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Privacy and Security Policy Brief

Policy Brief

Internet issues, Privacy and Security

Theoretically Prepared for Montour School District, November 7, 2010

By Mindy Sanjana

Executive Summary:

The Montour School District currently has computer labs in every school building and technology teachers in every building. All classrooms have teacher computers and most have at least one student computer as well. All computers in the District are connected to the Internet by high speed modem and a commitment has been made to make this network entirely wireless.  The District, therefore, needs to establish an Internet use policy that will ensure that all who use the MSD computer network can reasonably expect their privacy to be protected and their safety to be assured. An effective Internet policy will establish a safe environment in which to enjoy the benefits of electronic access to information and increased communication ability that the Internet has to offer.

Overview of the Issues:

A comprehensive school Internet policy must address the issues of Privacy, Security, and Cyber-Bullying

Privacy: Both the federal and Pennsylvania state governments regulate student access to the Internet in public schools and libraries. The intent of these laws is to protect minors from gaining access to sexually explicit, obscene or harmful materials. Specifically, CIPA, the Federal Children’s Internet Protection ACT, requires that schools receiving federal aid adopt and implement an Internet safety policy addressing access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet. Moreover, the federal government requires that all school computers which are connected to Internet have technology installed that will protect against access to visual depictions described as obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors. CIPA does not require the blocking or filtering of text. COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, requires that permission be given by parents or teachers before website operators can gather information about children who are using their sites. The District needs to adopt an Internet privacy policy that is compliant with CIPA and COPPA requirements. Further, the District should hold a public meeting to review its policy. Students, teachers, and parents should be aware of the contents of this policy.

Security: As our school district moves towards full connectivity, protection of both student and staff safety online becomes a concern. Certainly students need to be protected from accessing images or information that they would not be allowed to access in a non-electronic world. The Internet, however, provides students with the opportunity to threaten, harass, or bully other students or educators. Some Both students and educators are entitled to protection while at school from being harassed or otherwise harmed, if such harm can be reasonably prevented. The district’s Internet use policy needs to extend existing policies related to bullying and intimidation to make sure that students and teachers are protected from harassment while they are online.

Policy options—Privacy, Security and Cyber-Bullying:

Option 1:  The district must install some sort of filtering software as this is a CIPA requirement. CIPA specifies that students should not be able to access offensive images. The filtering software can be set in such a way that a long list of keywords triggers the filter, which would block all images associated with the key word.  

Pros:	Cons:
The district will maintain maximum control by choosing the highest-setting of filtering software in order to be “better safe than sorry.”	The software cannot evaluate the age-appropriateness of websites which means that these filters will restrict appropriate access to quality websites such as materials on breast cancer, health care, and other issues that might include "objectionable" words.

In addition, policy must be developed for an “acceptable use” with regard to accessing “web 2.0” sites, sometimes called “social media” sites. If the district blocks usage of these sites within the school, students will continue to use them from home, without supervision or guidance.  Educators in many districts use social media sites such as YouTube, personal blogs, Facebook or Twitter in creative, educational ways.

Pros:	Cons:
Blocking access to such sites would prevent school involvement in cyber-bullying and related personal safety concerns.  Blocking access prevents allegations of liability from being leveled against the school in which these sites were accessed.	Simply blocking these sites and never teaching responsible use of social media is like “placing locks on a fence surrounding a pool but neglecting to teach kids how to swim.”
	Students in the district will not have access to educational uses that are “deep, relevant, and participatory.”

Option 2: CIPA required filtering software could be installed on all school computers that are connected to the Internet. However, the filter software can be set as either open or closed for specific web resources based upon the District’s policy. Teachers wanting to allow access to specific web resources for educational purposes could send their specific list of allowable resources to the Technology department, which would then open access to these sites within the building or within the specific classroom in which the request was made. Since some students would, via interactive Internet sites, be able to engage in cyber-bullying while using school computers, a clear policy banning cyber bullying must be developed. This policy should prohibit using the Internet to harass, threaten or bully other students or members of the school staff. Students found to be engaging in cyber-bullying should be disciplined.

