Security is constantly becoming more and more of an important topic of conversation. With the increasing popularity comes the question, how secure is the school you go to? Schools typically try to hold security to quite a high standard; maybe to instill upon students a need to keep confidential information to themselves.

While there are still ne-er-do-wells that may sit on the line of what is right and wrong in regards to cyber security, whether it be positively intended or not, it is still a matter of concern for staff at a corporation or school. Common sense obviously leads to a lot of information on the web to be blocked, for example Reddit.com. While Reddit may be one of the fastest news sources next to Twitter, it is blocked due to some of the possible inappropriate content that may be held there. Although there may be inappropriate content on Twitter, it can be avoided quite easily and is a popular way of communication that the school can monitor and partake.

That was just one example of selective blocking in which obviously the more popular source of information, to a certain group of people, is chosen to be representative of what is allowed and what isn’t. While there are many more examples about security choices one person may criticize and another may see no problem with there, isn’t a need to argue a point that is hard to stand by. Workplaces and schools don’t need to hear complaints about why “waste-some-time.com” is blocked if it was.

Some sites like “yotube.com” specifically spelled with typos are hosts to malware and deserve blocks. Malware, Ransom-ware, and other malicious programs that students could unknowingly, or knowingly, catch on school computers also have to be taken into consideration. That is why typically in school there will be a blank webpage saying “This site can’t be reached”, or “is blocked because of this reason…”.
Schools have the right to block whatever they deem nonessential to their academic goals. They just need to be able to reconsider their choice in the event that they are wrong in what they block.