Internet Filtering

To be clear, our goal is to support teachers and students while complying with District policy and local, state, and federal laws. This page is mostly written and maintained by Jacob Shaw, who really appreciates feedback and suggestions!

Friendly Reminder: Our District Internet filtering helps support student online safety, but it works best when paired with your supervision! The Internet is constantly evolving, which means even our filters can't catch everything.

We're actively looking into additional supervision tools to support your classroom needs. If you'd find these helpful, please let your building administrators know - they'll make sure your feedback reaches the right people on our leadership team!

If you are at a middle school, you should have access to LightSpeed Classroom to monitor your students. Contact your Ed Tech Leader for more information.

Overview

Note: In order to receive federal funding, the District must comply with the Child's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). CIPA requires the District to restrict a minor's access to inappropriate or harmful materials on the Internet, and the security and safety of minors using inline communications, such as: chat rooms, email, and instant messaging.

At the District, we use several different Internet filtering solutions, depending on the use case:

• Fortigate for the District network as a whole.

• Asavie for district cellular hotspots that are checked out to staff and students.

• LightSpeed Relay for Chromebooks and iPad that are checked out for students.

• YouTube Restricted Mode - This filtering is handled by Google. Teachers can approve a video themselves.

• Google Safe Search - This filtering is handled by Google, as well.

• Misc Safe Search - This filtering is handled by the respective provider, for example Bing.

Occasionally, you may encounter a district web filter block page, such as the following:

If you want to see the block page yourself on a safe site, you may visit http://blocked.com.

Frequently-Asked Questions

"Why does the District filter Internet traffic?"

The District is required by federal law to filter Internet traffic. Specifically, by the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and to meet E-rate eligibility and other federal funding requirements.

"Who decides what to filter?"

The District uses reputable internet filtering services that categorize millions of websites into groups such as Education, Games, Shopping, Drugs, Hacking, Phishing, and Adult content. We typically block or allow access based on these categories.

In certain cases, exceptions are made to meet educational requirements. In these situations, Technology Services consults with other District departments.

"Does the web filter block all bad content?"

No. Due to the ever-changing nature of the Internet, web filtering will never be 100% effective, but our web filter is updated many times a day.

Additionally, web traffic is increasingly encrypted, so it is becoming more challenging (but not necessarily impossible) to examine web traffic.

The web filter IS NOT a replacement for proper student and staff supervision.

"Why am I being blocked?"

If you encounter a block page while doing District-related work, FIRST look at the URL being blocked and the reason why it is being blocked. 

If it says Phishing or Virus or similar, the web filter is attempting to protect you from harmful content and you should not proceed.

In some cases, specific schools have requested additional blocking for categories such as Gaming and Social Media. In those cases, you should contact your building administration.

In other cases, there are sites with seemingly content appropriate materials that contain ads and market to students.  These are not appropriate and are blocked.

"Why is a site I use for my class being blocked?"

This may happen for a couple of reasons: 

1. Our internet filtering solutions may have miscategorized the site. We want to get this fixed. Put in a help desk ticket.

2. The District has deemed the site unfit for various reasons and has manually blocked it. Please keep in mind that these decisions typically come from Instruction. Technology Services usually avoids making editorial decisions about sites unless there is a serious cybersecurity or privacy concern. 

This issue often arises with non-endorsed sites, such as "neal.fun" and "prodigygame.com". Instruction encourages staff to focus on the instructional material available in the SPS Portal. If you have questions or concerns, please contact your building administrator.

"Why is Vimeo blocked?"

The District blocks Vimeo for students because Vimeo hosts inappropriate content and our Internet filtering is unable to a filter inappropriate content while students are off-site. As mentioned above, the District is mandated by federal law to filter inappropriate content.

Vimeo has a solution to force "safe mode Vimeo" for an IP range, and we have elected to do this, but unfortunately we still saw a large number of inappropriate videos making it through.

Teachers may access Vimeo on their devices by clicking the Override button on the block page and logging in.

We know that Vimeo is a popular video-hosting platform and we genuinely continue to re-evaluate the situation.

"Why is the Internet Wayback Machine (web.archive.org) blocked?"

This website is blocked because it both allows access to and hosts inappropriate material, such as pornography and erotica. At this time, we will not fulfill requests to unblock it.

"Where can I read about the district's Acceptable Use Policy (SpringNet Guidelines)?"

All staff and students should have read and signed the SpringNet Guidelines. You may read the SpringNet Guidelines by clicking here.

Why is the content blocked?

For some reason, the content has been determined to be inappropriate or unsafe and our web filter is trying to keep us safe.

Can I override the block?

In some cases, designated employees such as certified, administrator, and tech staff can override the block.

