ScreenShield in Education

Advances in information technology have made a wide range of information easily available to students using school or library computers. Most information is useful - some, however is not. Easy access to computer pornography is a major problem that has arisen from recent technology and communication advances. Principals, teachers, librarians and administrators are facing new challenges in guarding and monitoring the content being viewed by children browsing the Internet, emails or other electronic files, because a portion of the information can be explicit and sometimes illegal adult material. Questionable material being viewed on an your school's computers can also reduce attention span, interfere with lessons, expose you to legal liabilities and foster sexual harassment in your educational system.

There has not been a failsafe method to monitor and protect viewers from questionable materials that can be displayed on computers from these many sources … until ScreenShield.

In-school Protection
How ScreenShield Works
More Than a Web Filter
Safety & Flexibility For Your Students and Staff
Simple Operations and Centralized Administration

In-school Protection

ScreenShield is a unique software solution that serves as a deterrent and watchdog, silently detecting, monitoring, logging, and if you choose, blocking questionable images from being displayed on computers. Powered by a sophisticated content-based engine that analyzes screen images for skin tones, ScreenShield provides preventive protection and permanently computer usage throughout your building. These flexible capabilities provide those who supervise and teach with a dual benefit: a pornography monitoring and blocking facility and a highly visible persistent deterrent.

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How ScreenShield Works

ScreenShield's approach to protecting against computer pornography is unique. The content-based detection engine analyzes image composition each time content is displayed on personal computer screens - regardless of its source. When ScreenShield detects suspect material for any computer on the network, the application records the event and a 'thumbnail' snapshot of the computer screen is saved in a central log file. This creates a complete audit trail for management to review and monitor.

	When an employee attempts to view an adult image on a computer where ScreenShield is installed...		ScreenShield's content based Detection Engine scans the image to be displayed for questionable / adult content...

	ScreenShield takes a snapshot image of the screen and logs the occurrence...		ScreenShield has 4 Modes of Operation that let you determine what happens on the employee's PC:
			Passive Mode Stealth Mode Active Warning Mode Active Mode

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More Than a Web Filter

Unlike conventional Web filters that only attempt to eliminate access to known pornographic websites, ScreenShield protects your school from any image displayed on a computer, regardless of its source. Although the prime source of illicit materials, downloading pictures from the Internet is only one of many ways pornography can be freely distributed without detection.

"Internet filtering software generally fails to block one out of every five sites deemed objectionable.''
Consumer Reports Magazine

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Safety & Flexibility For Your Students and Staff

ScreenShield allows you to tailor protection to suit the needs of your students. Groups of 7-year-olds studying science have different needs than 17-year-olds research biology or art. In fact, the degree of sensitivity you wish to provide may even vary by time of day. These ScreenShield features provide flexibility and control for teachers:

• Sensitivity Filters allow you to adjust the level of sensitivity to images

• Profiles allows you to establish usage standards and constraints for various groups of students and classes, and their needs and tolerances to potentially adult images

• Detection Engine Scheduler allows you to enable / disable the detection engine for a specified period of time

ScreenShield's Four Modes of Operation allow you to determine the level of exposure to potentially explicit images, and how you want to be notified of any occurrences

1. Passive Protection Mode All potentially pornographic image occurrences are logged, and an icon is displayed in the System Tray of each personal computer. The icon acts as a visible and persistent reminder for anyone who may be tempted to view illicit materials.

2. Stealth Protection Mode All potentially pornographic image occurrences are logged, but no icon is displayed in the System Tray. This allows you to monitor personal computer activities invisibly.

3. Active Protection Mode All potentially pornographic image occurrences are logged, and a Lockout Screen feature is invoked to block offending images. Once a suspect image is displayed, the screen is blocked and the computer frozen until a teacher, librarian or other authorized adult unlocks the computer. This provides the fullest level of protection.

4. Active Warning Mode All potentially pornographic image occurrences are logged and, when detected, a warning is flashed on the computer screen. After a threshold number of warnings have been given (e.g. three strikes and you're out!) then the Lockout Screen is invoked.

See Features and Modes of Operation for more details.

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Simple Operations and Centralized Administration

ScreenShield is a networked application that is easy to install and operate. A single ScreenShield server is used to operate and administer all the clients' computers that are visible to it on the network. The ScreenShield Control Panel allows you to: create profiles, assign client computers to profiles, view error logs, manually lock/unlock clients, adjust sensitivity filters, select operating mode(s) and perform uninstalls. The Control Panel is password protected for added security, and supports full remote network management facilities for all major networks.

ScreenShield's client software should be installed on all personal computers in your facility that you wish to protect. After installation, no further user intervention or configuration is required to the individual client computers. The ScreenShield client application performs image detection, captures thumbnails of offending images and locks computers if configured to do so via the Control Panel.

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