"Activities that result in the loss of another person's work or unauthorized access to another person's files or data." http://www.anoka.k12.mn.us/AHNet/schboard/AUP.Policy.html
Hacker: "A slang term for a person who enjoys learning programming languages and computer systems and can be considered an expert on the subject. It can either be complimentary or derogatory. Hacker is now used by the press to refer to individuals who gain unauthorized access to computer systems for the purpose of stealing, altering, and corrupting data." http://webopedia.internet.com
Neither teachers nor students should infringe on the rights of others by interfering with another's property, damaging a system or files of another, or by accessing materials that are protected by password and are not normally accessible to all. It is the educator's responsibility to teach and supervise to ensure that the security of the schools computer network and all material on the computers, in the educator's possession, is safe and that the students understand the importance of that security. All students and staff should understand that the rights to privacy and property may not cover materials that are owned by the school district, especially if it has outlined that it may search any email, file,web pages, or internet access.
The Ethical Educator
(a) will not seek access to a computer for the purposes of deleting, removing, or altering programs, data, or any files other than those personally owned by the user.
School personnel should not access any other individuals' materials, information, or files without being given permission by the person, organization, or company who owns the program, data, or files. Each individual does have the right to property and the privacy of that information. They must not participate in any activity that will alter a computer or that will cause alterations to a network of computers. The alteration of data, deletion of programs or data, changing of settings on a computer, and the access of files not permitted without authorization is unacceptable behavior, unethical, and infringes on the rights of the individual.
(b) will not insert any data or program such as viruses that will cause harm, alter or delete any information on a computer or computers accessed through the network.
School personnel and students should not vandalize, damage, or disable the property of any other individual or organization by any means. Each individual shall respect the individuals' rights for security of their computer and have respect for the law. Use of computers, software, and other technologies should be only of purposes that are beneficial to others and that will not cause harm to the individual, group, or to the information stored on the computer.
( c ) will not delete or alter any virus checkers installed on the computers or network of computers
The use of email for passing viruses, inserting viruses, or deleting the protection software is unethical and will infringe on the rights of the individual. One must have the permission from the individual before altering any protection software on the computer or one must be granted permission from the district in their job description such as the Technology Coordinator.
(d) will not delete or alter passwords or alter or tamper with the network security.
Every individual should keep passwords confidential. No individual shall access another's property, files, programs, or data, without permission to use the individual's password. The passwords of others should not be altered or changed with out permission. These passwords are a privacy issue and impact the security of the computer information, which will possibly affect educators, students, community, or district. Each individual has the right for this security and the privacy it ensures.
(a) will not alter any information or files that are that of another individual for the sake of another's benefit.
The right to ownership of all files on the computer is a matter of security and each individual has the right to ownership of files they have created. Another that does not have the permission of that individual or district should not take the security of their computer away.
(b) will not disperse information about a student or colleague obtained in professional service, unless required by law.
The ownership of information that could be contained on a individual's computer should not be dispersed. Often educators know confidential information, or have information in files that should not be public knowledge and would not be disclosed unless required to do so by the law.
(a ) will educate students on the unethical behavior associated with issues on security, hacking and how that pertains to the school's Acceptable Use Policy.
Educators have the right to implement the technology available and must also teach the students not only how to use the various technologies, but also educate the students on the behaviors not permitted when using the school's technology. Students must know the rights of others with computer issues and how their behavior could infringe on the rights of security not only to other students, educators, community, but also to themselves.
(b) will monitor and supervise students during technology use.
Students are granted the right to have access to the technology provided by the school and with that comes the responsibility of the teacher to supervise the activities that students engage in during the school day. Students also have the right to security on their files from being destroyed or altered by another student without their permission. The educator has the responsibility to educate the students on appropriate use of technology and to ensure that during the classroom time the technology is appropriate for their learning and not a distraction to that learning.
