VPN Blocked… Bold Move?

“VPN” is nothing new.

VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is a method used to connect to private and public networks, like WiFi Hotspots and the Internet; they are most often used by corporations to protect sensitive data.

Here at Susquehannock, a lot of the students have VPN on their phone. With access to this network, popular apps like Snapchat, Instagram, Youtube, et.c are no longer blocked by the school.  Last week however, the school completely blocked VPN on  iPhones which seemed to cause a lot of frustration amongst the students who were iPhone users.

Personally, I did not know about VPN until my junior year, but it was not until this year when I actually went to the app store and downloaded the free VPN app. With VPN on my phone, everything I browsed, every text I sent just seemed faster. More so, apps, like Snapchat and Instagram  that were harder to access, became completely accessible.

Earlier, I took a poll with ten students and found that 10/10 of students disagree with the decision of the school blocking VPN altogether. 

“School feels like a prison now. I get that teachers do not want us on our phones, but now we can’t even use Instagram to post something for the school…,” said one anonymous student.

“I understand that VPN did not do anything but give students access to certain apps, but I feel it was a little ridiculous to completely block everything,” said another student.

The school is not evil; they do not want the students to feel like they are in prison or anything of that nature. After talking to Will Mosko who is part of the Tech Shed team, I got the inside scoop as to why VPN was blocked.

“Basically, two weeks ago the head of the tech department found out about VPN, and he immediately demanded it to be blocked. The school has filters, and VPN allowed students to access certain things past the filter,” said Mosko.

The District Technology Department explained the legal situation via email as follows: “A virtual private network (VPN) can be used to bypass content filter restrictions.  Actions were taken to block this activity in accordance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA).”

Technology  is forever evolving, and in this generation, technology is our best friend. As dependent as we are on our phones, computers, etc, there is a time and place for everything.

 I see the reasoning as to why VPN was blocked… the school has filters because they do not want students to be able to access more than is provided/allowed. Also, teachers want to be able to feel like they can not only teach their students, but make sure what they are teaching is getting through to the students. They cannot effectively do that if students are constantly on social media and the Internet.

Although, I still disagree with the decision of blocking VPN because, to be honest, I do check up on social media during the day.

Even though there is logical reasoning, VPN being blocked is still an annoyance to many students who enjoyed the ability to access things past the filter.