gavra_at_work: I agree about schools making rules, but the level of rules and the all around lack of privacy is very disconcerting. From what I understand, some schools are able to see entire browsing histories. There are many reasons this is a breach of privacy (medical condition, private family issues- divorce, therapy, etc.). Coupled with the fact that they are using “Man in the middle” to decrypt secure traffic, means they can technically log and access any account – be it facebook, a bank, or anything else. This is seriously slippery slope territory, besides the inherent security issues.
Shopping613: I agree completely about the filter being there for safety, but I believe we need to bolster ALL of our middos (myself included). Life and the world has changed extremely quickly over the past years and our children (and adults) need tools to deal with it. I don’t think Middos training will ever fully compensate for a filter, but locking down parents’ phones or spying on them is not the proper solution either. Let the parents choose their levels – just as they choose their level of Kashrus. Kashrus has just as much effect on our Neshama.
I mentioned Middos as an aside, since we all live in the world, with all its dangers, we need to learn to deal with it. Not everyone lives in their 4 amos. There are many other forms of danger that seem to be be completely ignored (drinking!). All I’m saying is, we all need mussar. Better to start it from young and inspire our youth to act properly, rather than just ram academics (Torah or otherwise) down their throats – after all – Derech Eretz Kadma La’Torah