Intro

Policy Central Enterprise Solution (PCES) is a software program designed to track and monitor school students online behaviors, from key logging to monitoring terms and topics they search for. The software runs in the background off of a school network, and keeps record (via screenshots) of anything deemed by the administrator as dangerous.

The team responsible for the software, The London Grid for Learning (LGfL), is a group comprised of 33 local authorities which offer common learning platforms to schools, including web filtering, e-mail scanning and anti-virus services. This particular PCES software is currently being used in over 1500 educational institutes across the UK.

Developed by: Forensic Software

Specifications

• Schools require no new hardware or installations
• The software sits on the LGfL network and is a managed service

Safety Control Features

• The software searches for inappropriate words, including those related to cyber bullying, pornography, racial or sexual harassment and threats and for suspicious activity such as inappropriate website access, online gambling and unethical or illegal practices.

• Customized system settings allow schools authorities and teachers to choose which behaviour to monitor, the times of the day to track activity and how the system should respond to violations.

• Access and entry to websites with questionable content can be blocked along with inputting websites you want shown to reduce false positives.

The Good

Not only can the software capture violations within Internet applications, it can also monitor the content of all other Windows applications such as spreadsheets, zipped files, PDFs and password-protected Word documents.

The software settings can be tailored to specific needs and parameters set for use of language and standards of behaviour. The software can alert teachers about welfare issues at home such as abuse or help them identify health concerns such as eating disorders. It can also track communication with external people so that children can be protected from strange requests for personal information and from sexual offender predators.

The Bad

This software raises some serious privacy concerns, although it only records activity when a violation is triggered. The only balancing factor in this is that students are made aware that the monitoring software is being used. When they log on, they are asked to acknowledge their awareness of the monitoring software usage in order to use the internet.

The annual cost for the service is a fixed rate, which is quite high, especially for schools with less pupils because they end up paying the same as schools with more students.

Product Screenshot

Editorial Review

This software may not put an end to cyberbullying, questionable online activity and inappropriate content, but it will allow school authorities and teachers to monitor harmful behaviour so that millions of students can be protected from becoming victims to the growing number of Internet crimes.

Bottom Line:  The Policy Central Enterprise Solution is a small price to pay for the safety of our children. When children are aware that safety software systems such as this one are in place at school, they may start to learn how to be accountable for their online behaviour and activity at home too.

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Similar Products:

Track4Win – http://www.track4win.com/Internet_Tracking.asp

Spector Pro – http://www.spectorsoft.com/products/SpectorPro_Windows/entry.asp?refer=12080

Computrace Complete – http://www.absolute.com/products/computrace-complete

Sources:

http://cms.lgfl.net/web/lgfl/homepage
http://www.forensicsoftware.co.uk/http://www.synetrix.co.uk/http://secprodonline.com/articles/2008/05/08/arizona-school-district-uses-tracking-software-to-protect-laptops.aspxhttp://www.eschoolnews.com/resources/safeguarding-school-data/safeguarding-school-data-articles/index.cfm?rc=1&i=34583
http://absoluteus.net/absolutetrack/computer-inventory.asp
http://www.track4win.com/Internet_Tracking.asp

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