iboss: How Much Does It Annoy You?
April 8, 2019
You’re in health class, studying the effects of drugs. You try to find out more information, but the websites are blocked. Why? Because of iboss.
iboss, a filtering system that limits internet access on students’ Chromebooks, classroom desktops, and school WIFI, blocks inappropriate websites at school, home, or anywhere students use their SFPS devices. It automatically links to a student’s school email.
Having a filtering system is a federal requirement, according to Kate Gomez, the digital learning coach at Santa Fe High. The Children Internet Protection Act requires that K-12 schools, as well as libraries, in the United States use web content filters to protect minors from harmful online content.
According to Matthew Baird, systems administrator for SFPS, iboss costs the district $22,600 a year.
Iboss blocks websites based on trigger words that are deemed inappropriate for school use. Although iboss blocks sites that contain pornographic content, drugs, alcohol, and violence, it is not perfect as it blocks unnecessary things also.
When a website is blocked, a screen comes up and a password may be entered. Who has this password? No one.
If iboss blocks something that shouldn’t be blocked, the student can provide the teacher with the exact link of the website and the teacher will request that the IT department open the site.
Ms. Gomez helps teachers with technology and also helps students if they have problems with their Chromebooks. About the filtering she explained, “We try to prepare students for after high school so they know what’s good and what’s bad.”
Iboss is both liked and disliked by teachers and students because some websites are unnecessarily blocked. Freshman Getsemani Martinez said, “I think it’s dumb,” explaining that iboss blocks Google docs for her at school and at home.
Another freshman, Darwin Ruano, agreed that iboss blocks certain websites, which prevents students from doing their work.
A positive effect of iboss is that students aren’t allowed to access or watch anything they want.
Coach Zack Cole asserted that Iboss is good although he suggested that Twitter should not be blocked because it would provide classes with good discussion points.
Elementary and middle schools have iboss as well. The younger the students are, the more iboss blocks. As students grow up, they are permitted to access more sites. For example, elementary students are not allowed to use YouTube while high school students are.
If you have any questions, contact Kate Gomez by email: [email protected] or stop by her office in the library at lunch. “I will answer in 24 hours but usually I answer ten minutes after they send me an email,” she stated, adding, “I love my job.”
Loading ...
pusheen lover • Jan 31, 2022 at 6:49 am
iboss is the most annoying
kenric • Dec 14, 2021 at 8:37 am
iboss is so dang STUPID 🙁
joshua • May 27, 2021 at 2:17 pm
i hate that they have to be so bad and block everything like santa tracker and gaming websites and youtube videos it is annoying even when i wanna play a scary game those are blocked.
Cruz • May 27, 2021 at 12:14 pm
I hate iboss because every website i try to go to what do u know its blocked.
Ian • May 25, 2021 at 6:41 pm
Hi, I am not enrolled at SFPS, however, I am a high school senior in Virginia. My school also uses iboss. I completely understand the need for internet filtering at school, frankly if there was none I would find it very difficult to not just play online games all day. However, I believe that iboss is a poorly implemented system that overextends in some ways that interfere with students’ work, while simultaneously failing to block some content that it clearly should. For example, at our school our robotics team had used Slackfpr years as our platform for communicating, coordinating meeting and projects, scheduling events and progress points, etc. It was vital to the team, yet last year for some reason it was blocked and has been since. Another example is our chess team, we used to use chess.com for our competitions and practices, however, not only was chess.com blocked but coolmathgames for some reason has never been blocked (at least they have chess now). In fact the reason I even found your article was because I had a search request blocked for the keyword “pron.” The thing is I am doing research on the recent protests in Russia, and what I had searched was “Alexei Navalny pronunciation.” So yes, I see the need for an Internet filter, but I think it might be best to look for an alternative to iboss. It sounds incredibly expensive for the schools who use it, and surely far too flawed for what they are paying.
Jeremy • May 15, 2021 at 2:27 pm
iboss sucks.
Jay • Apr 20, 2021 at 7:34 pm
Its kinda stupid how ill try and use FRIKEN google and its just be like, “ha, sucks to be you” like honestly its so stupid especially bc of how random and buggy it is
Jade • Apr 19, 2021 at 8:56 am
Iboss is a very terrible extension, not only that, it’s a legal virus.
