November 10, 2009

Acceptable use Internet Filtering Social Web (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) Cyberbullying Plagiarism Phishing

Why do we need to have such a document?

What things need to be covered? NID’s Technology Acceptable Use

document

The goal of the acceptable use document is to outline how the tools: computers, network, internet, resources (printers, scanners, personal storage devices) are to be used in your school or office.

To protect both the students and staff from using these tools improperly. Also to know what is or is not allowed with these resources.

Hardware – what is available, what it can be used for, at what times

Internet – understanding that the content and material is not under the control of the school and that care with this tool must be taken in use of it.

Internet use as a educational tool, not a entertainment or personal communication tool (web, e-mail)

In what ways tools like the Internet are acceptable, how e-mail should be used as a contact tool.

What information can be taken or brought into the school using storage devices (CD, Flash Drives, etc)

The NID website at www.ni.lcms.org provides a outline of a Technology Acceptable use document at : https://ni.lcms.org/ClientData/1074/Assets/documents/school/curriculum/technology/acceptable%20use%20policy.doc

The Internet is a online version of the real world, and there is good and bad, objectional, offensive content, along with some great educational tools.

Internet Filtering attempts to limit access to objectional content and materials.

There are Free and Commercial tools to help schools with this problem.

DNS system - OpenDNS for K-12 - http://www.opendns.com/solutions/k12

A variety of Software, specifically Internet Filtering, or Security with Internet filtering (antivirus)

Internet Filtering devices – Internet routers, firewall devices, internet filtering appliances.

Internet providers who filter - http://www.illinois.net/services/filtering/index.htm

There are many social websites that are used for contacting friends, companies, entertainers

Most popular Social Websites for all ages – MySpace, Facebook

Other Social Websites LinkedIn, Spoke, Twitter, Flickr, Bebo, YouTube, and many more.

Facebook and MySpace intend to remove accounts of people who are less than 13 years of age – based on the information provided.

Keep in mind that there is no good way that allows these providers to know for sure the age of the person and the account(s) they may setup.

Never post information about your specific location, nothing you would not want printed in a paper about yourself.

People’s response differs when they are not face to face.

Cyberbullying is the tormenting , threatening, harassing, humiliation or embarrassing, using the Internet, other digital technologies, or mobile phones.

Cyberbullying is people in the same age range or peer group, not someone older.

Never give out personal information online Never tell others your password to

accounts Explain to children if they receive such a

message to share it with a parent, teacher or guardian.

Never put anything online that your would not want everyone to see.

Never send messages when you are angry

Teach that you should interact with people online as you would interact with them in person.

Encourage parents to keep the computer in a busy area of the home

Know what people your child is interacting with online

Learn the variety of Acronyms Do not take away access – many hide this

activity in fear of loosing the privilege

Cyber Bullying Web Sites http://www.ncpc.org/topics/cyberbullying http://www.cyberbullying.us/

IM and Texting Acronyms http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php http://www.aim.com/acronyms.adp?aolp=0

Easy access to copy information from a variety of sources with the Internet. From books From magazines From authors From news (TV, Internet, and Newspapers) From online resources (encyclopedias,

dissertations, or other peoples work)

Need to explain proper use Need to verify sources – especially on the

Internet – land of many “experts” Have students provide a reference of

sources to verify work Online tools – for verification

Turnitin - http://www.turnitin.com Learn to use Google to search Internet

sources

Phishing is the attempt to trick people into providing information to sources other than the one being presented.

Phishing exists in e-mail, web sites One of the most popular forms of web

phishing is presenting the user with a pop-up that makes the user think the computer is infected and that they need to purchase the product they are presenting to clean it – products that either cause more troubles or do nothing.

This type of web phishing is quite common on social web sites since there is a high volume of viewers.

Some the of the most popular forms of e-mail phishing are personnel department requests, banking requests, and computer upgrades that require you to provide information about your accounts, or personal information to defraud you.

Use a current web browser – make sure the phishing protection is turned on. Internet Explorer 7 & 8, Firefox 3 & 3.5

Verify the URL the last two parts for example (good: support.att.net) (bad: support.att.badprovider.com)

Good Antivirus, Spyware tools to keep these types of things reaching you in the first place.

http://www.onguardonline.gov/topics/phishing.aspx

Government – OnGuard Online - http://www.onguardonline.gov

Microsoft Online Safety and Privacy http://www.microsoft.com/protect/default.aspx

Symantec – Risks http://www.symantec.com/norton/security_response/index.jsp

Content that I have gathered on these subjects http://cais.cus.edu/spicemk/computersafety.html