what is deemed not proper content for school grounds, you're free to look at whatever you want at your home on your own time. Tired of all kinds of people making an issue out of things that don't even belong in the setting of a school. There is a lesson plan and unless that class was Why does my penis grow when I think about penises 101, there is no reason to be searching for those sites at school. People like this are the same as the damn fundies, none of you are really that special. At least the gays earn the butthurt the old fashioned way, NTTATWWT.

A fair point, if they are blocking all things that have nothing to do with the curriculum. If they single out certain classes of things, particularly resources for homosexual students to get help coming to terms with their experiences, then there's a problem.

T-Luv: shiattynick: xen0blue: minordisaster: Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

You complained? What a whiny little biatch. It's people like you who make people walk on eggshells day in and day out because you've made political correctness into an institution. fark you.

Seconded!
The school can block what is deemed not proper content for school grounds, you're free to look at whatever you want at your home on your own time. Tired of all kinds of people making an issue out of things that don't even belong in the setting of a school. There is a lesson plan and unless that class was Why does my penis grow when I think about penises 101, there is no reason to be searching for those sites at school. People like this are the same as the damn fundies, none of you are really that special. At least the gays earn the butthurt the old fashioned way, NTTATWWT.

A fair point, if they are blocking all things that have nothing to do with the curriculum. If they single out certain classes of things, particularly resources for homosexual students to get help coming to terms with their experiences, then there's a problem.


Never attended a school that didn't have a counselor.

They can laugh just as hard at them as we do on the internet and it'll be far more personal interaction.

minordisaster: shiattynick: xen0blue: minordisaster: Yup. I put up with this in high school. Organizations like GLAAD, GLSEN and PFLAG were filtered for "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content", which was changed to "gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender issues" after I complained. Nice to see something being done about. Hey, ACLU, feel free to come investigate Bridgeport Connecticut's schools and see if that's still happening here, when you're done.

You complained? What a whiny little biatch. It's people like you who make people walk on eggshells day in and day out because you've made political correctness into an institution. fark you.

Seconded!
The school can block what is deemed not proper content for school grounds, you're free to look at whatever you want at your home on your own time. Tired of all kinds of people making an issue out of things that don't even belong in the setting of a school. There is a lesson plan and unless that class was Why does my penis grow when I think about penises 101, there is no reason to be searching for those sites at school. People like this are the same as the damn fundies, none of you are really that special. At least the gays earn the butthurt the old fashioned way, NTTATWWT.

Spoken like a person who truly has no clue what GLSEN is. Good job.

Don't know, don't care. I also don't care if you're gay, straight, or can only orgasm while standing on one foot and dressed in a flamingo costume while getting manually stimulated by a pack of spider monkeys; unless it's part of the curriculum or lesson plan, doesn't matter in the least.