Florida Department of EducationFIRN

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Florida Department of Education/FIRN
Presented by Earle Philip-Guide, Manager FIRN
Internetworking Support Group 325 West Gaines
Street, Room B1-14 Tallahassee, Florida 32399
850-487-0911
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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution
FAEDS SDCCMIS ANNUAL CONFERENCE "Adding Value
Through Technology" An I/T Summit for I/T
Professionals from K12, Community Colleges
and Universities Safety Harbor Resort and
Spa Safety Harbor, Florida October 14-16, 2002
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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Contract awarded to Secure Content Solutions
  (SCS) in June 2002.
• Solution offers content filtering, caching,
  packet shaping, and district level administration
  of own filtering policies (within the parameters
  of the global policy set forth by DOE/FIRN).

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• What is Internet Filtering?
• "Blocking" or "filtering" consists of hardware
  and software tools that disable students from
  accessing Internet materials deemed inappropriate
  for educational purposes.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Why filter the Internet?
• Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA--passed
  in January 2001) requires that schools that
  receive funding via the E-rate must filter
  Internet content.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• What material is filtered?
• Material that is considered inappropriate for
  academic use.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Categories currently blocked
• Anarchy Sites contain information regarding
  militia, weapons, anti-government groups,
  terrorism, overthrowing of the government,
  killing methods, etc.
• Chat Chat sites accessed via the http protocol.
  Protects children from predators.
• Criminal Skills Sites that promote illegal
  activity, such as pyrotechnics, computer hacking,
  credit card number generating, password cracking,
  surveillance and murder.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Categories currently blocked
• Cults/Gothic Sites promoting use of mind
  control, paranoia, fear, and any other type of
  psychological control or manipulation
• Drugs Sites that promote the use or purchase of
  illegal drugs.
• Gambling Sites such as betting sites, bookmaker
  odds, lottery, bingo, horse/dog track, online
  sport betting, online casinos, etc.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Categories currently blocked
• Hate Discrimination Sites that contain
  material related to the discrimination of any
  group of people based on race, religion, etc.
• Obscene/Tasteless Sites that involve such things
  as mutilation,murder, bodily functions, horror,
  death, candid scenes, executions, etc.
• Personals/Dating Contains sites that are related
  to personal ads, dating sites, dating services,
  relationships, introductions, etc.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Categories currently blocked
• PG17
• R-rated
• Pornography
• Web-based Proxies and Anonymizers Sites which
  offer free, anonymous services to disguise an
  individuals identity.
• Web-based E-Mail with the exception of
• ISPs that provide standard POP or IMAP accounts

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Deployed at all FIRN Internet Gateways
• Tallahassee
• Miami
• Tampa
• Orlando
• Pensacola

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution
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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Availability and Extensibility
• Contract is valid for all educational entities
  approved to connect to FIRN.
• Each entity can purchase additional hardware and
  manage the solution at their site. The site IS
  NOT required to purchase additional license
  agreements.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Provide filtering services for
• 8 public libraries
• 6 private schools
• 48 school districts

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Requests to Block or Unblock Sites
• Submitted via FIRN web page at --
• http//www.firn.edu/filter/block-request.html

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Requests for Review
• Completed within 2 business days.
• Filter administrator has immediate,
  manually override capability, if needed.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Requesting Content Filter Services
•  
• Instructions are located at
• http//network.firn.edu/services/sitefilter.html
•  

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Improvements of New System
• Flexibility
• Packet shaping
• Proxy servers
• Dynamic Updates
• Local Management
• Reports

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Outstanding Issues
• Technical problems with caching and packet
  shaping.
• Delay in giving districts control of their
  subnets due to IP range changes and filter
  syncing.
• Coordinate with Filter Administrator to implement
  local filter setup and changes.
• Most unblock requests are generated from
  Personals/Dating and Chat categories.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Troubleshooting
• All problems should be reported to the FIRN
  Support Center.
• A distribution list is maintained by the filter
  coordinator for informational updates.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Generating Reports
• Sample reports are available for review at--
  http//network.firn.edu/services/8e6report.html.
• Contact FIRN Support Center to request reports.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Packeteer Packet-Shaping Servers
• Manage traffic by type of service.
• Block non-educational services that consume
  bandwidth such as napster and virus attacks.
• Packet Shaping currently operational at 4 of the
  Internet Gateways.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• BlueCoat Caching Servers
• Decrease demands on bandwidth by caching popular
  web pages.
• Improved response time by caching web pages.
• Contact FIRN Support Center and request removal
  from BlueCoat if you provide your own caching
  solution.

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DOE/FIRN Safe Internet Access Solution

• Additional Information
• To view screen shots and step-by-step
  instructions, visit our update page at --
• http//www.firn.edu/about/SCS-Update.pdf
• To contact the FIRN Support Center, phone
  1-800-749-3476 (within FL only) or 850-487-8851
  (outside of FL).