Scots school pupils using council issued iPads have been given limited access to search engines following shock reports they could access porn.
Council chiefs have been forced to shut down access to a range of search engines and have suspended pupils access to Wikipedia across Edinburgh.
Education bosses in the capital banned certain search engines after it emerged pupils were able to easily switch off Safe Search functions.
The iPads issued by the council have a filtering agent that is supposed to protect children at school and at home from accessing explicit content.
However a loophole has allowed for the “safe search” function to be deactivated on some search engines.
A YouTube video emerged this week which appears to show easy it was to bypass filters on devices issued to more than 35,000 school pupils.
It is also reported that an email sent to parents from an Edinburgh school admitted that “no technical solution can ever guarantee full safety”.
An email said keeping children safe online was “central” to delivering digital learning across schools in the city.
It reportedly read: “Filtering and blocking inappropriate content is always a priority but it needs to be balanced with the need to enable teaching and learning to take place and also the rights of children to access information.”
“It can be a difficult balance to achieve, no technical solution can ever guarantee full safety, and as such, we also have to educate our learners in the appropriate behaviours required to allow for safe internet use.
“We have been provided with information about particular content which could be accessed on Empowered Learning iPads. We have taken immediate steps to ensure that this content cannot be accessed and will be conducting further investigations into this matter.”
Edinburgh City Council’s education chief Councillor Joan Griffiths said a “full comprehensive review” will be carried out.
Councillor Joan Griffiths, Education, Children and Families Convener, said: “Our learners have access to an Empowered Learning iPad and these devices have a filtering agent applied that is able to filter both within the school and beyond. This means that students have filtered internet access whether using the iPad within the school environment, at home, or on a visit to another venue.
“Our filtering restrictions make use of Safe Search as a function, however we were made aware that some search engines were permitting Safe Search to be turned on and off. To ensure the safety of our learners, we have reduced and limited access to just one search engine, allowing for greater control and enhanced safety.
“To date, Wikipedia has been well utilised as an educational resource. However, the site does offer a wide range of topics, some which may not be appropriate for all age groups. We have suspended access to Wikipedia at present while we undertake a further comprehensive review.”
The issue comes just weeks after primary school pupils in Edinburgh were found to have access to pornography and videos showing executions. The issue was discovered at public libraries across the city, due to an IT fault.
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