On 9th September this year we removed all links to Twitter.com from our websites, as many users had informed us that it was these links that had caused you to deem SparkleBox unsuitable for access in schools.
However since then, we have received further information from several visitors that your block relates to 'social networking and interactivity' on the site. Your official advice to schools states the following:
"We are unable to unfilter this URL as it contravenes our filtering guidelines (http://www.rm.com/filteringpolicy due to the elements of social networking and interactivity on sparklebox.co.uk. This website has been filtered in it's entirety."
In light of this, we have taken action that we hope will rectify the situation. We have now removed all features of the site that could be deemed 'social' or 'interactive' in any way, as follows:
- Google Friend Connect elements have been completely removed.
- Visitors can no longer comment on photos in the Gallery, resources in the Sharing Zone or books in our Books area
- Visitors can no longer submit resources or photos in the Gallery or Sharing Zone
- Links to Twitter remain absent from our sites
This means that any claims regarding 'social' elements on SparkleBox, and therefore any notion that children are put at risk by visiting the website, are now completely unfounded. We invite you to trawl our websites to see that these changes have indeed been implemented.
We would therefore make a final request, on behalf of so many teachers who's work is being hampered by your block, that you unfilter our website as soon as possible.
Warmest regards,
The SparkleBox Team.
40 comments:
YHGFL (Yorks and Humber GFL) has now blocked you and advised all member LEAs to do so. Apparently this is linked to safety concerns that they have about your site.
Unfortunately, LGfL have also blocked Sparklebox in schools. I've copied and pasted an email sent via my borough... Thought you might like to know.
Colleagues
During a recent Information Security Review, LGfL has become increasingly concerned at the risk to children posed by sites which have associated, though perhaps not immediately obvious, chat room and similar facilities.
The attached note sets out an explanation of the basis of LGfL’s concerns and the approach that will be taken to address sites which pose a potential risk of this kind.
In line with this approach, LGfL has added, and will add, sites to its general ‘deny list’, and in particular wishes to advise LAs colleagues that the following URLs have been added to the deny list during the half-term break:
· Sparklebox.co.uk
· Sparklebox2.co.uk
· Filesocial.com
· Blogspot.com
We are aware that the first of these, in particular, is a popular site with some teachers and there are several reasons why LGfL has elected to add this site to its global deny list:
1. The site is operating illegally in that the company operating the site has no registration with the Data Protection Registrar
2. The site signposts users to an un-trusted social networking site
3. The site offers the download of a toolbox, with unknown ‘payload’ – for example the download could initiate an internal attack on school systems immediately, or at some unknown future time.
The advice we have received confirms this judgement, and that of a number of other regional grids, that these reasons are sufficient to justify general blocking. As indicated in the attached, schools, with caution, may at their own discretion adjust their local policy to enable access. I have been asked to also point out that it is not possible, under any circumstances, to configure a local ‘allow’ for sites which are on the banned list of mainly illegal sites compiled and circulated to internet service providers by The Internet Watch Foundation.
Kind regards
Brian Durrant
Chief Executive
London Grid for Learning Trust/Adit London & South
The London Grid for Learning is still blocking you. What can we do?
London Gateway for learning (LGfL) are doing the same thing. We can't get on sparkle box from school, we are absolutely gutted! We have already had (in 24 hours of knowing) 3 moments of "doh, I bet sparkle box would have just the thing for that display" in the Nursery and I know of 2 moments in Recpeption class.
Dear Sparkle Box,
You seem reluctant to display this comment. South Tyneside have also blocked access to Sparkle Box.
Dear Sparklebox,
I am afraid to say that the London Grid for Learning has also disallowed your site from being available in schools. I work in a Bromley school and know countless teachers who use your site, what a shame! Your resources are great and we now have to access them at home, if we have our own computers and net connections, in order to use them in our classrooms.
I really hope that this can be rectified soon!
