Internet and computer censoring and screening in schools (FOI)

​Request

I would be grateful if, in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011, you would undertake to provide a response to the following sub-requests.

A

Please state when the current Victoria College internet and computer censorship and screening system was implemented.

B

Please explain whether a private organisation was contracted to implement this system, or whether it was implemented using internally available resources and employees.

C

Please describe which States Member / Minister / Department was responsible for the implementation of this system.

D

If possible, please provide a list of any failures or breakdowns in the system, or any instances in which the system has crashed.

Response

A

The current Internet and computer censoring and screening system is fulfilled by two tools.

Lightspeed is an Internet filtering tool deployed centrally by the Department across all States of Jersey schools in 2009 to protect students from inappropriate Internet content.

Impero is used internally by some secondary schools, including Victoria College. It is a software monitoring tool that uses key logger technology to enable schools to monitor what is being typed on their computers. Victoria College implemented Impero in September 2014.

B

Impero was implemented at Victoria College by their internal IT support team, with the assistance of Impero support engineers.

Lightspeed was implemented in all States of Jersey schools by a local security company, Evolution, following engagement from the Education Department’s IT team. Evolution worked in conjunction with Lightspeed EU.

C

Victoria College was responsible for the Impero implementation in 2014.

The Education Department, under its Director Mario Lundy, was responsible for the Lightspeed implementation in 2009.

D

Impero

The monitoring protocol for the server that hosts Impero allows for 3 months of historical data:

Lightspeed