Blocked advocacy service sites on school internet
Erika Whittome made this Official Information request to Ministry of Education
Response to this request is long overdue. By law Ministry of Education should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.
From: Erika Whittome
Dear Ministry of Education,
Network for Learning (N4L) is a Crown-owned technology company that connects schools and kura across the country to “safer and more reliable internet”. It says that it is of the largest broadband networks in Aotearoa New Zealand, accounting for nearly 25% of the country’s daytime business internet traffic, and “our aim is to support all kaiako and ākonga to teach and learn safely online.”
N4L has many safe lists and blocked lists for schools’ internet access . One of the categories that is blocked on school internet is the category “Advocacy Services”.
I request all the information on this category Advocacy Services since 1 Jan 2020,
1 the lists of the sites that are blocked under the category Advocacy Services
2 the meeting minutes, memos, ICT tickets etc for each of these advocacy services sites for when the request to Block them and the decision to block them was actioned by N4L. This request is for the meeting minutes, memos, etc since 1 Jan 2020
Yours faithfully,
Erika Whittome
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Tēnā koe mō tō īmēra mai ki te Tāhuhu o Thank you for your email to the
te Mātauranga. Ministry of Education.
He urupare aunoa tēnei hei whakaatu kua This is an auto generated response
tae mai tō īmēra confirming your email has been
ki a mātou. Kaua noa e whakautu i tēnei received. Please do not respond to this
karere. message.
Mea ake nei ka urupare tonu atu mātou ki We will respond to your email as soon
tō īmēra. as possible.
show quoted sections
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Kia ora
Thank you for your request for information below. The Ministry will consider and respond to your request in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Under section 15(1) of the Act, we are required to make and inform you of our decision on your request as soon as reasonably practicable and in any case not later than 20 working days after the day on which your request is received. You can therefore expect to receive our decision on your request on or before the 19th of July 2024. If more than 20 working days are needed due to the potential workload and/or consultations involved in answering your request, we will notify you accordingly.
In the interim, if you have any questions about your request, please email [email address].
Ngā mihi
Enquiries National Team | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | Ministry of Education | MC
education.govt.nz
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent outcomes
He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai ōna huanga
show quoted sections
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Tēnā koe Erika
Please find attached a response to your request under the Official
Information Act.
Nāku noa, nā,
Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | CM
[1]education.govt.nz
He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[2]Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga
show quoted sections
From: Erika Whittome
Dear Enquiries National,
N4L is a owned by the MoE. How is it exactly that N4L are unable to answer part 1 of this request under the official information act?
When services are engaged under a contract, there is a degree of control for what those services entail. Contracts get to specify what services are provided. Would you kindly attempt to answer question one? If not, it appears there are services being engaged over which the MoE has no control.
Yours sincerely,
Erika Whittome
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Tēnā koe mō tō īmēra mai ki te Tāhuhu o Thank you for your email to the
te Mātauranga. Ministry of Education.
He urupare aunoa tēnei hei whakaatu kua This is an auto generated response
tae mai tō īmēra confirming your email has been
ki a mātou. Kaua noa e whakautu i tēnei received. Please do not respond to this
karere. message.
Mea ake nei ka urupare tonu atu mātou ki We will respond to your email as soon
tō īmēra. as possible.
show quoted sections
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Tēnā koe Erika
Thank you for the follow-up question received on 15 July 2024, requesting
the following information:
N4L is owned by the MoE. How is it exactly that N4L are unable to answer
part 1 of this request under the official information act?
When services are engaged under a contract, there is a degree of control
for what those services entail. Contracts get to specify what services are
provided. Would you kindly attempt to answer question one? If not, it
appears there are services being engaged over which the MoE has no
control.
Please note N4L is a Crown company, owned by the Ministers of Finance and
Education. It is governed by a Board of Directors.
The Ministry of Education contracts with N4L to provide services to
schools. As part of the Managed Internet service, schools are provided
with a filtering and firewall service. N4L contracts with Fortinet to
provide the filtering and firewall service.
