Tools for Teaching Cyber Ethics by by Linda Starr

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech055.shtml
Summary: This article is about how a lot of students don't understand that a lot of the things they do with the internet is illegal. This is because they've grown up with the technology so they don't realize there are legal limits to what they would consider ordinary activities. This problem goes beyond the realm of hacking and investor fraud and go into pirating with things like movies, games, and music. The author states that it is very important to lay out the ethics of using technology on the first day they get it. If the students don't get a clear idea of what they are allowed to do and what they should do then they will just learn it on the street, so to speak. The author suggests making parallels between the real world and the cyber world and to work together with the students to work on a code of ethics for using the technology, similar to classroom rules. It is also extremely important to not model inappropriate behavior. The author then ends the article with a quote about how the internet is much like a Pandora's box, and it should be opened. There is also a 10 commandments of computer rules.

Reaction: The story that the author told at the start of the article about the student who invested in penny stocks and then went to an investment chatroom to jack of the price is pretty funny because just recently a famous rapper named 50 Cent got into trouble over that. He bought a large amount of penny stocks then went to Twitter and told people to invest in it. It worked and he made a lot. I believe that he did not get into trouble over that. All he had to do was post something else on his Twitter saying that he is not a professional and that everyone should contact their broker for stock advice. Everything else seems pretty solid. I am not sure about the Pandora's box analogy though. As I recall Pandora's box contained every evil thing in the world and only had one good thing in it. I also thought the point about porn not being a big issue with technology is also interesting. Oklahoma is under a lot of scrutiny because their public schools have software that blocks websites. This normally wouldn't be a big deal but it seems the software bans atheist websites too which many feel suppresses freedom of religion. The reasoning that was provided was because they didn't want to promote fanatical religions but atheism isn't actually a religion and it has been my experience that atheists are much nicer and more sensible than religious people.

Starr, L. (2005, August 04). Tools for teaching cyber ethics. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech055.shtml