Handel's Ethics


Contents: Computer Use Copyright & Fair Use Internet/Intranet/e-mail Privacy Professional_Development Social Consequences	Computer Ethics for Educators Privacy Privacy is the right of individuals to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others. ¹ Privacy is a fundamental right of all autonomous individuals. All information is not equal on all levels and educators must insure access to specific information will not be loosely available. ² Educators have a responsibility to respect and protect this right for themselves, their fellow faculty, and their students. They must balance the right to privacy with the education and certainly the security and safety of their students. Educators must not only protect the privacy of their students but have a moral and professional responsibility to impart to their students the knowledge that privacy is a fundamental right. 4.1 Educators shall only access information about students, their families and fellow staff members for which they have a need to know and for which they are duly authorized to access. They shall protect the confidentiality and restrict access to this confidential information. Rationale: "No (educator) should view, copy, alter, or destroy another person's electronic files without permission or unless authorized or required to do so." ³ Being professionals and role models for their students, educators must only access information which is needed and for which they are authorized. Even when the educator has access and a need to obtain confidential information he/she has a moral responsibility to only access portions of the files for which there is a legitimate need. Educators must manage and maintain the confidentiality of information. This includes paper and electronic files. Educators have a responsibility to protect confidential information from intentional and malicious access. They must not intentionally share the information and shall take precautions to ensure it is not unintentionally made available to others. Educators shall only collect and keep confidential information as necessary for the proper operation of the school. The more information collected, and the more locations in which it is stored will only make it more difficult to keep the information secure. In addition to limiting the amount of confidential information collected, it must be maintained for only the period required by law. ⁴ When the information is no longer needed it must be properly and securely erased from the system. Educators must be cognizant that there are typically archived copies of electronic files and these also need to be cleaned. The ethical educator shall always acquire proper authorization from students and parents before sharing information and then share only appropriate information. Schools and individual educators should have clear policies, which are effectively communicated to students and parents concerning the acquisition and access to confidential information. Educators have a responsibility to ensure the accuracy of the information collected, generated and maintained. Educators have a responsibility to disclose what student information is being collected and maintained, where it is being maintained and how long it will be maintained. They must protect the rights of the students and parents/guardians. Educators need to be sure students and parents/guardians know their right to access this private information and to insert explanations or objections to information in these files. 4.2 Educators shall respect the laws and regulations pertaining to the privacy of students, staff, parents and all individuals. They shall ensure their school abides by them. If a privacy rule or regulation is not in the best interest of education and students, then the educator has a responsibility to bring this to the attention of those establishing policies. Educators, having a guardian status on behalf of their students, shall share with students their rights and the avenues available to them to protect these rights. Rationale: Educators need to be knowledgeable of local school information and privacy policies. Educators need to be familiar with their local AUP. They need to respect these policies and if they find fault with policy they have an obligation to bring this to the attention of the proper authorities for review and possible amendment. The right to privacy can come in direct conflict with the right to free speech. Freedom of ideas and expression is a foundation of quality education and this places educators in a position of making judgments. The freedom of speech needs to be protected and guarded carefully by all educators, unless this "free speech" is disclosing confidential non-public information about others or places another in serious danger. Current and Related Legal Issues: · Children's Internet Protection Act (ChIPA - 2001) · Children's On-line Protection Act (COPA - 2000) · Federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA - 1986) · Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA - 1974) · Illinois School Student Records Act (ISSR - Illinois School Code) · First amendment (Bill of Rights - Free Speech) · Fourth Amendment (Bill of Rights - Search and Seizure) 4.3 Educators shall protect the safety and security of all students by limiting access to confidential information. This may involve the use of technology itself to shield the identity of students from those without need for this information. Certainly this involves practicing and teaching safe telecommunication practices to students. Rationale: Educators, as stated earlier, have a responsibility to share only appropriate information. However, it is also important to share with students the reasons and importance of sharing only appropriate information. At an early age students may not understand the consequences of sharing confidential information or the danger of sharing some personal information. By modeling and discussing these issues with students, they will develop an appreciation of privacy and learn to accept some responsibility for of their own security. The mental and emotional age of the students must certainly be taken into account. Educators need to be knowledgeable of the current state of Internet intelligent agents and other data gathering tools. As the number of computer interconnections increases and the amount of on-line communications escalates, it is becoming far too easy to collect a complete portfolio on any individual. The safety of students is one of the most important responsibilities of educators. Protecting their identity and personal information in an information society is far more challenging than just keeping students in the building and on school grounds. It is the ethical responsibility of all educators to teach students responsible on-line communication. 