Tuesday, April 4, 2017

State Auditor finds porn on school laptops

The State Auditor discovered students are able to access pornography on public school computers.  State Auditor Stacey Pickering disclosed the findings in a cybersecurity report that was issued today.  Some findings of the report are:


A review of school districts conducted by the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) found and alarming number of students accessing pornography and other explicit material....

The purpose of the Cybersecurity Audit was to test the reliability of the security controls districts have in place and the filters, if any, installed on publicly owned devices that are issued and utilized by students across the State of Mississippi. OSA’s objective was to ensure districts were protecting students from harmful and/or inappropriate material while accessing the Internet with these devices....

Of the 150 devices tested, as indicated in Chart 1, 30 (20%) of the devices showed evidence that students were able to access explicit material on school issued devices; evidence also indicated that the district’s filtering systems were ineffective when filtering inappropriate material.


The nine (9) districts reviewed did not enforce their Internet Safety and/or Acceptable Use Policies by ensuring the TPM were effective while students had access to the Internet. In addition, OSA notes that of the nine districts reviewed, one(1) school district does not maintain TPM filtering when students are off school grounds....

Of the eighteen schools tested, seven were middle schools and eleven were high schools, as indicated in chart 2 and chart 3. Of these schools tested, six(86%) middle schools students’ devices and nine (82%) high school contained explicit such as pornography...

The report also criticized the Mississippi Department of Education.  It is posted below.








43 comments:

Anonymous said...

No wonder all the churches are pushing Christian or home schools.

Holy Roller said...

Billy Joel

I would rather live with the sinners than die with the saints!

Anonymous said...

Wait till VR (Virtual Reality) porn hits home!
This will the next best thing to making pudden at home.

Anonymous said...

I want a full investigation!

Anonymous said...

Gonna be a whole bunch of blind chilrens in the next generation.

Anonymous said...

That report and pie chart are so sloppy. 80% contained non-explicit material? Do they mean 80% did not include explicit material? Ugh

Anonymous said...

When kids know how to use the technology better than any of the adults...

It's not like they haven't been looking at it on their phones already.

Anonymous said...

Actually, Billy Joel said "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints."

Anonymous said...

"No wonder all the churches are pushing Christian or home schools. "

I hope it's just a rumor, but I heard you can access porn from home too" (clutches pearls, heads to fainting couch

Anonymous said...

I have first hand experience with my 9th grader. This information is concerning, but even more concerning is the fact the districts do not block other content such as YouTube, Spotify, various movie sites and many many many other TIME WASTERS!! Teachers cannot see every screen and in the Block schedule system kids are in class for 1hr20min often hearing several minutes of lecture or instruction followed by free time to get homework or class work done. The problem at that point is there is no lock down to force the student to get homework done! I have emails from teachers to their students and parents expressing concerns that large portions of the class have not completed assignments. Clear sign that kids other than my own are distracted during school hours. I personally had to invest hours of time to figure out how to block content on my sons Apple computer. I eventually invested in software out of my own pocket to put on a school provided device. Now I know my kid needs to have better self control and that is a constant struggle. But I unfortunately don't have time to sit with him at school and I can't exactly ground him from the device which has all of the necessary content for his classwork. Very frustrating!

Anonymous said...

I would like to see a similar study of other state agencies. I would not be surprised to see a higher percentage in any state agency.

Anonymous said...

It depends on the agency, 5:38. I know one agency (with an elected agency head) that does not allow any internet access for employees. If they have any work-related reason to go online, they have to go to the IT department and use a specific computer where their movements are tracked.

In my agency, you cannot access any major "purchasing" sites like Amazon, Craigslist, etc. No audio streaming. No social media. No blogs (including this one). I assume porn is also blocked -- can't say for certain because I've never tried to access it.

Birds and Bees.. said...

There is nothing 'pornographic' about sex. Both boys and girls will learn about sexual relations and sexual intercourse in due time. Whether they learn it in a treehouse, in a computer lab, in the den or in the back bedroom, matters not.

You people who want to pretend sex is only discovered on wedding night are full of shit.

Anonymous said...

Little 14 year old boys at private Christian schools don't access porn. They have smart phones and iPads and laptops and mom doesn't know the password, but nah, they don't look at porn.

Anonymous said...

Internet filters are so 1990's. Half the kids in that class have unlimited hotspots on their phones and the parents don't even know they are paying for the whole class to stream porn.

Anonymous said...

Are they accessing Flat Earth Society material as well? You know, it speaks volumes about our "modern progressive society" that kids have more access to crazy theories and violence on the internet while being monitored rather than learn visually about one of the most primal functions of human life.

How did we get here?

Anonymous said...

