Data retention

In a society, everyone wants to feel safe. If you don’t feel safe an important part is missing in your life. The police interest is to keep us safe from terrorists and others who do bad things. But where should the line for how much the authorities ought to know about common people be? And what if people with wrong interests can use this information against us?

The 4^th of April 2011 the data retention directive was passed in the parliament of Norway. It is supposed to be set in action 1^st of July 2012, but it has already been delayed once. This directive says that that further more information can be stored in the future, than what become stored today. It includes also the length of storage. Data will be stored from 6 to 24 months with the directive. It is information like who use the device and its address and phone number. The IP-address and what kind of application will also be stored and much more. There are huge disagreements on how much data and how long it can be saved. Some think the retention is against the constitution and want to take it to the court. Some countries have still turned down the directive.

Is this just the first step on our way to a surveillance society, like the movie “Enemy of the state”? This movie is about whether USA should have a law who give them access to monitor everybody or not. If we say yes to the data retention directive, are there more to come? The book “Nineteen eighty-four” by George Orwell from 1949, is a political and social science fiction novel. George wrote about how the society could become if we got monitored twenty-four-seven. This book is often referred to about surveillance society and how bad it can be.

On the other hand maybe we need a better control of information. If we think about what happened on the 22^nd of July 2011 in Norway, I can clearly see that the police could need better monitoring possibilities. The Norwegian Police Security Service also wants papers to store data from debate forums. It was on different debate forums the terrorist expressed his opinions. Maybe we need a better control? They have had some of the same issue in Germany.

Concerns of the data retention directive in Germany.

Data retention is probably such a hard case because; we don’t know when these data can be used against us. A European group has a list of 22 complaints against Facebook. It is about things people delete, still will be stored by Facebook. I share this uncertainty.  

What it all comes down to is what is most important; personal privacy or criminal investigation. I think we need some data retention. But if wrong people get the data it can be manipulated to what they want.  Data can and will be stored in the future too. It is more important than ever to be aware of what we post and what we do on the web.

Why teach our pupils about intellectual property?

Today, on the 26^th of April, is the World Intellectual Property Day. It fits well since my post today is about Intellectual property (IP). IP is about the rights for example artists have for their work like music. Read more about it here. In school most of this is illegal to use in any way for free.

One of the first things pupils learn when they write texts on a computer, is to use the “copy and paste” function.  When they learn to add a picture too, many have already done something illegal. This is because all pictures, music and videos are made by someone and have a copyright. And if not anything else is told; only the maker has all the rights to his work. But there is a way you can do it right, and you ought to teach your pupils that way. It’s called “Creative Commons”.  Creative commons is a webpage where you can search for pictures, music and videos you’re allowed to use.

If you have a picture you want to share on a web page, why not tell everyone who own the picture? By answering some easy questions, you have given your picture a creative commons license. You may decide if others are allowed to use your photo and earn money for it. You can also choose if they are allowed to edit your picture and use it in its new way.

I think it is one of our jobs as teachers, to teach young pupils to respect intellectual property. We can start to tell them that it is a crime, even if many people use others pictures etc. It might be explained by showing the picture of a rare phenomenon or a very good shoot. Then you could ask them if it’s allowed to make a copy of this picture and sell it. I believe they will answer “no”! You can make the same point by showing them a video and listen to a cd. I believe every one agree this is a crime. And what if someone sell this picture (and) more for a living, and you give away their work for free, is that okay? You may also show them a video about creative commons for kids. This ought to show your pupils what it’s all about. For children it’s nice to have a video in your own language, if that’s not English. I’ve found one in Norwegian, and I’m sure you’ll find one in your own language.

A video about Creative Commons, for kids.

It is also wise to have a link to Creative Commons from your schools homepage or/and on your LMS. Then it’s much easier for pupils to remember to use it. If they for example have forgotten the name of the page, a link may help them from using an illegal photo instead.

My conclusion is; we ought to teach our pupils about IP because it’s the right thing to do. Too many pupils have learnt to use illegal pictures, videos and music in their work. I’d say: let’s end that now. If those teachers who know about IP don’t teach pupils about it, who will?

How can a teacher avoid pupils to play violent video games at home?

Video games are used by “children” in all ages all over the world. There are lots of game types in different platforms.  Some games are meant for young kids, some for older kids and some for people over the age of 18. It is this type of videogames with the 18 years age limit I’m going to explain about.