You are blocked by the London Grid for Learning as well. However, this is for more than just some links to twitter
Just to let you know that Sparkle Box is blocked for South Tyneside schools, too!
Unfortunately the London Grid For Learning have also issued a policy to block Sparklebox to all inner London Schools. The reasons that they give are the following (and I quote from teh LGFL Regional Directors email to all schools)
"1. The site is operating illegally in that the company operating the site has no registraion with the Data Protection Registrar
2. The site signposts users to an un-trusted social networking site.
3.The site offers the download of a toolbox, with unknown 'payload'- for example the download could initiate an internal attack on school systems immediately, or at some unknown future time"
Could you provide them with suitable reassurance that this is not the case?
We have been blocked at school too LGFL blocked it will send you the email sent to us if you are interested? I am currently downloading stuff via home over to server at school so teachers can still access you fab stuff 'What a pain though'
I hope this happens soon so I can use this great site at school again!!!!
Am confused - we're filtered by SWGfL (Swindon), but have never had any problems accessing the website at school. Sorry to hear others have - can't live without it!
Here's why they've blocked you, this is from our LEA (A London one)
1. The site is operating illegally in that the company operating the site has no registration with the Data Protection Registrar
2. The site signposts users to an un-trusted social networking site
3. The site offers the download of a toolbox, with unknown ‘payload’ – for example the download could initiate an internal attack on school systems immediately, or at some unknown future time.
The LGfL has blocked you now too.
Thank you Sparkle Box for continuing to sort this problem with SWGFL out! I hope, as you have said, that they do unfilter the website as soon as possible.
THANK YOU SPARKLEBOX!!! Let's hope they now "reinstate" you, it has made school hours very difficult. You are brilliant & give us all so much help with resources. Whatever would we do without you?!!!!!!!
Thanks for everything. Liz.
Hi! I work in a SWGfL school and schools do have the option of removing the block on sparklebox themselves, which my school did. However, despite a great antivirus system, when opening some sparklebox items, several tracking cookies and Trojans came into the system, which was obviously a nightmare. I love Sparklebox and don't have a problem at home - I even have the toolbar, but we have been advised to stay clear whilst at school :)
Before this term's complete lack of access to the site at work because of SWGFL the blog was always filtered so I assumed that this might still be the problem. Thank you so much for following up on this . It will be interesting to see whether or not we have access next week!
I've e-mailed SWGfL a few times about this and basically they told me that it's their decision and it's not up for discussion!
Great stuff SWGfL, perhaps you could slash the power lines too!
Bloody idiots!
Just to let you know that South Tyneside Schools can't access Sparkle Box either. Anything staff want has to be downloaded at home.
I feel this is rediculous. why should you have to go to these lengths when other regions have no issues?! obsurd that we can no longer upload resources, which halfs your workload. what a shame that a FREE and USEFUL website is being punished in such a way SWGfL should be ashamed!
Hi everyone, thank you for your comments and information. We apologise for the delay in approving some of your comments - this was due to an email glitch we've had during the past week.
Unfortunately, we have done all that we can to prevent the SWGfL block - the website now has no 'social' elements to it whatsoever. We have even removed our resource suggestion features in addition to the measures we've outlined above.
In response to the recent block in London.
THEY SAY:
1. The site is operating illegally in that the company operating the site has no registration with the Data Protection Registrar
We do not collect personal data by any means and comply fully with UK Data Protection laws. This objection to SparkleBox is invalid.
2. The site signposts users to an un-trusted social networking site
We do not link to or signpost users to any Social Networking websites outside SparkleBox. And if we did, they could simply block THOSE sites rather than ours. This objection is also invalid.
3. The site offers the download of a toolbox, with unknown ‘payload’ – for example the download could initiate an internal attack on school systems immediately, or at some unknown future time.
