By The Way...

Wednesday, May 24, 2006
10:10:00 AM EDT
Hearing Yellow -- Llama Farmers
Journals Editor Joe is on the case to let you know of yet another way to upload files to your Hometown space: SFTP, which is short for "secure file transfer protocol," and which will allow you to upload files larger than 500k (which is the limit using the Hometown File Manager). He also notes that we all now have 100MB of file space per screenname, which is nice and roomy, unless you decide you want to store all your mp3 and movie files there (which I would not suggest). But for your pictures and text, that's a useful amount.

In any event, go and learn more about SFTP, how to use it with your Hometown space and why it'll make you a better, happier person in all ways that it's possible to be better and happier, provided that the only way in which you can be better and happier is to have a new way to upload files. Which it might be. We should all be so content with our lives, you know?

Journals Editor Joe also has an entry on the Illinois school district which has declared that it's going to hold its students responsible for things they write on their personal blogs and such. Joe pegs much of what I would note, except that I would further note that were I a student in said school district, my response to being asked to sign a pledge like the one in the article would be to say "Outside of school hours, you ain't the boss of me," and also that I'd be happy to have the ACLU back up the proposition.

If I were a parent of a kid in the district, I'd probably say much the same thing. I'd also note to my kid the existence of, say Private Journals on AOL or the friend lock on LiveJournal. And also, that if I found out she was doing anything stupid or illegal, I'd wring her neck. Because I actually am her parent.


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This entry has 6 comments: (Add your own)

• #6 Comment from lurkynat 
  5/26/06 2:01 AM | Permalink

  lol Monponsett! hehehe
  natalie
• #5 Comment from khemistboy 
  5/25/06 4:51 PM | Permalink

  Re: Schools monitoring blogs and such, in the general sense I agree that they have no place trying to take disciplinary action against students for things they do outside school hours.  However, near the beginning, the article says that the school wants to "require that all students participating in extracurricular activities sign a pledge agreeing that evidence of 'illegal or inappropriate' behavior posted on the Internet could be grounds for disciplinary action."  The mention of extracurriculars (E/Cs) there is important: schools are directly responsible for what their students do during E/C activities.  So, if a student posts about smoking dope under the bleachers during a bye round in his chess team tournament (dumb as that may be), I say the school has every right to investigate based on that post.  I expect that the pledge the students would be signing would give the administration the power to take disciplinary action based on the online evidence alone.
• #4 Comment from deslily 
  5/25/06 8:16 AM | Permalink

  i use the file manager to upload.. the one thing i wish was different with it is for the list to show up Alphabetical..
• #3 Comment from monponsett 
  5/24/06 7:47 PM | Permalink

  We may as well let schools monitor our religions and TV habits, too. I'm already lobbying my old school to hire me as the person who stalks their students on the Internet.
• #2 Comment from johnmscalziEntry Author 
  5/24/06 12:44 PM | Permalink

  As far as I know, yes.

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