New Surveillance Software for Schools
By Meg McCaffrey -- School Library Journal, 9/1/2003
The software can detect hate messages e-mailed to students or computer problems that mysteriously occur each time a particular student uses a computer. (The latter may indicate that the student is trying to hack into the system.) The surveillance software can also detect if a student quickly switches screens or applications every time a librarian or teacher walks by. The product can even detect students who try to circumvent monitoring by using Hotmail or instant messaging.
Robert Frost, a technology specialist at Highland School of Technology in Gastonia, NC, says the Pro edition is "very helpful when contacting parents about a problem because you have concrete information to share with them," he says. The only drawback, Frost adds, is that educators can spend a lot of time perusing what the software has earmarked as suspicious.
Prices begin at $14.95 per license. It's available via CD or can be downloaded at www.SpectorSoft.com.
