Surveillance software to track Queensland school students’ computer use in bid to stop cyber bullying

FOUR Queensland schools will trial software that captures absolutely everything students do on school computers or laptops in a bid to stop cyber bullying.

SOPHISTICATED surveillance software will be used to track Queensland school students’ every keystroke in a bid to stop cyber bullying

The British software product eSafe Global, which is used overseas to track the activities of known sex-offenders, will be trialled in four Queensland independent schools from next term, The Sunday Mail can reveal.

Unlike most other school cyber safety products which monitor activities online, eSafe captures absolutely everything students do on school computers or laptops, even the images they view offline or the words they type into draft documents.

Queensland schools will track students computer activity through a sophisticated software.

It provides principals and teachers with real time alerts if serious risks are detected including instances of cyber-bullying, pornography, threats of self harm, or terrorist or drug associations.

The decision to trial the software comes as schools are taking the extraordinary step of hiring detectives from Queensland Police’s acclaimed child protection unit Taskforce Argos to advise them on how to protect their students online.

The Queensland Department of Education currently has a former Taskforce Argos officer working in its Cybersafety and Reputation Management Team, while veteran cop and former Taskforce Argos covert operative Steven Window has joined the Anglican Schools Commission as a cyber safety adviser.

Mr Window said schools understand the scale of the problem and are working hard to change behaviours.

“We are working to create meaningful change, to change the entire culture of our schools around not just cyber bullying but cyber safety,” he said.

The eSafe Global software is already used being used by 9000 students in West Australia and almost 800,000 students in the United Kingdom.

It is also deployed in Britain to monitor sex predators who are released back into the community.

But Chris Miller, from third degree consulting, which promotes eSafe in Australia, said the program is not as Orwellian as it seems because it only acts on material when a red flag has been triggered.

“When we walk down the mall CCTV captures everything we do, good, bad or otherwise, but with eSafe something is only done when a risk to a child is identified,” he said.

Mr Miller said parents must also consent to its use on devices brought into the school.

But cyber safety expert Susan McLean said schools were “panicking”.

“We don’t need knee-jerk reactions, we need considered, holistic responses,” she said.

Ms McLean said the best approach would be to follow the lead of the United Kingdom where they have embedded cyber safety in the national curriculum.