CIPA and COPPA are both acts intended to help protect
children when they use the internet. Children’s
Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was passed by Congress in 2000 in efforts to
curb “children’s access to obcene or harmful content over the Internet” (Federal Communications Commission, 2015) . It requires schools
and libraries to block or filter pictures from the Internet that are: obscene,
child pornography, or harmful to minors (Federal Communications Commission, 2015) . Along with the
filters, schools must also provide education to students about appropriate
online behavior. There is funding that is attached to this act. Children’s
Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was passed in 1998 in order to curb
the information that is collected by websites from minors. COPPA is
specifically geared towards websites or online services directed towards
children under 13 years old.
Both of these acts are meant to protecting children, defined
here by children under the age of 13. These acts were put in place fairly early
in the Internet being readily available to everyone. It is clear that the FCC
was trying to think ahead and protect a population that may not be able to make
the best decisions for themselves. When CIPA was passed, there was an outrage
because public libraries were being forced to block material that would be acceptable
to adults. The ALA went all the way to
the Supreme Court, which found the law to acceptable as long as the librarian
would unblock the content for the adult when needed.
As far as using this in the classroom, from what I can tell
this isn’t something that you would specifically discuss with kids. A lot of
this falls on the teacher to make sure they are complying with CIPA and COPPA.
It is important to know that as a teacher, your computer is not subject to
CIPA. You should have access to the internet, unblocked, in order to plan for
lessons. I found this web
site to be incredible helpful in explaining the different aspects of
internet safety and education.
Hi Abbey!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about your information on the different CIPA and COPPA policies in place to protect the privacy of children. I went searching online for some articles, and found a recently written piece on safeguarding students data (https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-01-04-rewriting-the-social-contract-to-safeguard-student-data-privacy).
If you have a chance to take a peak at the article, it was an interesting reminder of how much work it takes from the IT department to keep our students safe. As you mentioned, it is important for teachers to help make sure that students are being safe on the internet, but there is only so much they can do in a classroom of 30 when everybody is online at the same time. Therefore, we rely on filter programs, choosen by professional IT staff, to assist us in this vigilance. However, as the article brought to light, it is becoming increasingly hard for the IT department to keep up with compliance with these laws, because there are so many different applications surfacing to help teachers.
The problem is that if the teachers are using programs supplied by the district, then we can keep a close eye on them. But, the more we use applications that are hosted by other companies, the more at-risk we put our students information. When it mentioned "the cloud" in the article, it quickly reminded me of a recent situation where a lot of celebrities' information was "securely" stored through their technologies (iPhones), but then it was eventually compromised because it was hanging in the cloud. This same thing could happen with students' information, and it is therefore important that teachers collaboratively work with the IT department. As the article argues, teachers need to work hand-and-hand with the tech staff when they find a new tool that they want to use online, because it could be dangerous. To ensure full compliance, make sure to run your newly found program through somebody first for approval, before having all of your students use it.
Hi Jimmy!
DeleteThat was a very interesting article. Thank you for posting it. I agree that it is very important for teachers and the IT department to work together. There are so many cool things that teachers can do with technology and we often forget about the privacy aspect because I believe we assume it's a given. The apps and programs are geared towards students and schools after all.
My boyfriend used to be an IT administrator at a private school and he would tell me that he would have all of his teacher's on "lock down" in regards to downloading things on to their school computers or things for the students. I was shocked at first when he said that, but then he explained the security issues around it. IT people have a very different way of looking at an app or program and it's definitely a perspective teacher's need when choosing technology in the classroom.
Here's my experience with filters.
ReplyDeleteDuring one lecture, I wanted to use a YouTube video at the beginning of a lesson in a computer lab. I quickly learned the first hour that I didn't have access to YouTube videos in the lab. So, the 2nd hour, I started the lecture in my own classroom, we watched the video, then moved to the lab for the remainder of the hour.
I didn't know the district had different levels of access depending upon which computer I used. However, I also found out that many of the kids could watch any YouTube video they wanted to during the day, depending upon what cell phone service they had.
Here's my experience with filters.
ReplyDeleteDuring one lecture, I wanted to use a YouTube video at the beginning of a lesson in a computer lab. I quickly learned the first hour that I didn't have access to YouTube videos in the lab. So, the 2nd hour, I started the lecture in my own classroom, we watched the video, then moved to the lab for the remainder of the hour.
I didn't know the district had different levels of access depending upon which computer I used. However, I also found out that many of the kids could watch any YouTube video they wanted to during the day, depending upon what cell phone service they had.
Yes, students' devices can easily skirt firewalls if they're using their own 4G network. The firewall sophistication depends on the money the school has. If you want the firewall to have separate limits for teachers and students, that costs money.
ReplyDeleteThe easiest solution is to block everyone equally. Of course, that creates dissent between the staff and the IT dept, as you noted.
The nice thing about Chromebooks is that downloading things is very difficult. Most of it won't work on the OS.