Look, I get needing to block harmful websites, but Iboss blocks everything that isn’t all “puppies and rainbows”. putting this in place is telling the whole school that they don’t trust the students and think they’ll just do bad/illegal stuff when given a chromebook. To quote Wanda “If you don’t trust the students, what is the point in giving them computers.” It baffles me how this “Safe search” is still being used to this day, like for example, when you go to the chromebook web store the rating is below 2 stars. shouldn’t that be a pretty big flag for schools? And even if some, if not most are written by kids, that doesn’t mean our opinions don’t matter. I’ve had many times where I had opened up google docs and that hated “Blocked by Iboss” page pops up and doesn’t allow me to do school work. Now, I don’t know if this is something everyone does, but I think that kids are more tempted to do something when you specifically tell them not to. And because of this people try harder and harder everyday just to break it. Iboss also likes to block harmless search terms for no reason.
Here are some examples:
-Ninja
-.io
-UK
-VPN
-Art
-And much more
Iboss also blocks some helpful sites, like Wikipedia. I’ve also seen a website blocked, and the reason is “Education” and “art”
The TLDR of this:
If iboss wants to not be hated, it has to step up its game.
destructionatorade • Apr 13, 2021 at 12:01 pm
iboss is fricking stupid, i try to watch my history videos i need for class?
boom, blocked.
show my brother something funny?
boom, blocked
iboss needs to go to fricking hell ngl
Hunter • Mar 16, 2021 at 11:45 am
iboss is dumb it has blocked everything like youtube, docs, sometimes google, my own mail I hate it.
bottom ramen • Mar 6, 2021 at 1:10 pm
i agree with wanda. but i hate it. i feel like it can watch me through the camera. it watches everything. its MALware and malware is for viruses. so like iboss, can u leave me alone cus wtf.
Mr. Weeb • Feb 27, 2021 at 3:11 pm
iboss has to be one of the worst things ever created. I personally have no problem with web filters like iboss, but there is just something different about it. It blocks certain keywords like “anime”, or “dick” when I’m trying to read a half decent book for a change. It also blocks websites such as motorcycle websites like motorsports sites when I’m trying to research for motocross season. Overall, would not spend tens of thousands of dollars for my district for this dumpster fire.
a guy • Feb 27, 2021 at 12:42 pm
iBoss is the absolute worst! I had to write a paper in English class (we could only work on it in class on school computers) and iboss blocked all the websites I had been using for the last week! The price districts pay for iboss is also unreal. iboss is horrible.
Anonymous • Feb 26, 2021 at 12:07 pm
I’m getting a bit annoyed of this system, just went online to search about the hottest temperature recorded of the sun, and the system blocked me out. Saying that I wasn’t allow to search “hot”…. gosh ??
Nathaniel • Feb 23, 2021 at 3:24 pm
I hate IBoss because I was on this website call Crazy Games playing Henry Stickmin I leave the website but then I go back on Crazy Games then I see the following “Page Blocked http://www.crazygames.com/ Access to the requested site has been restricted due to its contents”
Tyrone • Feb 22, 2021 at 3:42 pm
it’s dumb because it blocks the dumbest stuff you block newgrounds but you dont block tik tok like what the heck?
Person you don’t know • Feb 22, 2021 at 2:00 pm
I was going to a educational website and iboss blocked it
Justin • Feb 17, 2021 at 11:21 am
iboss has blocked websites that we need for class, and it blocks video games ON A KIDS CODING SITE! it isn’t fair that teachers get power over us! not everyone can go on other devices, like phones or tablets! P.S, i am only in elemetary school.
parker • Feb 1, 2021 at 12:54 pm
i play roblox after school or on free time but they blocked it
Gavin Bertrand • Jan 21, 2021 at 9:39 pm
I am annoyed with it because I was trying to do research on Phillip K Dick but I was blocked due to his last name… also once I got a scam link to a hentai ad and Iboss did nothing about it like WTF
A Reviewer • Dec 16, 2020 at 10:20 pm
Just going to say right now, iboss is absolutely terrible.
