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School gave us chromeboks, they are worthless
- Thread starter Generalpsyduck
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John Kowalski
Banned
So are there like poor kids who have no other choice but to use the chromebooks to do their school work? I can see this being feigned as a way to increase the student's ability to access the internet, but instead locking many students without a choice in the matter to their fucked up surveillance fetishes.
backflip10019
Member
Stop trying to watch Pornhub on your school computer, OP.
Sheriff_Battlesnake
Banned
Also, I got a hearty laugh out of Chromebok. Sounds like a specialty dish at my local Chinese restaurant.
Chromebok
Mama?
Maintenance
Member
I got a pen once.
DoktorEvil
Banned
itwasTuesday
He wasn't alone.
School gave you a free Chromebook?
That's cool, I was allowed to sign out a calculator to take it home for a whole night... I know right.
That's cool, I was allowed to sign out a calculator to take it home for a whole night... I know right.
I bought my own sweet ti-83 silver edition
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
He's from Chicago. High school hasn't started yet.
lovely ladies
Member
Yeah, chromebooks are great. I wouldn't use them as my main computer but as a secondary one, you won't find a better one with the price you're paying.
Veritigo_X
Member
I bet you could access Reddit at least.
I know this chicken. It's just south of Troy, Alabama on Highway 231. I never thought I would have seen this chicken on GAF. Weird.
Chromebok
Unless they mailed him the computer, I'm guessing his school year already started.
Orbis Tabula
Member
Our local government repaved out "free" roads (lol, free. "Aka we used the gas tax money, thanks for the cash, suckers!") So we could get around, and then made it fucking illegal to text while driving! I can't even updated my Facebook page or send a Snapchat message on the roads. Plus, there's all these cops on the roads making sure I don't do it. I have to wait for a redlight everytime I get a text. Such bullshit. Sorry for the rant.
Ah, alright. Some school districts start in early August, so I wasn't sure.
It's still summer isn't it?
Ah, alright. Some school districts start in early August, so I wasn't sure.
Orbis Tabula
Member
Sorry, double post.
The Albatross
Member
Yeah I doubt the bolded.
Why the hell does it matter if you can't access Reddit, YouTube, and Facebook? You have those all on your iPhone 6+ anyway.
Pay attention in English class then.
CPS has had certain sites blocked for at least a decade and a half. Not sure why OP is surprised that his school-provided laptop has restrictions on it? I remember going to my parents schools and being unable to browse a bunch of sites. Thankfully GameFAQS was never on the blacklist 
NoblesseOblige
Banned
I manage chromebooks for public schools. They work fine. Their policies come from a Google domain, so it doesn't matter if you're in school or out, they're still possible to manage and restrict.
Edit: Also I doubt they were purchased from 'raised taxes'. Most out technology comes from grants that have existed for well over a decade. There is a chance your district is different, but that's how it operates in at least the tri-county area I serve.
Edit2: And yes, we (as in the organization's tech department) reserve the right to manage our equipment. No we aren't snooping and watching your webcams. That's firstly a huge legal issue due to previous cases involving webcams picking up students in the nude, but secondly we don't care. Our technology agreements usually just allow us full access to files and the ability to lock devices remotely.
Edit: Also I doubt they were purchased from 'raised taxes'. Most out technology comes from grants that have existed for well over a decade. There is a chance your district is different, but that's how it operates in at least the tri-county area I serve.
Edit2: And yes, we (as in the organization's tech department) reserve the right to manage our equipment. No we aren't snooping and watching your webcams. That's firstly a huge legal issue due to previous cases involving webcams picking up students in the nude, but secondly we don't care. Our technology agreements usually just allow us full access to files and the ability to lock devices remotely.
Why? It's happened before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbins_v._Lower_Merion_School_District
DoktorEvil
Banned
Zoe
Member
How so?
The Albatross
Member
OverBlood 3
Banned
OP are you okay?
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I was pretty pissed when I found out I couldn't access porno from the library when I was a kid too.
Oh wait, we didn't have internet then and the only computers we used were those early 90s Macintoshes.
Oh wait, we didn't have internet then and the only computers we used were those early 90s Macintoshes.
michaelius
Banned
Get yourself normal pc ? You will need knowledge of real operating systems in life anyway.
And use that chromebook trash only when you need for school.
And use that chromebook trash only when you need for school.
Phrozenflame500
Member
Alright, let's break down the issues here:
1) You can't access Reddit/Twitter/ect. while at school
2) You can't access Reddit/Twitter/ect. while at home
3) The school can monitor what you're doing on the computer at all times
4) The school can monitor you through the webcams
5) The school can monitor your emails
So I think most people agree here that 1 is valid, without teacher supervision it's generally inappropriate for students to access non-educational sites when at school. 2 is a bit weirder as I'm not sure why the school cares what websites you visit while at home, but whatever, it's a school computer and you presumably have home devices. I'd also say that 3's sort of justified since it is school property and they have an interest in knowing what you're doing with that property.
4 and 5 are the only things that I think aren't justified at all. And that's assuming by private emails you mean GMail/Hotmail and not a school email server where they entirely have the right to snoop on you. It's pretty gross and as people have pointed out if they didn't disclose it probably violates some sort of law.