But WAIT. 

"As a staff member, what options do I have to get around an Internet filter block?"

Before you do this, please read the reason why the page is blocked — clicking through may allow malware to attack your computer!

To access a website for official purposes, you may click the "Override" button on the block page (if available) and enter your staff credentials. However, the Override feature may not be available for all reasons, such as accessing pornographic or malware-related content.

You are responsible for ensuring that such activity complies with the SpringNet Guidelines and District  policy!

"How do I check a site with the Internet filter?"

First, the District uses two Internet filters: LightSpeed Relay for student take-home devices, and Fortigate for everything else.

For the student device Internet filter, you may visit https://archive.lightspeedsystems.com and submit a URL to see how it's categorized. You may also request a site be re-categorized.

For the District Web Filter, you can check a site's category at the following link: https://www.fortiguard.com/webfilter . Here as well, you can request a site be re-categorized.

"How can I make a request for a site to be blocked or unblocked?"

First, see why the site is being blocked. It may be blocked because it has a virus or contains inappropriate content. In these cases, we usually cannot unblock the site.

Second, decide how important the site is, keeping in mind Tech Services staff spend at least 20 minutes servicing each ticket -- often more, doing research, sifting through enormous logs, etc.

If you feel that content should be blocked or unblocked and it is for official District purposes, per the SpringNet Guidelines, you may request that your building administrator file a Web Help Desk ticket. 

It is critical that you include the name of the affected user AND a full screenshot of the block page in your ticket. 

If you are unable to take a screenshot, copy all of the text on the block page and paste it into a note in the ticket. Without this information, we probably can't unblock the site for you. We are not trying to be difficult, we really want to fix your issue as quickly as we can, but often we run into two situations with unblock requests:

1. The site being visited isn't actually blocked, but something they link to is. Figuring out which site that is can take us hours.

2. The site is blocked because it is serving malicious content. This is usually temporary.

Why do we need this information? It lets us know:

• • What is being blocked, 

  • Why it is being blocked

  • For whom it is being blocked

  • Where it is being blocked.

"What if my request to have a site blocked or unblocked is rejected?"

First, typically, we do everything we can to fulfill requests, but sometimes it's not feasible. Even so, you may appeal the decision by having your building administrator submit a ticket and reference the closed ticket.

"How do I use DuckDuckGo with students?"

You can use the DuckDuckGo Safe Search site located at https://safe.duckduckgo.com.

Click here for more information.

"How can my students see my Weebly web site?"

Weebly.com is a website hosting business that is popular in education. It also hosts a lot of inappropriate content, so it is blocked for students by default.

Click here for directions.

"How do I unblock a YouTube video?"

Teachers and other designated staff may approve videos themselves, by following the instructions at the link below. 

https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6263784?hl=en#zippy=%2Capprove-a-video-or-channel

Before unblocking a video or channel, you should make absolutely sure it's appropriate for students of all ages, per the SpringNet Guidelines and the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA). 

Any video you approve will be viewable by all students district-wide! Please note that all approvals are logged.

"I approved a YouTube video but students still cannot view it!"

This is likely happening due to a notorious and long-running YouTube bug. The bug is that YouTube videos embedded into a webpage will sometimes not play. Google is aware of this bug, but it has been around for years. We will update this FAQ as we have new information.

There are some things you can try to get around this bug:

• Make sure the student is logged into Google with their district account.

• Visit the video in a new browser window and make sure the video is approved for District use. This does not always work.

• Copy/paste the URL of the video and open it in a new browser window or tab. You can get the URL by right-clicking on the video, as shown below.

"Why are portions of Google Translate blocked?"

Please see our Google Translate article for more information.

"Do you watch everything?"

We do log almost everything and run reports on logged traffic for a large number of reasons, including: identifying inappropriate use, improving network performance, and identifying cybersecurity issues.

We are respectful of personal privacy concerns while fulfilling our responsibilities in following District policies.

"I accidentally visited a bad site, am I in trouble?"

No. In terms of inappropriate use, we can tell the difference between accidental visits and sustained activity.

"I have a question that isn't answered here."

Feel free to email me, Jacob Shaw (first.last at domain). I am happy to answer questions and concerns about web filtering.

Helpful Links

• Screenshot instructions for Mac: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201361

• Screenshot instructions for Chromebook: https://www.google.com/chromebook/howto/take-full-screenshots/

• SpringNet Guidelines

• Fortinet URL Rating Support - Submit a URL for consideration for re-categorization to Fortinet.

• LightSpeed Relay URL Submissions - Submit a URL for consideration for re-categorization for LightSpeed Relay (student device filtering).

• Help with Google Safe Search