I am a student and I want to make this a honest review.
I am on a school Chromebook.
I have read reviews from the google apps store about Iboss and almost all of them are 1 star negative reviews. Many of them say that iboss slows down the speed of chromebooks making it almost take 20 seconds to just open a new tab! Here’s a review from someone:
en1gMATIC Jan 16, 2019
“This thing makes an already slow chromebook practically unusable. On top of that, the sites it blocks seem completely random, without any seeming order to it. So many sites that should be blocked based on the categories are not, and half the sites on the internet are blocked for “private websites content.” What does that even mean?”
Here’s another review:
Ninjaman Nov 4, 2018
“This extension is one of the worst ever. It takes forever to load even the simplest things. It works horribly at home and the bad Wifi doesn’t help. When I try to open a new tab, it gives me the same 2 responses, either something about the URL or it not being able to connect to it’s servers. What’s even more frustrating, is that one moment it’s working all fine, then all of a sudden, it just blocks everything. If I had a nickel for everytime I saw the stupid “Page Blocked” screen, I’d have more money than there are molecules in the entire universe. If there were a no-star function, this deserves it. And yes, I didn’t need to type this all out but I felt that this extension needs to be improved severely and now.”
Here is one last review:
Jesse Karsian Oct 1, 2018
“I am baffled. I am absolutely amazed that this product is still being used by schools nationwide. Looking through previous reviews I can see the fact that a lot of these reviews are angry students that do this because they cant play games. But honestly, this product is the current scourge of the Chromebook system. The average Chromebook is already about as slow in internet speed and usage as a slug, and now we’re adding something that adds excessive background information to slow down the internet AND blocking every single useful site I know of? The thing is a clunky, useless virus. But what REALLY impresses me, is the absolute ignorance of the Iboss community. The COUNTLESS amount of horrible reviews and the infinite reports to the extension. And the company REFUSES to change a singular aspect of the product. Or worse, they don’t even notice the fact that they’re customers are enraged.
Anyone want proof that the system is flawed? Why this isn’t just a matter of opinion? scroll down. See anyone complaining of lag when they’re back at home? that’s because Iboss connects to a specific server when your at school that teaches it to block or allow certain websites, that makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is why Iboss would take an additional 10-20 seconds to load pages at home. It’s because the administrator has no power over what happens on you own personal WIFI, so Iboss decides for itself. Wihch not only takes extra time, but also BLOCKS EVERY USEFUL SITE KNOWN TO MAN. Does it not occur to you that schools will assign some strange, whimsical assignment called HOMEWORK and since you obviously dont know what that is i’ll explain. it’s WORK that you do AT HOME. And in case you haven’t noticed, 20 extra seconds to complete one problem and the fact that the web page needed for research is blocked doesn’t help when working.
But of course, i’m just another angry customer. Like this tiny, temporary speck of text will change a thing about this lunacy of an extension.”
So, that’s alot of evidence. Ima say that iboss is terrible, swindling schools, a national virus, and should be burned.
Ezra • Dec 16, 2020 at 7:52 pm
Iboss is kinda dumb because whats the point of giving kids computers they can’t use to full extent. i’ll be on youtube trying to listen to music and everything will be blocked because it has the word ass in it like if i’m 5 years old or something. another thing i wish we could do is download games, games are super cool and i think they should be available to us after school when we’re bored and have nothing else to do, after all we wouldn’t have these if it weren’t for our parents paying taxes, so technically i think we should have more access to stuff NOW.
jorge blanco • Dec 11, 2020 at 6:44 pm
Any school out there that’s using iboss is dumb
Skylar • Dec 11, 2020 at 6:56 am
Chick-fil -a was restricted also it doesn’t let me go to coolmath
t rex • Dec 8, 2020 at 10:24 pm
Its so bad it slows down my computer so much! it blocks of websites that don’t need to be
iboss sucks • Dec 8, 2020 at 10:23 pm
Its so bad it slows down my computer so much! it blocks of websites that don’t need to be
briana • Nov 26, 2020 at 7:12 pm
i agree with both of yall i hate iboss
Damien • Nov 23, 2020 at 6:06 pm
I go onto my school chromebook and I search in “Chick-Fil-A”, because I want to explore there menu, “This web address has been blocked and the following students reported -censored-, Violation-Keyword:chick.”. Like what is wrong with this thing. I can go on and on about the stupid things they’ve blocked and reported me for, but I would spend the rest of my life here.
