What Restrictions Should Student Laptops Have?

An anonymous reader writes "We're a school district in the beginning phases of a laptop program which has the eventual goal of putting a Macbook in the hands of every student from 6th to 12th grade. The students will essentially own the computers, are expected to take them home every night, and will be able to purchase the laptops for a nominal fee upon graduation. Here's the dilemma — how much freedom do you give to students? The state mandates web filtering on all machines. However, there is some flexibility on exactly what should be filtered. Are things like Facebook and Myspace a legitimate use of a school computer? What about games, forums, or blogs, all of which could be educational, distracting or obscene? We also have the ability to monitor any machine remotely, lock the machine down at certain hours, prevent the installation of any software by the user, and prevent the use of iChat. How far do we take this? While on one hand we need to avoid legal problems and irresponsible behavior, there's a danger of going so far to minimize liability that we make the tool nearly useless. Equally concerning is the message sent to the students. Will a perceived lack of trust cripple the effectiveness of the program?"

Comments

Remember the law of unintended consequences

[Whuffo]

Consider carefully the liability side of this issue. If the university exercises NO control over the use of the laptop then they are also (almost certainly) not liable for anything the student may do with said laptop. But if the university places controls over what sites can be visited, or prevents file sharing programs from being installed - they're creating a problem for themselves. Now, if the student downloads the latest album the lawsuit can include the university - because they made a policy of controlling these uses and failed to do so adequately.

I can see those RIAA attorneys cackling and rubbing their hands together. It was hard prying settlements out of those college kids, but if they can drag the university in too they can really collect some money to give to those poor starving artists.

Consider also just how long it'll take the average college student to bypass any and all restrictions you may place on the laptop - it's a virtual certainty that those laptops will be used in ways the university specifically forbids. You can't put controls on these laptops and avoid the liability issue.

Re:none

[Mr. Arbusto]

When I was in High School I was more bothered by the "Required by State Law to attend" and "Required by State Law to submit to search of persons or property while on campus." That was in the late 1990's. I can't imagine what it is like now in this post 9/11 post Littleton world.