The MSM should be happy over this...The next generation won't easily be getting used to visiting aggregator Newzjunky.com as school districts are blocking the popular site over alleged concerns over viruses linked to ads posted.
Newzjunky has become a phenomenon and a primary source of news for younger demographics. With various other instruments like I-phones and I-pads now leapfrogging hard-wired computers, the product will still seep into the schools.
I don't buy the stated rationale for banning this site. I think it has more to do with banning a popular product that is a distraction in the workplace. Content could also be an issue as adherence to the education orthodoxy is not as strong at newzjunky as it is at other mass media outlets.
Watertown Daily Times School districts block access to newzjunky.com
15 comments:
What are the chances that an IT person working for a school system would be competent enough to know what is causing viruses on their computers? What are the chances that the IT guy is just barely smart enough to load software on a computer and plug it in?
Once again educators bury their heads in the sand. While schools in other areas use Facebook and Twitter to promote accomplishments and keep their constituents informed, districts in the North Country are afraid to use this technology.
Newzjunky is a good site, but loaded with Ads and links all ove the place - the concerns about viruses tied to links is a valid, despite what the blog owner says otherwise.
It is a concern and schools not only block them but others as well - what if schools didn't - then where would you stand if they PCs came to a stand still and/or kids copied things and brought the virus links home or to Dad's business...
It's a wise decision.
I suppose if you clicked a link on newzjunky, landing on the page that newzjunky intended the link to be, you could probably click another link on that same page, being whisked away to yet another site and another link. Maybe just maybe being far far away from where the original link was meant to take you. You might get into trouble with a trojan or virus.
My virus protection squawks at "gamevance" which is needed to play farmville. Are the educators blocking that too?
I would imagine this has more to do with the Watertown Daily Times and Mr Johnson's love affair with the teacher union. Newzjunky has been more balanced in presenting both sides of the debate on money shoveling into our failed school systems. While WDT has served as a cheerleader for failed programs and keeping things as they are. The school superintendents and the WDT have been sleeping together regularly, and it is this political relationship that the district wants to protect. Safe sex is the most important message our schools teach today.
Unbelievable...what to hell are they thinking? School districts have firewalls just like all of us. Virus' baloney! You have hit the nail right on the head with your suspicion of the real reason for blocking NJ. God forbid that students actually get to keep up with local events. Once again head in the sand is victorious over common sense.
Oh, poor Newzjunky. NNY's premier cut and paste news site can't be in schools... tisk tisk. People forget that all the stories they get are from TV7 and the Daily Times. Looks like our educators have to use their sites instead, thank god.
If Newzjunky uses TV7 and WDT for all thier stories, then, those websites are also loaded with viruses.Without repeating the message, 2:25 is correct.More so,they do not like to hear the truth on the Mayor's Blog.
I support Mohawk Regional Information Center's decision here. The conspiracy theory that the other bloggers suggest is unlikely. I've been a fan of Newzjunky since it appeared on ArtsJug.com, however last Thursday my computer was infected by the Win 7 Antivirus 2012 trojan. It came from a link posted by Newzjunky. I didn't make note of what specific link it was. Since it was a new trojan it got by my antivirus program (McAfee). Who knows what firewall MRIC uses. My suggestion would be to be careful when clicking on any links no matter who posts them.
When Mikey gets his teaching job, all he will really need is access to Google. He can get that through another source than Newzjunky.
And you don't view the WDT as a "cut and paste" website? Whatever AP tells them, they print. Whatever the NYTimes tells them, they print. Whatever any major newspaper tells them, they print. Locally, they print whatever the teachers and government agencies tell them. This is a simple situation. NJ simply gives us a better balance, which is why the WDT is dying.
The systems are administered from the Mohawk Regional Information Center and there is absolutely no reason to believe that this portion of the NYS education bureaucracy would be any less corrupt or any more competent than the rest of our education bureaucracy.
"however last Thursday my computer was infected by the Win 7 Antivirus 2012 trojan. It came from a link posted by Newzjunky. I didn't make note of what specific link it was."
So how can you be so sure it was from the actual link on NJ? Or are you saying that another site, which NJ linked to, was the real culprit?
Sounds like we have a real set of digital forensic science dunces on here. I've never gotten a virus from Newzjunky. Maybe if you folks would stop responding to those Viagra ads you get spammed into your email inboxes, you wouldn't have these problems.
No, they don't want students to read about their union protests nor their DWIs.
[]So how can you be so sure it was from the actual link on NJ?
The more important point is "so what if it did"? They still allow countless sites to get through so any of those could just as easily caus a problem.
The natural and competent thing to do is protect yourself from malware, not live in a bubble.
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