4.4 Educators shall participate in monitoring, surveillance and searches of student property only when there is a legitimate concern for the safety of the student or others. When it is deemed necessary, the scope of the invasion of privacy shall be limited to the extent possible so as to address only the concern. In all other situations educators have a moral responsibility to protect students and other staff from unnecessary surveillance. Rationale: Students are entitled to be treated with respect and they have the expectation of protection under the Fourth Amendment from unreasonable search and seizure. Educators should always respect the privacy of students, parents, and fellow staff members. The use of random searches, searches of property due to reasonable suspicion and the use of surveillance technologies must be limited, used only used when necessary and the educator is so authorized. Even though it may be argued the information society is becoming a "panoptic" environment where the boundaries between private and public are blurring, the responsible educator will view the application of these technologies with question. Monitoring and surveillance technologies can be counter-productive to an educational environment. They can inhibit free expression, experimentation and growth, all of which are part of educational development. These technologies are an invasion of privacy and must be used only when the potential good outweighs the negatives. At a general level, educators should oppose unnecessary monitoring and surveillance of students and other staff. Monitoring and data collection by a school, when combined with testing and other records using powerful computer technology may be used to customize educational programs for students. But this same "profiling" which can predict can also influence and control. This is especially true for younger students. The same power is even more of a concern when controlled and applied from the outside. For these reasons educators must always question the amount of student surveillance. Educators should be knowledgeable of the growth of wireless technologies and their potential for appropriate use and for abuse. There is no doubt these wireless communications and computing technologies will continue to evolve, grow and decrease in price. At this time educators should be developing school policies and amending AUPs to address these technologies. 4.5 Educators shall impart to students an understanding and respect for the privacy of others. Rationale: Educators are first and foremost teachers. They have a responsibility to impart to their students (as well as fellow staff members) a respect for the privacy of others. The most effective method of imparting this knowledge is by discussing the issues and consequences and by personally modeling appropriate conduct. Like all learning, the learner must "construct" ethics and responsibility. For this to occur the students need to be exposed to the issues and have opportunities to observe and interact with the concepts. The ultimate right to privacy is a person’s identity. This is theirs and theirs alone. In an on-line world it is easy to impersonate or even “steal” someone's identity. Educators have a responsibility to protect their students' identities (4.3) and also to ensure their students understand the ethical consequences of impersonation and the need to protect their own identity. Scenarios References: 1 Westin, Alan, Privacy and Freedom, 1967 2 Beverly, Carrie, Ethics of Technology in Education http://rgfn.epcc.edu/programs/trainer/ethics.html 3 State University of NY at Stonybrook - Responsible Use of Information Technology http://naples.cc.sunysb.edu/doit.nsf/pages/policy 4 Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, (FERPA) http://www.lrp.com/ed/freelib/free_regs/bc3499.htm 5 Spinello, Richard A., Cyberethics, Ch 5, Regulating Internet Privacy Other Sources: American Library Association, Children's Internet Protection Act, 2001 http://www.ala.org/cipa/ American Counseling Association, Code of Ethics http://www.counseling.org/resources/codeofethics.htm Canadian Marketing Association, Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice http://www.the-cma.org/privacy/ethics.html Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, Codes of Ethics http://www.ccsr.cse.dmu.ac.uk/resources/professionalism/codes/ College of Education, Illinois State Lab Schools http://www.uhigh.ilstu.edu/techethics/11-12/emailprivacy.html Federal Trade Commission, Kidz Privacy, Children’s On-line Protection Act of 2000 http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/kidzprivacy/index.html Florey, Kevin, Who's been Peaking at my Clickstream? http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/6095/student-papers/fall95-papers/florey-privacy.html Gurnpert, Gary and Drucker, Susan J., The Demise of Privacy in a Private World, in Baird, et al. Cyberethics Illinois School Student Records Act (Illinois School Code - ISSRA)) http://www.legis.state.il.us/ilcs/ch105/ch105act10.htm Institute for Global Ethics http://www.globalethics.org John Marshall Law School, Information Law and Policy, Existing US Information Law http://www.jmls.edu/infotech/supp/law.htm Murphy, Gerald, Cleveland Free-net, US Constitution Bill of Rights http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/bor.html National Association for the Education of Young Children, Position Statement http://www.naeyc.org/resources/position_statements/pseth98.htm Rhoades, Merry, Attn, Robin, Schwarts, Nicholas, Lifton, and Taylor, Ltd., "Internet Liability Issues for Schools" (unpublished paper), 2001 Rubinstein, Geoffrey, Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA - 1986) http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/ecpa.html Virginia Journal of Law and Technology, Discussion of Employee Privacy in Cyberspace http://www.vjolt.net/ Weckert, John and Adeney, Douglas, Computer and Information Ethics Weiman, Heidi, Loyola University Home Pages, Law, Regulations, Standards, and Ethics http://homepages.luc.edu/~hweiman/p12laws.html White, Victoria, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Ethical Implications of Privacy in E-mail http://www.eclectechs.com/priv.html Ethics Homepage