Being Stalked by the Wifi Filter?

Emily Koke, Reporter

On Aug. 21st, I had a near death experience. My life flashed before my eyes in the most cliched way imaginable and my demure disposition turned uncharacteristically irate. I was rapidly falling into a great despair as I desperately searched for answers to the betrayal I was experiencing.

 

The internet had forsaken me.

 

The LPS filter flooded across every corner of my screen in attempts to protect my innocent eyes from an evening of aimlessly browsing the web. My wifi decided to adopt anarchy as it is a form of government and the Lightspeed Mobile Filter had the freedom to block websites. And everything fun in life.

This is the first year the Lightspeed Filter will be implemented on a high school level. The school subsequently supplied two quick fixes to this new change. One being logging out of the browser by disconnecting your Google Account in the settings, and another being to use a completely different browser. An easy way around it that many students have found is to simply create a new google account with which to log into their Chrome-based devices instead of using their LPS accounts.  

What they did not explain was why the filter is affecting students off campus. The Director of Technology in Littleton Public Schools, Mike Porter said, “The idea is essentially that district resources should have the same filtering on and off LPS networks. The only way we can accomplish this reasonably is by the LightSpeed extension pushed through the students’ accounts.” Porter goes on to explain that, through LPS accounts, the extension binds itself with the Chrome browser and behaves as if the student is still on campus. In the description of the extension, it states it is “allowing school administrators to ensure safe, monitored access on school-distributed ChromeOS devices”. Almost ensuring that each student will be following school guidelines whether they are on or off LPS networks. The source of the complaints were stemming from the filter having content rules that were built for middle schoolers. Arapahoe had so much trouble because the rules had not changed yet. With it resolved, the only problem students might run into is the speed of the internet. The extension tends to get hung up on the filter and slows down the loading process but that shouldn’t cause many issues. So happy browsing and remember that Big Brother is watching.