This week’s readings for class dealt with ethics and the web. I don’t think most people who use the web stop to think about the ethical complexities. I am sure that most of them never really read the terms of agreement before signing up for a new service like Facebook or Twitter. People generally do what ever is easiest for them. I think it is safe to say that reading and understanding legal documents does not qualify as easy for most of us.
Fanton’s article, “Rights and Responsibilities Online: A Paradox for Our Times” reminded me of the issues that were discussed by Lee Raine and Siva Vaidhyanathan at this year’s LILRC conference. I have a post on this dated November 1. Raine quoted a lot of statistics like the ones in the article to show that young people were very active internet users and that at least half of them had created on-line content. Vaidhyannthan focused on Google but his warnings about Google could be applied to other web companies and were like those of Howard Gardner, who is quoted in the article. To sum it up, young people are heavy internet users who are very trusting and apt to make information public that could be used in an unethical manner. The internet is a brave new world where the old laws do not apply and new ones are still emerging. Companies like Google do not have to have our best interests at heart since they are in business to make money. They may do a lot of very good things including donating money to charity but in many cases it is only after something happens and people sue or at least publicly air the bad practices that something changes.
This brings me to the second article by Frances Jacobson Harris, “Ethics from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0” which focus more on the view from a school library media center perspective. I found this to be a very balanced article. It gave lots of great reasons to use the web and even included some wonderful resources. In addition, it was not blind to the dangers that could present themselves when children are using the web. The article stressed the need for proper training so that young people use the web in safe and ethical ways. One of the programs that I am familiar with is the Child Lures program,
which teaches parents and educators about safety both online and offline.
This week in NY, one of the big news stories was that about 3500 sex offenders were banned from the Facebook and MySpace sites. It disturbed me to read about the slow pace at which social networking sites were applying available protective measures. Once again, it is important to realize that these companies are trying to make a profit and it costs money to add these protections. We should all remember this every time we use the web.
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