Doug Johnson

Raising Good Citizens for a Virtual World: How Do We Help Our Children be Safe and Ethical When Using the Internet? A Families Connect Course for AASL, 2000

Introduction
Lesson One
Lesson Two 
Lesson Three 
Lesson Four 
Lesson Five

Privacy
This lesson presents scenarios in which young people must ask: Does my use of the technology violate the privacy of others or am I giving information to others that I should not? Discuss each of the following scenarios with your child:

Scenario 1
John fills out a survey form on a computer game web page. In the following weeks, he receives several advertisements in the mail as well as dozens of email messages about new computer games.

    Whose privacy is at risk?
    What danger or discomfort might the unethical or unwise action cause?
    Is there a parallel in the physical world to this scenario?
    Can you think of other incidents that would fall into this category?

Children need to understand that businesses and organizations use information to market products. Sometimes this information is collected without a personâs permission or awareness that it is being collected. Information given to one organization may well sell it to others. An interesting discussion can revolve around how much a person would like a company to know about him or her. Will a company who knows a lot about me use it to customize products for me or only to manipulate me?

For more information about Internet privacy issues, including links to recent new stories, visit the Internet Privacy Coalition website at http://www.privacy.org/ipc/

Scenario 2
Adele “meets” Frank, who shares her interest in figure skating, in an Internet chat room. After several conversations in the following weeks, Frank asks Adele for her home telephone number and address.

    Whose privacy is at risk?
    What danger or discomfort might the unethical or unwise action cause?
    Is there a parallel in the physical world to this scenario?
    Can you think of other incidents that would fall into this category?

All individuals need to know that a stranger is a stranger, whether on the playground or on the Internet. The same rules we teach children about physical strangers apply to virtual strangers as well. The fact that we cannot get clues to a person from his or her physical appearance (age, dress, gender) adds to the difficulty in judging the new person.

How might Adele find out if Frank is a person who she would like as a friend? Most groups with whom I have worked, conclude that Adele needs to meet Frank in a public place accompanied by a trusted adult or group of friends (depending on her age). She could ask Frank for his phone number and call him, but some telephone services now record the number of the incoming call. In any event, Adele should not reveal any personal information to Frank until she knows that he has been representing himself fairly.

Check SafeKids.Com <http://www.safekids.com> produced by the Online Safety Project for a more complete discussion of safety issues, including privacy issues.

Scenario 3
The principal suspects Paul of using his school email account to send offensive messages to other students. He asks the schoolâs network manager to give him copies of Paul’s email.

    Whose privacy is at risk?
    What danger or discomfort might the unethical or unwise action cause?
    Is there a parallel in the physical world to this scenario?
    Can you think of other incidents that would fall into this category?

Schools (and businesses) have the right to search student and employee files that are created and stored on school-owned computer hardware. Ask your children if they know their school’s search policy on lockers and book bags, and whether the same policy should be extended to computer storage devices. Recent news events have made most of us only too aware that dangerous materials can be stored in student backpacks and lockers and for the safety of all children in a school, officials need to invade individualâs privacy when there is a probable cause. Can computer files ever be considered so dangerous that safety concerns should over ride privacy concerns?

Scenario 4
Terry’s sister needs to leave the computer to take laundry from the dryer. While she is gone, Terry finds she has been working on an email to her best friend and that her email program is still open. He checks to see what sis has to say.

    Whose privacy is at risk?
    What danger or discomfort might the unethical or unwise action cause?
    Is there a parallel in the physical world to this scenario?
    Can you think of other incidents that would fall into this category?

Information inadvertently left accessible does not mean that it is appropriate to access it. Ask your child: “Is forgetting to lock one’s home the same as allowing anyone to enter it?” While information may be about a child (such as a letter), that information does not necessarily belong to them. And children certainly do not have the right to look at information about others.

A similar scenario might involve your child at school looking at an online gradebook that contains his or her grades along with the grades of other students.

Discussion Questions

• When is shared data harmful? When is it helpful? Can some kinds of shared data be helpful to society, but harmful to an individual?
• Is the hacker’s argument that all information be free defensible?
• What steps can individuals, adult and child, take to protect their privacy?
• A “cookie” is a small computer program that installs itself in one’s Internet browser that collects and sends data to an Internet site. How can one control whether cookies are used on your browser? (For information see the United States Department of Energy’s CIAC Information Bulletin I-034 Internet Cookies http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/bulletins/i-034.shtml
• How available should this information about your children be to others?
• Their school records
• The last three books they read or last three computer programs they purchased.
• The sites they visit on the World Wide Web.
• Their favorite foods and fashions