IT645 Chapter 11 Q1 What are the legal, social, and ethical issues arising in the Digital Age? Summarize each.

Technology from an educational perspective carries with it both good applications and also areas of concern that could cause problems. The major areas of concern when implementing technology are legal issues, social issues, and ethical issues.
Legal issues covers the areas of copyright, privacy, acceptable use and piracy. In education there has always been an acceptable use policy for students and teachers (Fair Use doctrine). That use is an acceptable but limited number of pages of a document or second/minutes of sound or video. These policies are place so as not to cheat the owner of revenue generated from the product. Today’s technology allows for this information to be obtain easier than every before. As a professional, teachers are responsible for being gate keepers for checking whether a student document his/her work properly. This concern brought about the development of software packages like Turnitin, Plagiazed, and Copycatch that scan papers for illegal and improper use of student papers.
Privacy is another legal issue that has emerged o the technology scene. Every citizen (man, woman, or child) has privacy rights. As an educator, you must get permission to share information about information that you have gotten from a student which could be construed as private whether inadvertent or intentional that results in abuse. Also, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) passed in 1998 protects the information gathered by minors on the internet from misuse.
A few tips for teachers are: (1) keeping confidential information in a confidential and secured area as it refers to electronic equipment, (2) guard you login names and passwords, (3) secure storage devices (floppies, cd-rw, and USB devices), (4) also guard students photographs as well.
If a teacher’s his/herself abides by the Fair Use Doctrine, a Code of Professional Ethics and school guide lines then students should be fine. Most school districts also have purchased filtering software to keep students safe from questionable materials. This software keeps students away from sited by trying to access improper sites and also by using Keyword that would access questionable sites. Sometimes this poses a problem for students doing research. For instant “breast cancer”, however there are still libraries to access information. More than likely this would be a problem for high school students.
Software Piracy is another legal concern. Software piracy is the illegal use of software like making copies of music CDs or movies on video tapes or CD. A teacher should not engage in this practice nor allow students to use such stolen information. Any software that a teacher uses should be controlled by a network administrator.
Social issues in the digital age cover a number of issues such as equity and accessibility of software. Equity concerns the have’s and have not’s. The benefits of technology are often expenses. Every student does not have a computer at home, the internet, or the most advanced digital equipment that could help to keep the students abreast of what is going on in the world. A teacher has to be careful to assign projects within the limits of the class as a whole. The best scenario is to make sure that the class has an opportunity to go to the computer lab as a class to gain necessary information. We refer to this as the digital divide. The digital divide transcends not only socio-economic concerns but also gender differences, educational lines and even persons with disabilities often cannot get access to the latest or greatest technology. Sometimes students have computers but can not afford the monthly internet cost. Although we have come along way, teachers still have to keep in mind that everyone does not have the technology tools and access to complete assignments.
Although our country was built on the principle of “freedom of Speech”, there are still concerns that involve the internet that calls for searching for a definition that will include the new technologies. We have touched upon these issues earlier with inappropriate sites for children, academic honesty, and the right to have a view point does not necessarily give an internet site academic credibility. Although technology changes daily and we try to keep abreast of the information and tools such as wireless networking, WiFi technology and visual reality games, it is still important for an education to keep abreast of all this new information and make sure that “all” students have access to your knowledge. This often requires school districts to investigate the technology before investing in it.

Good Luck.