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1101 East Pike St. Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98122
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Also, make sure you're using your own computer, and not a company supplied one, as you most certainly signed something agreeing you wouldn't use school equipment this way.
But seriously, that's who you want to talk to: their sysadmin and/or IT people in general. That's who will be able to tell you if there is in fact any monitoring and whether or not anyone will care if you do get up to some perfectly legal, ethical adult activities and it happens to come to some system monitor's attention.
Also, can't you get your own Internet access through a cell phone provider? The lady I sit next to at some group meetings always just plugs in a thumb drive and takes off while I'm searching for the free local wireless site.....
What you are looking for is typically billed as a "proxy service" and you will find many available. There is no need to get a separate internet connection, a properly configured proxy hides things sufficiently that unless you are sending about missile launch codes inside of China there is no need for anything more.
TOR, which is nothing more than a very safe proxy, is a possibility and is free but it is also generally quite slow and you *may* be stealing bandwidth from those that need it but can not access public proxies (that was what TOR was actually created for). Put up a few bucks a month for a proxy, after all your access is being provided gratis anyway.
You have other options. You could use your smartphone as a modem. Or get a satellite (e.g., Hughes Net), which is surprisingly affordable and doesn't require any wiring.
There are also wireless internet options available through most cell phone providers and theres also Clear (yes -- I know Clear sucks, but she doesn't have any other internet access).
From a legal standpoint, you don't have a leg to stand on if they change their mind, and, if a kid gets into your computer, it gets even worse for you. Keep your shit locked down and on a separate network.
Oral agreements are just as valid as written ones (with rare exceptions - statute of frauds blah blah blah), but when it comes to enforcing them it's often just an evidentiary matter. It's easier to show agreement with the written evidence. It's probably best practice to get something in writing, but for god's sake stop spreading shit like "verbal statements aren't worth the paper they're printed on." Verbal statements are often worth millions of dollars.
Anyway, there real matter is how they informed you. If it was just in passing as you say it might not actually bind them and/or you might not be able to justifiably rely on the statement. You could get them to confirm it, and yes, get it in writing if possible. Doing this might expose your motives, however. A better solution is to Just use Tor or get a VPN.
So yeah, use a proxy service.
Just for a point of comparison, though -- as a sysadmin on a liberal campus... i don't consume porn using the campus network (though I don't have much compunction about NSFW stuff) myself -- I save the good stuff for outside that.
I think in your position, I would probably install Tor (torproject.org, they do awesome work & the current to go guy is none other than Seattle's Jacob Applebaum) if $$ is an issue, or else invest in a smartphone with its own 3G connection (and *don't* let it use the campus wireless network unless you're doing something legit).
And in general, I'd surf the trash off hours (esp if you go the smartphone route). And! put a passcode on it so family members don't find out what you've been up to. Just sayin'
Get a smartphone with a tethering plan or a cell modem for your laptop. Or better yet, just do your dirty IMing and web browsing directly from your cell phone. Don't be an idiot.
And oh, by the way: Go fuck yourself.
Sometimes I forget and just talk at a tcpdump level... :-P
This is a political issue. IF - or rather - WHEN some parent (and you will NOT know they are a parent) hooks up with you, then gets mad at you they will "out" you to the school. Plan on it. Now plan on them talking to the local news in the name of Jesus to protect the children from the perv teacher. Now imagine yourself going to court in this environment after the school fires you for a "morals" clause completely unrelated to the internet or what you were browsing.
Bottom line: VPN, VPN, VPN. (Or, as others have pointed out, you can just use a different network, like one of those cellular dinguses).
It should also be pointed out that all this techno mumbo jumbo simply keeps people who might be snooping on the school's *network* (e.g. school IT people, nosy students) from seeing what you're up to. If someone manages to break into your computer itself and install monitoring software, all bets are off. Keep those systems up to date, keep your firewall on and use anti-malware/anti-virus software.
Uh, no. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encryption
@9 makes a good point about budding hackers at the school. You don't want to accidentally get outed into a position where the school will be publicly forced to fire you. Since its somewhat annoying to always delete your downloads or logs, you should keep your computer turned off when you aren't using it, to prevent it being a target 24 hrs/day. Or, you know, use a Mac or Linux variant.