David • Nov 12, 2020 at 10:38 am
This doesn’t let me even see gifs
David • Nov 12, 2020 at 10:35 am
I hate iboss i try to go on cool things but this thing wants to block it every single time!!!!!!!!
srijan • Nov 4, 2020 at 5:10 pm
I hate iboss. I hate it so much. It won’t even let me go to many websites that I use for research.
srijan • Nov 4, 2020 at 5:09 pm
I hate iboss. I hate it so much. It won’t even let me go to many websites that I use for research. Sites.google.com is blocked.
Lemonhead • Nov 2, 2020 at 11:33 am
Iboss makes my chromebook slow and restircts a lot of unnesscary things. I was 10 minutes late to a zoom meeting because Iboos couldn’t decide if Zoom was a safe site or not. I tried using a vpn and it works. The only bad thing is I turn it off when I’m in school zoom meeting to improve the quailty and when Iboss detects that it starts to crash my chromebook
Frick I. Boss • Oct 30, 2020 at 11:33 am
I have to reset my Computer every couple of hours because I boss goes and has a seizure and blocks everything
Ian Zan • Oct 26, 2020 at 2:43 pm
I think it bloks way to many important things like class videos and homework altough it bloks very inapropriate things for children
ethan • Oct 16, 2020 at 4:59 pm
I hate iboss because it blocks everthing like tools and games and stuff
Noah Benett • Oct 9, 2020 at 11:36 am
Also, I cant even do the gravatar thing. Its also blocked! What comes up is a reset word. I press it and nothing happens.
Noah Benett • Oct 9, 2020 at 11:33 am
Iboss blocks sites that we all love. I cant even go on .io games! I want iboss to block things that contain like REALLY BAD STUFF. I cant go on Ploto.tv anymore! I dont want it to block things like Slither .io! They block downloads too. I cant download Firefox! When I try to extract it, ITS BLOCKED! I cant even send emails! Iboss IS THE WORST!
Isabella • Oct 3, 2020 at 1:00 pm
iboss sucks IT WON”T LET ME ON YOUTUBE!
angery • Oct 2, 2020 at 10:01 am
I tried to download a VPN to unblock games but guess what, it was blocked
Antonio Alfaro • Sep 29, 2020 at 9:25 am
I hate iboss so much because it blocked cool math games. it blocked discord, the only place i could talk to my friends, and it blocked reddit, it literally blocked everything.
marco • Sep 10, 2020 at 10:08 pm
its annoying
this guy • Sep 10, 2020 at 10:07 pm
pls take this thing out it very annoyed most of the website i cant go are blocked
rex • Jan 27, 2020 at 2:03 pm
i hate iboss i go to cool math and it is blocked
Luna • Dec 15, 2021 at 7:15 pm
YUP I KNOW RIGHT I LOVE COOL MATH GAMES BUT THEY BLOCKED IT!!!!!!
wanda • Dec 19, 2019 at 7:49 pm
If you don’t trust the students, what is the point in giving them computers. Blocking a lot of websites and especially unnecessary ones isn’t smart at all. Having this blocker means that your insinuating that you don’t trust us (the students) and that having our own freedom and ability to learn means absolute nothing. I mean why in the world would you block Grammerly? You had let us use it last year now this year you blocked it. You blocked google. I could see if we were on sites at school or in class but a lot of us actually have college classes and we need our personal email. Not everyone has a phone that the can just do whatever on. Controlling someone doesn’t help at all. You need to get a life. Its really annoying.
iboss hater • Oct 9, 2021 at 6:34 pm
Yes!
iboss hater • Oct 9, 2021 at 6:35 pm
yup!
20210720_123213.jpg • Oct 24, 2021 at 10:45 pm
iboss por favor ? cada vez que me and my family are doing a la job with a ver.