Part of the service Fortinet provides is a filtering system that uses
Fortinet’s dynamic database of categorised URLs. Each category contains
websites or web pages that have been assigned based on their primary Web
content. Neither N4L nor the Ministry of Education has access to the full
database of categorised URLs, as this is a proprietary asset belonging to
Fortinet. The full list of categories can be seen at the following link.
[1]https://www.fortiguard.com/webfilter/cat...
Schools in New Zealand are self-governing, and as such are free to choose
to block further categories if they wish. N4L recommends that schools
with N4L services block a number of categories. Advocacy organisations is
not one of the recommended blocks. The list of recommended blocked
categories can be found here.
[2]https://support.n4l.co.nz/s/article/N4L-...
Nāku noa, nā,
Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | CG
[3]education.govt.nz
He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[4][IMG]
show quoted sections
From: Erika Whittome
Dear Enquiries National,
I’m not sure how naming another product vendor absolves this request for information under the act. These services are paid for by the Min of Ed.
Again I request since 1 Jan 2020,
1 the lists of the sites that are blocked under the category Advocacy Services
2 the meeting minutes, memos, ICT tickets etc for each of these advocacy services sites for when the request to Block them and the decision to block them was actioned by N4L. This request is for the meeting minutes, memos, etc since 1 Jan 2020
Yours sincerely,
Erika Whittome
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Tēnā koe mō tō īmēra mai ki te Tāhuhu o Thank you for your email to the
te Mātauranga. Ministry of Education.
He urupare aunoa tēnei hei whakaatu kua This is an auto generated response
tae mai tō īmēra confirming your email has been
ki a mātou. Kaua noa e whakautu i tēnei received. Please do not respond to this
karere. message.
Mea ake nei ka urupare tonu atu mātou ki We will respond to your email as soon
tō īmēra. as possible.
show quoted sections
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Kia ora Erika
Thank you for your follow up request for information below. The Ministry
will consider and respond to your request in accordance with the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Under section 15(1) of the Act, we are required to make and inform you of
our decision on your request as soon as reasonably practicable and in any
case not later than 20 working days after the day on which your request is
received. You can therefore expect to receive our decision on your
request on or before the 19 August 2024. If more than 20 working days are
needed due to the potential workload and/or consultations involved in
answering your request, we will notify you accordingly.
The Ministry may publicly release on our website the response to your
request five days after you have received it. Any personal information
will be removed.
In the interim, if you have any questions about your request, please email
[1][email address].
Ngā mihi
Enquiries National Team | Ministry of Education - TW
[2]education.govt.nz | [3]Follow us on Twitter: @educationgovtnz
[4]Te TD huhu o te MD tauranga
show quoted sections
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Tēnā koe Erika
Thank you for your email of 22 July 2024 to the Ministry of Education
requesting the following information:
Again I request since 1 Jan 2020,
1 the lists of the sites that are blocked under the category Advocacy
Services
2 the meeting minutes, memos, ICT tickets etc for each of these advocacy
services sites for when the request to Block them and the decision to
block them was actioned by N4L. This request is for the meeting minutes,
memos, etc since 1 Jan 2020
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act).
The Ministry consulted with N4L and they have re-confirmed that they do
not hold a list of blocked advocacy services. The Ministry also conducted
another search and we do not hold such a list.
Neither N4L nor the Ministry holds information on meeting minutes, memos,
ICT tickets between the Ministry and N4L on the request to block Advocacy
Services.
I am refusing your request under section 18(e) of the Act, as the
documents alleged to contain the information requested do not exist.
If you are not satisfied with the response provided to you, you have the
right to ask an Ombudsman to review my decision on your request, in
accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do this by writing to
[1][email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box
10152, Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | CG
[2]education.govt.nz
He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[3][IMG]
show quoted sections
From: Erika Whittome
Dear Enquiries National,
I have lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman on this OIA.
You are blocking advocacy services on N4L and claim to hold no information about this.
Information shall be received and imparted without interference which is Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the UN:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes
freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. "
Yours sincerely,
Erika Whittome
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Tēnā koe mō tō īmēra mai ki te Tāhuhu o Thank you for your email to the
te Mātauranga. Ministry of Education.
