Security, Ethics, and Privacy

Security

I enjoyed the four PDF articles on security for several reasons. First, I am a woodworking hobbyist and I teach woodworking at our school. I have a quote I often use in this class, “Don’t fight the wood.” If apiece of wood has a bend or twist and you want to use it, then go with the it, you cannot undo what nature did to it. This goes with the article about Facing Generations Y Security Issues. To maintain a happy and creative workforce you have to limit restrictions or you could lose your employees enthusiasm. Guidelines are advocated in this article and for good reasons; guidelines need to be shared with employees and discussed. The Lawyer’s Guide to Mobile Computer Security really got me thinking about my own lack of personal computer security in the home. After reading it I then checked out GetNetWise.org, what a great site. I went on to password protect my computer and activated my base station wireless security setting. It easily leads you through how to update you computers security systems with detailed text and movies. I guess it is time for me to get an anti-viral program for the laptop at home. Next, I pulled a PDF resource from WiredSafety for parents and students for social network safety to share later at school when we discuss computer safety issues as part of our technology standards that I will elaborate in the Ethics section. Finally, I read the attack vectors article. This was a bit over my head; I am not that literate in code. But I got the idea.
Our district uses a content monitoring filter (CMF) to block access to many Web2.0 resources. This past year I tried to access a blog designed by a student and was denied access using their account because the CMF found the word “blog” to be restricted. However, these key word searches do not catch everything. A student wanted to research the neurological effects of cocaine on the body and got around the key word cocaine by typing “cocane”. The only aspect I have covered in my classroom when teaching information security is reading what is covered in the student handbook. This is something we do every year with every student, regardless of when they enter our facility. Front loading is about covering your rear.

http://onguardonline.gov/index.html This site provides tips from the federal government and the technology industry to assist in protecting you against Internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information. This site has some goofy videos as well.

http://www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/lesson_plans/ As site that has lesson plans and activities for appropriate and secure computer and Internet use.

Ethics

In our school there are technology standards in ethics and actions. Being the senior advisor I am responsible for the students meeting these standards. Specifically, the standard that addresses ethics states that a student needs to demonstrate and advocate for legal and ethical behaviors among peer, family, and community regarding the use of technology and information. I get more flack from students when we explore this standard. They immediately think that they will never be caught copying off the Internet, especially music. Many enjoy the outlaw aspect of it. So, I found this on http://computer.howstuffworks.com/napster3.htm, “An item that added to the controversy was the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992. This law provides the buyer of a CD or cassette with the right to not only make a copy for their own personal use, but also to make copies for friends as long as the original owner is not selling the copies or receiving any other type of compensation.” I will share this website and the NC State University (http://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/intellectual/mp3/) site with them when we have our discussion in the coming year. I think more than anything a dialogue needs to start before you preach to students about public domains and crash courses in copyright. Questions to ask can include: Why are these laws put in place? Who is being protected?

“New resources go into marketing, and that means that things don't get better as much as message just get louder,” from the http://www.businesspundit.com/the-business-ethics-of-web-20-does-collaboration-and-open-source-blur-the-line-of-what-it-means-to-cheat article made me think about the trials our school goes through. We rely heavily on projects and Internet use, many students want it to look good and neglect the importance of their own voice and content. I always tell students that I want to know what they are thinking, I want their thoughts, and not someone’s cut and pasted thoughts. “Put in your own words even if you do not think your own words look right.” I know when a student plagiarizes, because I know their abilities and I can always type in what they wrote if I question it and find the website they cut and paste from. Every year I catch students cut and pasting. But, I catch it and hold them to the standard that I want their original work. Many times I have to teach students how to rephrase what they read and have had great success with the Inspirations program, a graphical organization tool. I am teacher and I teach students how to be original critical thinkers that can make sense of what they have read. I believe students should not be reprimanded unless they continue to cut and paste. Many times we are just trying to break old habits.

Another aspect of ethics is “evidence” or source of the information. We are teaching in a Wiki age. Students want information delivered quickly, so they can spit it out and move on to the next demand in their life. In our school we have initiated “evidence” as one of our five habits mind. When using” evidence” a student needs to understand where the information is coming from and has to corroborate with additional sources, similar to the article on Wikipedia ‘Censorship’ of Clarification’: Who Decides?

Lastly, I appreciated the University of Texas site that discussed the four factors of fair use test. I have wondered and had questions about what can be reproduced for educational purposes.

http://www.cybercitizenship.org/#135TheCy119+-6672b8d2 “The Cybercitizen Awareness Program educates children and young adults on the danger and consequences of cyber crime. By reaching out to parents and teachers, the program is designed to establish a broad sense of responsibility and community in an effort to develop smart, ethical and socially conscious online behavior in young people.”

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-computer/ A basic overview of computer ethics history.

Privacy

The Danah Boyd article was the best in terms of what controls you would put into place to safeguard students. Again, group discussion are the best setting, these controls need to be talked about and not mandated. Danah Boyd asked the following questions about their social networks: “Ask students what should I, or should I not look at it? (Why or why not?) Who do you think looks at your profile? How would you feel if your mother, grandmother, coach, future boss, etc. looked at your profile? Why? What do you think they’d think of you based on your profile alone? You were at a party last week and a girl you barely know took pictures of you that you know will get you into trouble, even though you did nothing wrong. She posted them to her profile. How does this make you feel? (When you asked her to take them down, she told you to lighten up. So what’s next?) What do you think are the dos and don’ts for having a profile? How do you explore this?” I would ask these same questions, I do not have time to re-invent the wheel and this is a great springboard to start conversions and lay down guidelines with students. I will definitely use these questions to guide me through our computer ethics and action discussion.

I protect my own information by trying to keep my personal information to a limit. I have actually gone back to my blogs and deleted some information that limits access to my personal information. However, this may be water under the bridge, as a couple of the articles pointed out that Web2.0 technology and the NSA has already ended our privacy. The beast is mightier than our individual privacy.

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-evil-side-of-google-exploring-googles-user-data-collection is an article about Google and how it uses your personal data to manipulate public data.

http://adeona.cs.washington.edu/ an open source site for tracking the location of your stolen laptop.

Utilizing Web2.0

I guess I see the Web2.0 as resource of tools that you cannot take at face value; you need to think about the “noise” that is being made by this commodity. Is it too loud and is it necessary? How much information is it asking of you for the use of the product? Is it too much? What are the potential attack vectors? Will this technology really improve the delivery of instruction and help students learn? I think these same questions need to be shared and discussed with students. We are all trying to figure this out together.