You people who want to pretend sex is only discovered on wedding night are full of shit.

You are living on another f'ing planet if you think that anyone here at JJ is saying that. Go troll somewhere else where narrow is considered creative and cool.

Anonymous said...

Not all that surprising when one can find workarounds for filtering software schools use with internet searches and how-to videos. Should be pretty interesting when ISP's buy and sell that browsing history, though!

$JustSaying said...

The big rush to have a computer in every hand in every school just provides easier access to porno sites, there are numerous recent studies that show use of student computers does Not enhance learning, in fact it lowers scores in almost every studied categories. The selling of computers in mass quantities has only enriched the computer companies and the educational administrators who receive the kickbacks.

Anonymous said...

"There is nothing 'pornographic' about sex."

There is if you do it right.

- Woody Allen (1965ish)

Anonymous said...

Where is a link to this report on the official web site for the state auditor?

Smells like fake or sorta fake news to me.

Anonymous said...

Where is this coming from? Even searched for the word "cyber" on the auditor's website and no results found for reports. Seems like something in this report or their website may be an alternate fact.

Anonymous said...

I just wonder how many of the administrative and faculty computers were also analyzed. Seems important that ALL on the school network should be monitored.

Anonymous said...

The only thing shocking about this article is that the state auditors found it shocking to find porn on student laptops.

Chop Off Their Hands! said...

I'm with 'clutches pearls' and 'wedding night discovery'. This is indeed going to cause an entire generation of blind boys. You people, including the alarmist boob at 8:27, who think teenaged access to 'porn' is something new need to take down your hair-buns and ditch the 'Mrs. Olsen' shock-act.

The Playboy magazine we stuffed under our mattresses sixty years ago is now accessible on a hand held device in about eight seconds. And according to what I see in the news, there's a teacher at every school willing to give personal tutoring and instruction.

Twenty years ago we had a national Surgeon General who advocated teaching masturbation techniques in Junior High Schools. 90% of the legislature is reading 'Y'all Politics' and ordering from Bass Pro while sitting at their desks on our dime. I wouldn't be surprised if prisoners could even get weed and cell phones now.

Plain ol' Catfish said...

Always funny @4:15 AM when you circle back to agree with yourself and one of your previous comments.

PittPanther said...

Which if any public school districts around Jackson provide laptops to their kids?

Anonymous said...

Honestly, I'm shocked it isn't HIGHER.

Just wait until your browsing history is sold..and you get targeted ads with "Young Asians", "Trick or Tranny" or something else on the sidebar of ESPN, or FoxNews...try explaining that to your children or wife..

Anonymous said...

9:32:

Madison, rankin, and Clinton all provide laptops.

PittPanther said...

I will admit I don't understand school funding. How does Madison, Clinton, and Rankin country afford laptops for kids, while Jackson can't​ afford for kids to take books home? And Delta schools are even worse?

Seriously replies, please!

Anonymous said...

Schools shouldn't be providing laptops --not because they're used for porn, see the comments above about Playboy in the treehouse-- but because they're just a terrible tool to get kids to learn.

Guess what? Kids already know how to Google anything. They know the internet inside out, like you knew walking or riding a bike. They don't need to immersed in it at school.

What they need is to have the technology stripped away for awhile, forcing them to read, discuss, debate, and actually use their brains, as opposed to just staying plugged in to the internet hive mind.

Anonymous said...

How can Clinton, Madison, Rankin afford laptops: simple. Look at administrative salaries of the districts compared to JPS. Look at the amount of service contracts awarded by each district, and also how many consultants are paid at each district. JPS does not prioritize the students, and the school board and parents whose kids go to a JPS school don't hold anyone accountable. I'm sorry that JPS parents don't seem to give two craps about their kids education, but it's my problem also when more and more money is taken out of my income for social services to pay for the uneducated of this state and nation.

Online learning: too bad that some of you don't understand that the world has changed, technology is everywhere, and 'google' and 'wikipedia' aren't the ways in which someone learns on a computer. Excuse us in the suburbs for trying to educate our children on a national level, not just to some lower Mississippi standard in which JPS is in the same universe as the suburb schools.

Guess what--the viewing of pornography is a moral issue. Where should that problem be addressed: in the home and church. Grow some big-boy panties and talk to your kids about the sex industry. Don't whine that the government should do it, snowflake..

Anonymous said...

3:23 FORMER JPS teacher here (with a letter from the EEOC to prove it too). Spot on. When districts prioritize administrators over students, the students suffer. It's not rocket science. Administrative pay has risen 15% since 2005 while teacher pay has decreased 8%. You can thank the unions for that one. -mr37

Anonymous said...