He urupare aunoa tēnei hei whakaatu kua This is an auto generated response
tae mai tō īmēra confirming your email has been
ki a mātou. Kaua noa e whakautu i tēnei received. Please do not respond to this
karere. message.
Mea ake nei ka urupare tonu atu mātou ki We will respond to your email as soon
tō īmēra. as possible.
show quoted sections
From: Erika Whittome
Dear Ministry of Education,
When a school blocks advocacy websites, N4L present this message on the internet browser:
“you've tried to access a website that's within a category that your school has chosen to block.
Category: Advocacy Organizations”
Website access is managed by N4L, the MoE owned entity that manages the networks. N4L present the above error message.
The blocking action is not done by the school.
Kindly supply the requested information in this request under that Act.
Yours faithfully,
Erika Whittome
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Tēnā koe mō tō īmēra mai ki te Tāhuhu o Thank you for your email to the
te Mātauranga. Ministry of Education.
He urupare aunoa tēnei hei whakaatu kua This is an auto generated response
tae mai tō īmēra confirming your email has been
ki a mātou. Kaua noa e whakautu i tēnei received. Please do not respond to this
karere. message.
Mea ake nei ka urupare tonu atu mātou ki We will respond to your email as soon
tō īmēra. as possible.
show quoted sections
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Kia ora
Thank you for your request for information below. We will consider and respond to your request in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Under section 15(1) of the Act, we are required to make and inform you of our decision on your request as soon as reasonably practicable and in any case not later than 20 working days after the day on which your request is received. You can therefore expect to receive our decision on your request on or before the 11th of September 2024. If more than 20 working days are needed due to the potential workload and/or consultations involved in answering your request, we will notify you accordingly.
In the interim, if you have any questions about your request, please email [email address].
Ngā mihi
Enquiries National Team | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | Ministry of Education | MC
education.govt.nz
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent outcomes
He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai ōna huanga
show quoted sections
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Tēnā koe Erika
Thank you for your further email to the Ministry of Education (the
Ministry) of 14 August 2024 requesting information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act) relating to blocked websites.
The Ministry has no further information to add to our previous responses
on this topic. As previously explained, N4L contracts with Fortinet to
provide the filtering and firewall service to schools. Schools are then
free to choose to block further categories if they wish. This is
consistent with the message that you quote in your request – “that the
school has chosen to block”. Whilst the blocking is being done by N4L, it
is being done so at the request of the school. N4L do not manually curate
the list of websites in each category - that is done by Fortinet.
As stated in our response to your first request [our ref: OIA 1332825],
the information you are seeking does not exist. You have the right to ask
an Ombudsman to review the decision on your request, in accordance with
section 28 of the Act. You can do this by writing to
[1][email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box
10152, Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā,
Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | ED
[2]education.govt.nz
He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[3][IMG]
show quoted sections
From: Erika Whittome
Dear Enquiries National,
The US Government will be prosecuting censorship as announced here https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1855119856.... I trust that the multiple network change requests and historical firewall rules to enable any censorship will not disappear.
Yours sincerely,
Erika Whittome
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Thank you for your email to the Ministry of Education.
This is an auto generated response confirming your email has been received.
Please do not respond to this message.
We will respond to your email as soon as possible.
Tēnā koe mō tō īmēra mai ki te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga.
He urupare aunoa tēnei hei whakaatu kua tae mai tō īmēra
ki a mātou. Kaua noa e whakautu i tēnei karere.
Mea ake nei ka urupare tonu atu mātou ki tō īmēra.
show quoted sections
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence
Offensive? Unsuitable?
Requests for personal information and vexatious requests are not considered valid requests for Official Information (read more).
If you believe this request is not suitable, you can report it for attention by the site administrators
Report this requestAct on what you've learnt
Similar requests
High school enrolled international fee paying students and how to apply for refund?
To Ministry of Education by M.R.M.
WGJ left an annotation ()
Who cares what a out of touch rich bigot has to say , he is part of the reason the world is a mess and deluded people wo't stop sending OIAs due to their anti vacc victimhood,
Link to this