The problem is unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of student information over the Internet produces an unsafe learning environment.
There are countless schools facing the same problems of internet privacy attacks and the protection of students’ personal information. The population using the internet has much of the same diversity as the population in general. This includes those who might take advantage of a student’s openness and naiveté. (Aftab, 58). While students should not be afraid of using the internet, they should exercise the same caution as they would in any situation where there are strangers.
Discussions and instruction relating to the safe use of the Internet must begin long before the student ever sits in front of the computer. One of the most important issues to discuss with the student is under what circumstances and according to what guidelines they will be allowed online access.
People, whether attending school or not, understand the numerous dangers facing students today. Forty-three out of fifty people polled felt that violations of a student’s personal privacy or theft of personal information over the internet are a significant problem for secondary education.
Ten of the students polled were currently attending secondary schools, while another ten were within five years of having graduated. Five of the seven believing it not to be a widespread problem agreed that the situation could easily be solved by not allowing internet access in secondary schools. “This problem goes well beyond the classroom. These students do not have the know-how to keep these types of problems from happening. They need oversight from those that not only have the knowledge but also how to keep the students safe,” says Reta Mills, a professional educator at Seoul American High School. Students must be taught that the same rules they follow in their daily lives also apply to strangers they meet through e-mail or an internet conversation group.
These issues lead to unsafe learning environments which adversely affect the students. Concentration is the vital key for successfully completing secondary levels of education. This concentration is broken when constant attempts are made to invade privacy and steal personal information from such useful tools. Concerns about privacy on the internet have become pervasive in the past few years as more and more folks use the internet with little sense of how their privacy may be compromised. (Poftak, 36).
Parents are correct in trying to protect the privacy of children who may be quick to give away information about them. Privacy concerns are both of a general and specific nature. The mass appeal of the internet and the ease with which folks can use information about almost anyone make it a challenge to protect privacy. Using manipulative measures to give them other information is one of the many ways they could use personal information.
Chat has been around on the internet since the late 1980s. Until recently, most internet chats were done using a command-line interface. Folks would connect to a channel on a server running the Internet Relay Chat protocol. (Gomez and McNamara, 39). These systems enabled folks from anywhere on the internet to interact with each other. Channels often center on hobbies, technologies, entertainment, or sex. As the popularity of the internet increased, folks began using graphical client interfaces for chatting. These interfaces are easy to use and often allow folks to select avatars or characters who are their representatives in the chat room. In the past two to three years, the most popular chat interface has become web-based. Thus, many websites now attract traffic by offering chat rooms on virtually any topic.
Instant messaging refers to any client that allows direct back-and-forth communication between two parties on the Internet. Tonn (16) explains, that, unlike chat rooms, anyone who downloads and installs the client software can immediately begin corresponding with others who are also using the software — the two parties don’t have to enter a chat room and there is never any moderator. Instant messaging products may be inherently safer than chat since the user must generally send a message specifically to someone whose screen name or user name they have obtained. Of course, if the user wants to limit access to his or her user name, he or she must be careful about what information is made available. If they put in a certain street address, then someone can find anyone’s name from a list that results from a search carried out on the address field.
The concerns of teachers and administration with these technologies are mostly self-evident and are broken down into three categories. According to Fabiansson (36), while less serious than some other problems, some students find the use of chat rooms and instant messaging software to be somewhat addicting. This can be particularly problematic if the student doesn’t have much social interaction outside of the computer environment. Students can easily be tricked into volunteering or giving out information about themselves that may go beyond the bounds of safety. (Hick and Halprin, 70). For example, the student may mention that he is bored because his parents live in a certain neighborhood, of which there is only one in this community. All of these examples are not so unimaginable.
Although countless causes can be discussed concerning the disclosure, use, and dissemination of students’ personal information, these can be grouped into categories that form a much bigger picture. Students who are simply uninformed about the threats which are present as well as policies and procedures in place to protect them are the foundation of this problem. Teachers and administration are either uninformed or disillusioned of the actual situation also forms the nucleus of internet safety issues in the classroom. Unfortunately, the intentional student misuse of school computer hardware and the software does cause harm to other students. For these reasons, a thorough policy must be drawn up and contain all necessary measures to protect students against these problems.
Rebuttal
Opponents say that most people would find it difficult to believe that students in today’s society, students would not know about internet threats, especially with usage continually growing. The idea that secondary students do not know of internet dangers does not make sense. (Barrett, 184). The average student spends over thirty hours per week on the internet; they know what the threats are. Students realize these dangers and yet do not educate themselves to protect their personal information from electronic attacks. There are countless tools for this education; to include: books, electronic tutorials, and software designed to detect and neutralize privacy attacks and theft of personal information. Students are not ill-informed or ill-prepared; they simply do not take the time to educate themselves.
The problem of privacy attacks and the theft of students’ personal information is overstated. School districts have taken the time to develop plans for these contingencies through the use of internet protection software and some have even adopted usage policies. These policies, however, cover the information that the student is allowed to access. This is due to previous attempts of students to attain electronic files of questionable and unsuitable content while working with school computers. (Embar-Seddon, 1035). The faculty has truncated this by supervising the students during periods of computer and internet use.
The unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of student information over the internet produce an unsafe learning environment for students. This problem is even more prevalent in secondary education environments, especially with the increase in computer and internet usage among students. The current safeguards designed for student internet usage have been ineffective and inefficient in deterring privacy attacks and the theft of students’ personal information. Students must be informed of the threats to their privacy and personal information to protect themselves. Parents, teachers, and administrators also have a responsibility to ensure a safe learning environment. These threats will continue to increase if educating students do not become the top priority facing secondary school systems.
Works Cited
Aftab, Parry. “Online Safety at School.” PC Magazine (2004) 58.
Barrett, Laura. “Not Just ‘YourSpace’: Educators Urged to Be Careful on the Internet.” Education Digest. 73.2 (2007) 9-11.
Embar-Seddon, Ayn. “Cyberterrorism: Are We Under Siege.” American Behavioral Scientist. 45.6 (2002) 1033-43.
Fabiansson, Charlotte. “Young People’s Perceptions of Being Safe – Globally and Locally.” Social Indicators Research. 80 (2007) 31-49.
Gomez, Juan and McNamara, Patrick. “But It All Happened Online.” Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership. 9.1 (2004) 35-43.
Hick, Steven and Halpin, Edward. “Children’s Rights and the Internet.” The Annals of the American Academy. 575.1 (2001) 70.
Mills, Reta. Personal Interview. 2008.
Moscardelli, Deborah and Divine, Richard. “Adolescents’ Concern for Privacy when Using the Internet.” Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal. 35.3 (2007) 232-252.
Poftak, Amy. “Net-Wise Teens: Safety, ethics, and innovation.” Technology and Learning. 23.1 (2002) 36-44.
Tonn, Jessica. Experts See Need for School Staff to Access Social-Networking Sites. Education Week. 26.33 (2006) 16.