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It discusses software being marketed by several companies to UK (and US) schools to monitor the internet communications of pupils, some as young as four, for signs of (religious) "radicalisation."
The software simplistically monitors for lists of words and phrases such as "Jihobbyist," dodgy organisations, and the names of various ISIS propaganda videos.
For example: John Cantlie, War on Islam, Jihobbyist, Pogrom, YODO, Storm Front, Kuffs, Message to America.
When use of such a term is detected, a screenshot can be forwarded to a teacher. Perhaps the teacher should then dial 999 and ask for the police?
A jihobbyist is someone who sympathises, but rather than getting themselves stuck somewhere warm and sunny like Iraq or Syria, they instead only cheer them on from the comfort of their own home. You learn something new every day.
I suspect some companies are going to make a lot of money out of this — and young children are going to have much fun winding up the teachers.
Original Submission
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2015, @07:23PM
WTH? Are they picking on the white supremcists now too? Storm Front [wikipedia.org] is all about the neo-nazis and those good ole boys hate the "ragheads." Are they going to put UKIP [telegraph.co.uk] on that list too?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday June 13 2015, @07:45PM
They gotta throw a "White" one in there for the sake of political correctness. Funny thing is that it was England's political correctness that led to their infestation of walking Durka-Durka bombs (and hence, this situation) in the first place.
Software in place or not, students should not be able to view StormFront at K-12 schools and if they can and do so willingly then they are asking for it, because at that point they might as well be browsing porn.
Jesus, do K-12 schools nowadays just let students do whatever the fuck they want nowadays?
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Monday June 15 2015, @11:58AM
Strange, I hadn't noticed the waves of suicide bombings in the UK resulting from this infestation of "Durka-Durka bombs". Can you perhaps point to some news stories?
We had one suicide bombing on the tube, and another couple that failed due to stupidity. That's it. The IRA was much more effective and deadly, mostly because they were not stupid enough to kill themselves and take all the valuable knowledge about blowing stuff up to the grave every time. Well, that and they were just generally less stupid because they spent less time praying for 72 virgins and more learning how to commit acts of terror properly.
Islamic terrorism in the UK is a bad joke.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday June 13 2015, @07:48PM
They have to be seen to be equally concerned about all kinds of supremacists.
I can see that someone studying weather and climate is going to get labelled a neo-nazi. Better not teach the kids Geography or Science.
But as Ethanol Fueled says, why on earth are children that young allowed on the internet at school at all?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2015, @10:31PM
Yes, the crazy thing here is that high-school kids use the internet as part of their schooling.
You two are fucktarded.
(Score: 1) by turgid on Sunday June 14 2015, @10:51AM
The story specifically mentions that the monitoring software is being used in primary schools. Let me translate that into American for you: kids from the ages of 4 to 12 years are on the Internet and being monitored.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mojo chan on Monday June 15 2015, @12:01PM
It's perfectly possible for children of those ages to use the internet safely. Some AV software and ad blocking for protection, and an open classroom where everyone can see what they are doing. Like the real world, there is bad stuff out there but that's why children are supervised. It only becomes a problem when you want to rely on software to do the supervision.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2015, @10:32PM
Just a few days ago, only a few blocks from my house, a white supremacist shot and killed a police officer. Do you really think they shouldn't be concerned about these people?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/norman-raddatz-had-extensive-police-file-for-hate-crimes-1.3105901 [www.cbc.ca]
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2015, @10:37PM
> Do you really think they shouldn't be concerned about these people?
Actually the whites are about 100x more dangerous than the browns. So-called soverign citizens kill tons of people. But they are white so they are just loonies, pay them no mind.
The crazy thing is that there is just one white keyword in that list when it really ought to be all of them.