Final post for Ethics and Technology Course

Taking this course has been an eye opener for me. I’ve become more aware to the dangers and seriousness of of the Internet and the crimes that can occur. I have already made some changes in the way that I use the Internet. As far and my professional life, I will share my newly gained knowledge with my third graders. I will also stop stealing things off the Internet (oops!) and inform my students of the same. I have really enjoyed taking this class. The books that were chosen we enjoyable and easy to read. I especially liked The Blue Nowhere.

Thanks Mr. Sanders!

Childrens Safety on the Internet

I've been reading a lot about the safety of the Internet and keeping children protected. I think using a filtering system is a great way to avoid some of the inappropriate material that a child has no business look at. On the other hand, many times the filter also blocks sites that shouldn't be blocked. Reading the article Children's Safety on the Internet: A Resource Guide for Parents, they gave an example of looking up the word "breast". A filter will block all porn sights as well as sights that deal with breast cancer awareness or a recipe that calls for chicken breast.
There are pros and con's to using a filtering system. Although it may be a pain, I think the pros outweigh all of the con's when it comes to the safety of children.

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs21a-childrensafety.htm

Employee Monitoring

I understand why a business would want to check on an employee's phone calls or emails if they suspected them of wrong doing. Other than that, why would a company spend money for someone to sift through someone else's business? It's almost if they're looking for something, trying to create problems. As long as their employee is getting their job done, not harassing anyone, who cares if every once in a while they make a personal phone call on company time? I'm sure their not costing the company as much as the people who sit at a computer all day looking and listening to what other people do.

Fact Sheet 7. Workplace Privacy
Employee Monitoring: Is There Privacy in the Workplace?
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs7-work.htm

The Last chapters of Internet & Computer Ethics for Kids

Reading the last few chapters really summed up the book-cheating and lying are bad (even when you don't get caught). The police can't possibly monitor everything that happens on the Internet but it's best to use your best judgement and make decisions that you can live with. Educate yourself about the do's and don't of proper Internet usage and teach your children as well.

Reducing Identity Fraud

I used to laugh when I would watch those silly Capital One commercials where there was an old man speaking in the voice of some young teenage girl who had just stolen his identity and bought numerous things. In reality, it's not funny at all. I've never really thought of what I would do or how I would handle that situation. I read an article called; Coping with Identity Theft: Reducing the Risk of Fraud. One thing I received from this article was the cation of using Debit cards (I use mine at least once a day-oops!) Although there is no defined way to keep thieves from your identity, there are many things to do to help lower the likelihood. I found this article very useful.

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs17-it.htm

CIP

Further reading the article; Customer Identification Programs: Getting to Know You, I learned that banks must check your identification against names on a list of terrorist! Interesting. Due to the PATRIOT act, anytime you open a new financial account, you're background information is ran to insure that you aren't a terrorist or you're not laundering money to someone who is. Just a thought, if I were a terrorist and I was going to open up a new account I probably wouldn't use my real name!

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs31-CIP.htm

Reducing Junk Mail

The first thing I do when I get to work every day is check my email. Just like sorting through my paper mail, my mailbox is full of useless junk that I trash immediately. It's not that big of a deal but it is a nuisance. I read an article titled: Anti-Spam Tips and Resources: Reducing the Flood of Junk E-Mail. This article explained how spammers get your email address, what the government is trying to do about it, and tips on what people can do to stop the junk mail. Although most of the tips I already do, such as not opening Spam mail or responding to it, but one thing I will try after reading the article is to use a secondary email verses my work email when signing up for things on the web.

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs20-spam.htm