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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

What has happened to Sparklebox ? Weigh it up for yourself.

Hi Everyone,
Late last night I received the email below. Thanks Stephen, for getting in contact with me.
At present, there is a great deal of controversy surrounding the Sparkle Box website, due to the actions and history of the owner.
I have been a huge fan of the Sparklebox site for some time. It is bursting with fantastic, ready made teaching and learning resources. Information that has come to light recently has made all of us who use the site, think about whether we should continue to support it.
I strongly suggest that you read Stephen's email and follow the links below to find information to help you make up your own mind.
Dear Susan,
I have been looking at your blog and can see that you are a fan of the website Sparklebox.co.uk.
In case you do not know, the owner of this site is a convicted paedophile and this site has been banned in the UK by many schools.
One of the biggest risks is that the tool bar that is downloaded from this site could have been used to hunt for victims all over the world.
Please check out the links below and do your own search for further information.
I just wanted to let you know so that teachers and parents, who are trying to protect children, are not causing this person to profit.
Best Regards,
Stephen
School Principal

8 comments:

  1. There is a toolbar - unknown payload.

    So, I would pull any affected items from the wall, the idea of having spyware by or for a pedophile on a school computer is a 'no way'.

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  2. The site itself has no actual spyware, the guy has been convicted again for having child porn. The fact that there was a blog on the site caused concerns that he could contact people with children. He has been convicted and the site is being run by someone else at present.

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  3. wow it amazes me that he was allowed to set up a site like this that revolved around children and he has a conviction

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  4. A lot of schools I work in are still blocking this site which is a real shame as it has amazing resources.

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  5. It has been blocked from Education Department schools IN Western Australia, but we are still able to use the resources. It truely is a dilemma - as long as the site truely is being run by someone unrelated I think as a teacher it is a great resources and an amazing timesaver but as a parent and child worker I am horrified!

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  6. The Sparklebox website is being managed by a relation of the owner while he is in prison.

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  7. I don't about Sparklebox.. it is my first time to know about it.

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  8. This was actually his second conviction, His first came when he was teaching. After he got out of prison he changed his name by deed poll and created Sparkle box.....the site might be being run by someone else whilst he is in prison but he still owns the site and profits from the advertising and downloads from his site....I deleted all resources last year when I found out about the identity of this monster. I'm not a member or affiliated with the site but Teach this, which is an Australian resource site is just as amazing, although not free boohoo

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