We do offer a Toolbar (not 'toolbox') for download. This software is TOTALLY safe to use - it does not include spyware or any viruses. The toolbar software is also certified safe by TRUSTe. Therefore this objection to SparkleBox is also invalid.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to keep us informed.
Hi,
First to say what a fabulous website Sparklebox is! You have amazing stuff on here, and I have loved checking every few days to see what New Resources have been added, and being inspired by the faboulous photos in the Gallery. I am confused now, though, because I can still see what New Resources have been added at KS1, and look at the photos in the Gallery for KS1, but dno't seem to be able to see either of these things for the KS2 site. I know there are (sadly) big discussions going on about access at the moment, but this doesn't seem consistent. Could you please tell me am I missing something? Many thanks, and I really hope the access issues are resolved soon - it is an amazing website!
HI I am the network services manager for The hillingdon grid. I would like to be able to unblock sparkle box as i know how good it is, (my wife is a primary school teacher). You have said that your tool bar is TRUSTe certified, but I cannot find you listed on their site. Could you confirm this is the case.
Many thanks
Rob clement
rclement@hgfl.co.uk
The Sparklebox websites themselves have had links to social networking sites removed but, the Sparklebox Toolbar is heavily advertised on both of the Sparkebox sites.
Does this Toolbar not link directly to both Twitter and Facebook?
I am an independent ICT technician and it would seem I have seen the same letter that you have regarding why the LGfL has blacklisted your site. Regarding your responses, you do still have links to twitter et al on your site in the guise of the social networking bookmarking tool that appears on most of your pages. You also, via the blogger tool (link:next blog) provide easy access to many blogs that are outside your domain and therefore sphere of influence. It is typical that LGfL clearly haven't engaged in open dialogue to help resolve these issues and instead have unilaterally decided to ban an amazing resource. I hope that you can resolve these issues.
Regarding the "illegal" nature of the site, the only things I can think of are that this blog requires someone to enter details but they are not identifiable, therefore they don't count. What would count however is the information you must be holding about yourselves (ie the members/employees). In this sense you will be holding data, which is covered under the data protection act, which means you need to register. I agree that this is a poor reason to ban, but a reason none the less.
Regarding the toolbar. I haven't used it, but looking at the screen shots I see further widgets to social networking sites. I presume that the tool will dial home to allow an updated feed for new exclusives also the previous commenter is correct, make sure you are properly certified. All these things considered, plus the administrative headache that ensues with these things, I can fully understand why the grids may take exception to it.
I hope this helps, and that you can open up a dialogue with the Grids that have banned your site.
Feel free to contact me if you would like to further discuss these topics.
Daniel Dench ddench@open-ict.co.uk
I've just clicked on a link from your site that took me to a web site with a 100% gaurantee of satisfaction for women looking to keep a great man, you sign up to their site and get adult advice on how to keep your boyfriend. Probably not appropriate for a girl of 10. Perhaps google adsense isn't the most effective advertising tool, and maybe you need to tighten up your screening? It's things like this that could give the bans legitimacy
I spoke to our ict team and apparently sparklebox is being blocked by all gfl's across the country.
Hi Everyone,
Thank you for your continued support.
In reply to Daniel Dench:
Thank you for your information. Regarding LGfL's claim that we are acting 'ilegally'. We have thoroughly investigated this and are definitely NOT in breach of any data protection laws. We do not hold any details of visitors. Our previous membership facility used 'Friend Connect' which is entirely managed by Google, and therefore THEY held and controlled all user data - this information is not and never has been accessible by us.
We are investigating the legalities of LGfL themselves for publically accusing SparkleBox of acting illegally - something which is entirely UNTRUE.
In regard to the toolbar - if authorities take exception to this, they can simply block the Toolbar alone. Why filter our entire websites?
In reply to Rob Clement:
Our Toolbar is built using Conduit.com's infrastructure and hosted with them. It comes under their TRUSTe certificate here: http://www.truste.org/pvr.php?page=validate&softwareProgramId=101&sealid=112
We hope this information is of use to people.