Pros:	Cons:
Allowing teachers to determine access to particular sites will allow age-appropriate access to quality websites such as materials on breast cancer, health care, and other issues.	If students are allowed to access social media sites in school, cyber-bullying and related personal safety problems could occur. Proving that students engaged in cyber-bullying could take time, during which period the victim could suffer substantial stress. Allegations of liability could be leveled against the school in which these sites were accessed or in which the bullying occurred.
Open setting provides teacher with opportunity to use social media to educate students in both the content area and in the essential skills of Internet citizenship.

References:

Acceptable Use Policies for Internet Use

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/special_initiatives/wa_resources/wa_teachers/backgrounders/acceptable_use.cfm

Children's Internet Protection Act

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cipa.html

Warwick School District bullying/Cyber-bullying Policy http://www.warwick.k12.pa.us/orgmodule.php?deptid=107&schoolid=0007&mid=

Internet Accuracy and Validity

Policy Brief

Internet issues, part 3: Accuracy and Validity

Theoretically Prepared for Montour School District, October 31, 2010

By Mindy Sanjana

Executive Summary:

The Montour School District (MSD) currently has computer labs in every school building. All classrooms have teacher computers and most have at least one student computer as well. All computers in the District are connected to the Internet by high speed modem and a commitment has been made to make this network entirely wireless.  The District, therefore, is well positioned to develop an Internet policy that will build upon this investment in hardware and infrastructure and ensure that all of the stakeholders in the MSD will be able to find information, conduct research, and use Internet resources for a wide-range of educational and creative purposes. The open and interactive nature of the Internet, however, is a two-edged sword. Although it can, within seconds, provide users with countless resources, these resources may not be accurate or objective. It is impossible to filter out inaccurate and biased resources from an Internet search. Hoaxes and hate-inciting sites masquerade as authoritative, creating a library of misinformation that students must learn to navigate. 

Overview of the Issues:

In the days before Internet access in schools, students acquired information from textbooks and from books and periodicals in the school and public libraries. These books were written by experts in their field and did not enter into the classroom or library until they had been examined and vetted for accuracy. Today’s students find most of their “information” online and do not realize that what they read needs to be evaluated before it can be believed or used as a basis for drawing conclusions. A comprehensive school Internet policy must address the dilemma created by teaching students to access a wealth of information that may in fact be inaccurate, biased, and/or a complete fabrication. Students must learn to examine any information that they locate online for the following traits:

Accuracy:

Is the information on a website verifiable? Does it conform to industry or research standards for that subject?  Will the information presented prove correct upon further investigation?

Authority:

Who is the author and what credentials does this author have that make him/her an expert in this field?

Objectivity:

Is this information free of bias?

Currency:

When was this information written and is it still up to date?

Policy options—Accuracy /Validity/Objectivity

Option 1: The Montour School District should ensure that students learn to be critical consumers of any material they find on the Internet. Instruction in these skills cannot be left to chance, but must be formalized in a new “Internet literacy” curriculum that will be integrated into the technology and library curricula at every grade level.

Pros:   

            Learning to assess the accuracy of information found on the Internet is a critical literacy skill that cannot be left to chance.

           

Cons:  

            Inaccurate or biased material could continue to pass into students’ work, despite the fact that they “should” have learned to recognize misinformation.  Using such students’ works as evidence, parents and others in the community could hold the school district responsible for educating students to be biased.

Option 2: The Montour School District should attach a disclaimer to the Internet permission form that parents sign when they enroll their child in school. This disclaimer would state that sources on the Internet do not always provide unbiased, accurate, complete, or current information.  Students should be careful to substantiate the validity of information they found online.

Pros:

            If a parent wanted to blame the school district for allowing their students to write papers that were biased or untrue, the district could point to the disclaimer in order to prove that they were given fair warning that the Internet was an unreliable source.

Cons: 

 Learning Internet literacy is as important in the 21^st century as learning to read and write. The school district provides student access to the Internet and allows the Internet to be used for research, so it has an obligation to teach students how to assess online sources for accuracy and objectivity.

References:

University of North Carolina Library checklist for evaluating websites: http://www.lib.unc.edu/instruct/evaluate/web/checklist.html

Southern Illinois Law Library Evaluating Websites and Other Information: http://www.law.siu.edu/lawlib/guides/eval.htm