DD's homework downloaded form sparklebox

[Wandaaa]

Should I be concerned?

Ooh, controversial one this.

I think part of the problem is that some teachers were never told the real reason why Sparklebox was banned, moany think it is to do with internet security or identikit classrooms.

Some teachers don't see whythey should have to throw away all their resources, after all they are not endorsing him.

However the fact remains that Daniel Kinge still earns money everytime someone clicks onto his site.

There are many teachers on TES who are against their schools using Sparklebox and would like some parental backup. If I were you I would write a letter of concern to the Head outlining your reasons why you think the site should not be used.

Ummm.....unless it's got pictures of 5 year olds being molested, I shouldn't worry too much.

Not directly: Sparklebox was not implicated in the criminal activities.

But I wouldn't be happy with the founder making money from it. Does he still own/run it, or has it been sold on?

He still owns it as far as I know but it is not being updated whilst he is in proson (though I reckon he is due to be out soon)

I have read previous threads and just wondered about other people's views, I never thought that Daniel Kinge would still be earning money from the site or that it still existed, just thought it was old stuff. I'm really going to have to say something now, aren't I?

onimolap not quite true Samuel King or Daniel Kinge encouraged parents to send pictures of their child in their bedroom to the site. Which was one of the concerns given the nature of his previous conviction.

As a teacher I can't understand others continuing to use his website and as a parent I would be raising the matter with the teacher and the school if my child brought home material downloaded from the site.

Wandaaa he has been released from prison having served part of his sentence and I'm given to understand the site has been updated. The nature of the site means that every visit generates income for King/Kinge (or whatever name he is now using) regardless of whether the visitor downloads or not.

I'm sorry, I didn't know about the encouraging of sendin pix. But the site was exonerated in terms of the distribution of pornography, and CEOPS said earlier this year that it was ok to use again from the child protection pov.

But it makes me really uncomfortable that someone with two (?) convictions is making money from a children's resources site.

The report from his first conviction

The 23-year-old reception teacher at Wellesbourne Church of England Primary School in Warwickshire admitted nine counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing indecent photographs of young boys.

Yes, as far as I am aware (and I am no specialist) the site is supported by advertising which pays out everytime someone visits it. This is how he was able to make the resources free.

StarlightMcKenzie Sparklebox used to charge for resources until he set up his new site which uses something called a conduit toolbar

www.conduit.com/pdf/Case_Sparkle_FIN.pdf

Conduit toolbars are known malware (malicious software) designed to secretly access a computer system without the owner's informed consent.

Forgive my ignorance of this - but I found sparklebox online a few months ago and printed some worksheets for DD - what's the lowdown on this? Also if I snatch PDFs via cache copies he doesn't get a clickthrough, so is this okay?

Many LEAs now have Sparklebox disabled on their websites for schools and offices. But some teachers still use it at home. It depends on their individual school take on it. I never use it anymore and use alternatove sites or create my own, either for myself or my class teacher. My class teacher has been known to still use sparklebox and removes the name from it. I don't like it, but have no say in those situations.

If it were my child I would still do the homework, but send a note to the school to ask them about their take on using Sparklebox and that you would rather forms from the site were not sent home as homework. You could send it to the teacher and await a response, and if no outcome send it to the head.

mrz, this school is in county Durham and you have mentioned elsewhere this is where you teach. Could you tell me what the view of the LEA is on sparklebox because I have read you were aware of the situation before it became public knowledge.

how to remove I'm afraid it's complicates as it hides ...

There's a great deal of speculation but LEAs barred the site under fears that it could use internet connections as proxies to download from unsuitable sites and the trace would come back to innocent toolbar users or that information could be collected from networks and sold on.

County Durham blocked Sparklebox access on school networks but as someone said individual teachers are getting round the block by accessing from home. I'm afraid convenience and cost are more important to some than safeguarding children

mrz-Thanks

I should perhaps add that some of the children involved in Daniel Kinge's first conviction are from County Durham

Any paedophile who has just come out of jail will need an income.

Daniel Kinge is a very sick man, with a chronic mental problem. Shouldn't we encourage him to continue making his brilliant resources for Sparklebox, which will give his life some purpose? Surely his computer could be networked to ensure he wasn't accessing any child porn?

I can't understand why you so against him earning money? He didn't do anything bad on the Sparklebox site, and he's exceptionally good at making resources.