1) You can't access Reddit/Twitter/ect. while at school
2) You can't access Reddit/Twitter/ect. while at home
3) The school can monitor what you're doing on the computer at all times
4) The school can monitor you through the webcams
5) The school can monitor your emails
So I think most people agree here that 1 is valid, without teacher supervision it's generally inappropriate for students to access non-educational sites when at school. 2 is a bit weirder as I'm not sure why the school cares what websites you visit while at home, but whatever, it's a school computer and you presumably have home devices. I'd also say that 3's sort of justified since it is school property and they have an interest in knowing what you're doing with that property.
4 and 5 are the only things that I think aren't justified at all. And that's assuming by private emails you mean GMail/Hotmail and not a school email server where they entirely have the right to snoop on you. It's pretty gross and as people have pointed out if they didn't disclose it probably violates some sort of law.
OverBlood 3
Banned
Can you still access the dark net? I need to find out if my spouse is cheating on me...
DoktorEvil
Banned
OP went back to summer class.
Oh look, a classmate of OP's. I'm interested in hear what real operating systems look like in your opinion.
The Albatross
Member
Chromebooks are great, affordable notebook computers. Also, Chrome OS is a real operating system, although I don't really know what a fake operating system is to compare.
didn't work sure, but they tasted so.. so good..
PlayALLtheGames
Banned
Classic thread.
Dedication Through Light
Member
I thought most schools still start after labor day, while some in rural places and snowy places start a bit in early august [here]
So you doubt it would happen... because it's happened before? When the OP stated that the school district specifically informed them that they reserved the right to do so?
Okay then.
And pet issue? I've made three total posts on it in my many years posting on GAF. But, yes, it's a pet issue.
The Cowboy
Member
I swear some smelt like popcorn, or was that the off brand prit stick that was slightly pink in colour?.
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For the breakdown someone did above, most of the restrictions are just fine for a school PC (my daughters old school gave them iPod touches), but the webcam/email bit if true is not right at all.
Some schools in GA start in the beginning of August. It's weird, but I guess it makes sense to the school district.
When I went to high school in the early 90s, our entire school had 3 computers.
The looked like this:
If we were lucky, we'd get to use one for a bit during a study hall.
Then we got one with..... A CD ROM.... so crazy!!!!
(by the time I was a senior, we at least had Windows 3.1)
But I'm so sorry your free computer only gives you certain parts of the "world-at-your-finger-tips, unlimited information instantly" web. I hope you can find another, unlocked computer so that you can create a Twitter account dedicated to how horrible free Chromebooks are (@MyFreeChromebookSux).
The looked like this:
If we were lucky, we'd get to use one for a bit during a study hall.
Then we got one with..... A CD ROM.... so crazy!!!!
(by the time I was a senior, we at least had Windows 3.1)
But I'm so sorry your free computer only gives you certain parts of the "world-at-your-finger-tips, unlimited information instantly" web. I hope you can find another, unlocked computer so that you can create a Twitter account dedicated to how horrible free Chromebooks are (@MyFreeChromebookSux).
CarpeDeezNutz
Member
The spying thing sounds like bs to me. I work at a school and our 5th graders are all getting iPad minis that they can take home. I set up the parents accounts and informed them of everything legal they needed to know and at no time was I told to tell them "oh and we will be able to snoop on your child". I don't think anybody would agree to that. I sure won't.
Schools just can't win with the public. We try to level the playing field for all the kids to be able to learn and we get this
Oh, that's a crap laptop/notebook (like it was meant for you to play games and download whatever you want on it, sure you'll get around to do your homework later)
Schools just can't win with the public. We try to level the playing field for all the kids to be able to learn and we get this
Oh, that's a crap laptop/notebook (like it was meant for you to play games and download whatever you want on it, sure you'll get around to do your homework later)
The Albatross
Member
So my fiance is a high school English teacher for a poor inner city school, the worst school in one of the poorest school systems in the state. The majority of her students do not have computers or internet at home. Most have new(ish) smartphones because it's a status thing, but very few households have computers or a typical internet connection. The result is that if she wants to prepare some of her kids for college who will go, she can only assign typed papers that they use class time to type in the computer labs at school, which sucks because it takes away class time.
Prior to the school she is at now, she was at one of the wealthiest public schools in the state, and every student submitted their papers via Google Docs... which was amazing, even for me (somebody who works in tech), I was pretty impressed by the system. She could live edit a draft of a paper with a student at night, and was available for chat through whatever the Google Apps for School Hangouts app is. This school's use of technology was better than both of our college's. That's something that could really help any student.
A school district lost a class action suit for exactly what the OP is mentioning. Believe it or not, when school systems implement system-wide, multi-million dollar funding initiatives for programs like this, they look at past successes and failures. So yes, because a past school district did this -- in 2010 -- and was brought to court and lost because of it I'd feel that future school systems probably wouldn't institute this home surveillance policy. Plus, you have to admit that the world in 2015 takes online and personal privacy much more seriously than it did in 2010 (or earlier).
The surveillance thing really sounds like one of those high school myths that students make up because they heard a teacher tell a friend from an aid that the principle is using the computer to monitor them at home.
cheststrongwell
my cake, fuck off
I doubt tax was raised significantly to buy these things. The camera monitoring should be illegal though.
I swear there was a controversy at some school district a few years back involving webcam monitoring.
I swear there was a controversy at some school district a few years back involving webcam monitoring.
Exactly. The school gives you a nice tool to get your work done and you complain about not being able to go to reddit.
It's not your property OP.
DonasaurusRex
Online Ho Champ
...how is them restricting entertainment useless for school? As cheap as they are you can buy your own chromebook
i would disable that camera tho
i would disable that camera tho
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