Ran into a couple of interesting policy issues today. The Grand Forks schools no longer allow students or teachers to bring their own laptops to school. It turns out the schools have major problems with the recent viruses even though protected by a firewall and are guessing that a teacher brought the virus inside the protected system on a personal machine. The school has no way to control the virus protection on personal machines like they can on the machines owned by the district. As you might expect, teachers who have invested in laptops expecting to use the machines at home and in their classrooms are not pleased.
I am also confronting unexpected policy issues related to wireless networks. I thought wireless was the answer and I have been frustrated with tech administrators who are holding up access in local educational buildings because appropriate security is not in place. I am starting to learn that there more security issues than I realized. I understand that once within range, an unprotected wireless network could be accessed by anyone with a wireless laptop. Somehow, this did not bother me. I can also sit down at any computer on campus and access the network without identifying myself. It just seemed allowing open access to desktop machines and worrying about laptops was out of balance. Perhaps people working on hard connected computers are more visible?
The idea that someone outside my building (or home) might be using my network seemed impossible. I can’t even gain access from certain locations within my house. It turns out you can build an antenna to improve your range – see the story of the Pringle antenna. I guess that guy pointing the potato chip can at my house was not as strange as I thought.