Please please please can you get these issues cleared up with the heads. We're blocked under LGFL, and as ICT Co-ordinator I've been getting complaints about this, although now at least we know why we can't access it. Sparklebox is like crack to us, we NEED it. You've been given the list of issues, please contact the appropriate people and sort this silly thing out.
We're going to set up a standalone laptop with dongle to be able to download onto memory sticks at school and then print off on the school computer. Haha, there are ways around this!
In all honesty Synetrix have probably noted a vast amount of traffic going to this site from the schools, they've noted the links to xyz which they don't feel is appropriate and then decided to ban the whole domain cos that is the easiest thing to do. I doubt they even researched who was accessing it or why.
It (i think) would be much harder to block the specific part of your domain that the toolbar is hosted. Still, they could have asked, and you could have given them the info required.
People should contact the above mentioned chap at Synetrix and bug him rather than their respective LEAs - perhaps the Grids will reevaluate. I'm all for safety and protecting children, but kids would never use this site. Synetrix has completely neglected to look at the probable risk vs actual disruption that this has caused.
Looking forward to arguing the point with my LEA IT team, as i've already been informed that they are refusing to unblock it at some schools... odd, when the schools pay them....
Hi,
I know this isn't the main topic of discussion at the moment but don't know how to contact you otherwise, and I am assuming this is caught up in the filtering issue - I would be really grateful if you could tell me how I can get to see the Gallery photos for KS2. I was looking at them for inspiration. I can see the KS1 Gallery photos but not the KS2 ones so I'm assuming this is an oversite rather than a deliberate removal, and I'd really like to see them again asap if this is possible! Many thanks!
I work in Hull and we can't access Sparklebox at school. We have been told that BECTA have blocked it because of a risk of a Trojan virus. Please can this be rectified asap and let us access your wonderful resources again
In relation to the toolbar, although we can access Sparklebox at school (fingers crossed that it continues!!!) we cannot download the toolbar as we cannot download any software and the administrator has to do it. Could that not solve some school's issues.
Thank you all. For those who wish to contact us, our email address is enquiries@sparklebox.co.uk
Regards,
The SparkleBox Team.
The sparklebox toolbar is a nightmare. If it ends up on a school laptop it causes no end of issues. The homepage and search provider are set to conduit rather than LLN and google (until a policy refresh anyway) and we constantly get security warnings due to most of conduit and half of the social networking tools on the bar being blocked by LLN. I know that the toolbar is used for a revenue stream, but it's starting to make people move away from your site. Please consider removing it so we can get back to using your site properly.
Leeds Learning Network have also joined in with banning your site now. Much the same as other operators they have cited:
Leeds Learning Network has taken a decision to block Sparklebox and it’s associated link sites Added on 17-11-2009
We are aware that this site is very popular with schools but have taken the decision to block it for the following reasons.
1. The site is operating illegally in that the company operating the site has no registration with the Data Protection Registrar
2. The site signposts users to an un-trusted social networking site
3. The site offers the download of a toolbox with an unknown 'payload' – for example, the download could be collecting browsing history or initiate an internal attack on school systems immediately, or at some unknown future time.
Failure to block this site may well place Leeds Learning Network in a difficult position regarding our duty of care for our customers.
We hope this clarifies the decision.
If you require any further information please contact our Servicedesk Servicedesk@leedslearning.net or telephone 0113 336 8999.
We have just been informed that Hull has blocked sparklebox. I am gutted as this is our only means of resources due to problems with finance. What can we do?
Oi! Sparklebox Team, sort this out properly and you could make money out of your popular resources. Protest your innocence and you will cease to be. At which point a very tasty business opportunity awaits.
This is ridiculous. I am so glad that our school decided not to pay to join the grid. We still get the free access via the portal and none of the negatives that all of you who are paying for the system get.
Smiles smugly..
Post a Comment