You might want to look into some crypto tools, like the venerable PGP, which can encrypt your files to prevent prying eyes, and legal threats.
Or more simply, keep any files you download on a flash drive (or always burn to a CD), that you regularly remove and stash in a safe place.
Get a video and some good lube. Involve your wife in the dirty talk. Keep your job.
@38 lol
The other angle on this: This might have been a case of someone trying to discredit Dan by getting him to say that he approves of teachers watching porn at school. Given that he's becoming more and more prominent, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the letters he's going to get are specifically aimed providing ammunition for people like Rick Santorum. I grant you, I can be a bit on the paranoid side about these things.
So smart move, Dan, punting to your readers. If it's genuine, we've got it covered, if it's a fake you aren't writing anything that could be turned into something inappropriate.
If you can't resist the computer then buy your own, encrypt the entire hard drive with PGP, make sure it is set to lock out after a minute unattended, pay for wireless broadband, and pay for VPN. And even then leave some wholesome porn laying about your room because when they eventually come for you they aren't going to give up without finding something (every guy is expected to have porn somewhere in his possession).
Seriously dude. Stay off the computer. PREP SCHOOL
Perhaps prices have gone down since then, but if you have free internet use it. $7-10/month for a VPN is totally worth it.
And personally I can't believe that a school isn't logging at least basic data about browser history, etc, even if they're only archiving it. It's CYA, and they probably have compliance requirements to do it. If they're not doing it, they're opening themselves to liability, and that's just not something organizations do anymore.
Trapped Teacher needs to get himself a smart phone and a good 4G network. That's what I use when I'm at work.
Seriously, how did we get ourselves off before the internets?
I never matched the sources of those communications with people - part of the job is to respect the privacy of others to the greatest extent possible. But I easily could have, and there are probably less scrupulous admins out there than me.
i turn off my airport, all signals only go through the internet stick and i use my own lap top.
similar to tethering off your phone, but with a different device.
This guy seems smarmy to me and like he's looking for a free pass to be smarmy. He's going to be living where he's working. When you work with kids you keep your sex life as far out of your work as possible. Hence no Internet porn for the guy who works at a prep school. Seems pretty clear cut. Plus, his porn needs are a little beyond the average guy's looking at sexy pictures.
Anyways I wouldn't care if I was reading CNN, they likely have a legal right (or its arguable that they do) to look at what you do on the Internet. Use a proxy like #1 says ( strongvpn.com is supposed to be good), now!
Ignore the folks saying you should use a phone, that's silly. That's only for people at work using locked-down computers.
or how about just using "incognito" option on google chrome.
problem solved.
Isn't the cost of an aircard or tethering your phone worth the piece of mind to know you're not risking an ugly scene that could lead to you losing your job?
If you're dead set on using the computer, your employee handbook should have a computer policy that can give you better guidance re: what use the school officially tolerates.
Follow it.
At the end of the day, you don't wanna be crying, "But you said it was okay" to a porn-related termination.
Hee hee, handle your own.
I'm a teacher - same situation.
This works.
God, lawyers are stupid. Avoid this route, letterwriter. Go with either the encrypting tech solution suggested above or find your own connection. But asking the school to document your ability to download porn?
Only a lawyer would think he is solving a problem with that advice.
And all the people who say he should watch his porn at home? What part of living on campus do you not understand?
D
excellent solution.
the phone.
If you *do* use your own computer at home, I would suggest using portable apps (in addition to my other suggestions) to make sure all cookies, all logs, everything, fro what you use, go on the flash drive and not on the computer (making the risk of exposure by your computer getting hacked into minimal). If windows, try PortableApps (google 'em up), get yourself a flashdrive (2G is plenty) and go for it. I'm sure Mac has an equivalent suite of programs. And as an aside, having a portable app setup on a flashdrive is a handy way to access your favorite programs, already set up for you, when using someone else's computer.
If you don't have extensive technical expertise or the willingness to poke around with different programs and setups, the phone suggestion is the hands down easiest way for anyone to avoid the issues the LW is worried about.