3:23 -- I don't disagree about administrators, but as someone with actual classroom experience, I can tell you that most of the online "resources" are garbage that gets foisted on teachers to check administrative boxes.

It's not "JPS vs. the suburbs." Lots of expensive private schools are realizing that computers in the classroom, on balance, distract and impede the development of critical thinking skills.

Also, pro-tip: Don't use "snowflake" as an epithet unless you want people to know you're over 40.

Anonymous said...

Only a pompous ass offers up 'pro-tips'.

Anonymous said...

5:07. It's 3:23 here.

1-As an educator and administrator with 20 years of experience, I can assure you that if you haven't seen world-class online learning resources, it's on you. There's a lot out there, but part of being a good administrator and teacher is searching out the best and adapting to educate the students at the highest levels.

2-competition. Yes! JPS is competing against the suburbs for students. Why buy a house in Jackson and pay for private school when you can buy a house in Madison/Clinton/Flowood/Brandon? Isn't that competition for students? What about charter schools? At some point, they are going to get a lot better than JPS...competition. It's actually great for education! What better way to keep the public schools educating on a high level than to have top-flight private schools and charters? WE WILL ALL WIN IN THAT SITUATION! States that actually have good schools figured this out years ago.

3-I'm over 40. so what? who cares.

Of course students can develop critical thought and analysis with online learning strategies. Please go back to your one-room little red schoolhouse, pining for the days of the three R's. You are aware that writing begins with a W? Perhaps that's part of the problem.

Anonymous said...

JPS has computers. They have to have them for online state testing. And, if you are going to test a five year old on a computer you better make sure they are proficient with one. There are some great enrichment programs that technology opens the door to. But, it should be just another tool in the tool belt. Not a substitute for solid instruction. But, because we have sold our children to companies and the testing machine, and we have allowed those benchmarks to become ceilings as opposed to floors we are going to have to live with the consequences.
As to cost, many districts have moved to Chromebooks. They are cheap, but get the job done and in this state a lot of technology is covered by federal dollars because many of our schools qualify for Title money and then there is the ERate program. Now, that money may well dry up in this administration and we can be darn sure the legislature isn't going to appropriate funds even though they mandate the programs that require the technology. I'd also like the report to provide some examples. I know a couple of years ago a school got in trouble because students had visited sites because they were doing research on breast cancer. Guess what? There was a naked breast which was labeled porn. Hard to not come across nudity in an A&P class.

PittPanther said...

9:18pm, multiple studies have shown that charter schools have not delivered any significant improvement over regular neighborhood schools. As much as you want it to be true, as much as it sounds like it ought to be true, it's not true that charters are better.

No issues with the rest of your post, but don't fall for the charter school lie. So far, they're not working. Well I take that back. They are working if the plan all along was to find a way to funnel public money to private corporations.

Let's Define 'Working'.. said...

If one goal of area charters is to get your child the hell out of JPS, then charters are indeed working. As much as Pitty-Pander wants that to not be true, it is still true.

Fill In The Circle Completely said...

Pitt: What in your resume qualifies you to judge the effectiveness (so far, or speculatively) of whether Charters are 'working'?

Take your time.

You may begin.

(one minute passes)

Pencils down.

Plain ol' Catfish said...


Panther, define 'significant'. Give us a quantifiable measure. Apparently, in your mind, any improvement is not good enough or worthwhile unless it is 'significant'. So, define it and give us your measure.

Anonymous said...

9:18 -- Don't treat every online disagreement like a segment of the O'Reilly factor, where you're pitted against some caricature of a liberal you've created in your head. People can disagree without nonsense like "get back to your little one room schoolhouse." It's sad but not surprising that a veteran administrator would behave this way.

As for "world class" online programs, you miss the point. The question is not whether some programs are better than others, or even whether some online instruction might have a role. It's whether having so much online instruction that students need to carry around laptops improves outcomes. And there's an objective answer to that: No, it doesn't. See, e.g., http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34174796

On the second point about competition, you again miss the point, which was simply that good schools shouldn't be measuring themselves against JPS, but against the best schools in the country, which tend to be lukewarm on online education. Obviously, urban and suburban schools do compete, but how does that impact best practices? It doesn't.

Please try to resist the temptation to fire off a hot take in response. Just think about the above. If we disagree, we disagree.

You Can't Compete So Don't Reply.. said...

Please try to resist the temptation to fire off a hot take in response. Just think about the above. If we disagree, we disagree.

There's got to be a fallacy in that part of the post but I won't bother to look it up.

How does that guy get away with suggesting others simply read and digest his thoughts and not bother to respond to them? As if we've just been exposed to some mind-blowing cave drawings.



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