There is one common thing most of these games contain, that is violence. Games like “Assassin’s creed”, “World of Warcraft”, “Battlefield” and “Call of Duty” are all games you can shoot other people. You can also fight with all sorts of guns, knives, axes, chain saw or your fists. You can see the details very closely and realistic, like you can hear people scream as they die.  Some games has a this age limit because of drug abuse or sexual content. Some games contain all these things. One of the best examples here is “Grand theft auto”; it has an age limit of 18. You are able to play in different modes like car races and different kind of missions. The worst thing about this game is however “the walk around” mode. Here you are able to walk around and kill people just for fun. There are almost no limits for who you can kill, except children. Old ladies as well as random bystanders might be a target. Watch the video and see for yourself.

Caution. This video shows in a very violent way, how GTA can be.

I’m sure it affects people in one way or another, to walk around and shoot people down without any purpose. That does scientists too (Have an extra look at the conclusion at the bottom of the link). I believe this especially affects kids’ way under the age limit. My experience is that many pupils down to 10 years are familiar with this game. The age limits are set by a reason and here is the main issue: how can a teacher avoid pupils to play violent video games at home? The most important thing is to talk about it both with the pupils and the parents. For you as a teacher it is necessary to have a minimum of knowledge about these kinds of games.  As a teacher you will often hear pupils talk about games they play. As soon you hear this it may be wise to talk about it generally to the entire class. It is also wise to either talk to the pupil’s parents or as a generally case on the next parents meeting. The second is maybe the best, since if one pupil has tried one video game the others soon will follow. Hopefully parents won’t buy these kinds of games for their kids either.

If one kid’s parents have said no to a game, kids often play the game at someone else’s boy’s room. Or they have maybe an older brother who play the game and start that way. Pupils are very interested in telling what other pupils are allowed to, so a parents meeting is a nice platform to bust some claims about others.

I think it’s also important for parents to take part in their children’s video gaming. Most parents won’t let their child watch a film with a higher age limit just like that. Parents watch films with their children, so why not find a video game that interest both the parents and the children and play it together. Then they have a common platform, and it will be easier for parents to engage themselves when high age limit games pop up.

What do kids learn from social networking, and should they wait to the age of 13?

In my job as a teacher from first to seventh grade (6 to 13 years) it’s often discussed: in what age kids should be supposed to use social network. This is because the age they’re allowed to use for example Facebook is at 13. There are many problems with for example hazing that are written about by many before. My experience is that many pupils don’t follow the limit of age which is set by a site. We could look away and say these pupils don’t follow the rules, but then the pupils might learn a lesson the hard way. There are also many kids who use other social network with lower age limit. Therefore I’m going to have a look at the positive effects of social networking on kid’s premises, and how to encourage pupils to safe network communication.

When kids use a social network, they learn much related to digital competence at an early stage. Grownups which start networking at a high age, often know less about what kind of information it’s wise to post. In my school the pupils teach some of the first years how to use a learning management system (LMS). They meet the first type of networking by using the debate forum. There they get a feeling with how their posts work with other pupils. The pupils also get familiar with how “stuff works”. It’s well known that young people learn faster than grownups. Using a social network is self-motivating for kids. Because they think it’s fun, so they use much time on the network.  By using much time they also get lots of other knowledge. They can for example learn how to link or embed a YouTube video at a network site. This kind of knowledge and much more, pupils get from using social network.

Social networking can also help kids who is insecure, to make contact with others. This way it may help them in social relationships. This mustn’t however be instead of ordinary social contact, but in addition to. Then it may help some building friendship, like grownups finds love on dating sites on internet.

Kids should learn at an early age how cyberbullying affects those who get bullied and those who bully. This is because it’s better to work preventive than learning the hard way. Cyberbullying is maybe the worst form of hazing, because written words on a social network meet you every time you’re logged in. Cyberbullying can follow you your entire life. It can also be shown to the whole world, instead of the whole schoolyard. Therefore is it very important for teachers and parents to teach kids network etiquette.

There will always be kids who starts early with social networking, we can’t prevent that. Instead of let them try and fail, I think it might be to wise help all pupils to learn how to behave in these networks at an early stage. By this I mean 1^st or 2^nd graders to start using a debate forum at a closed LMS, and then other lessons later.

A video about the positive impacts of social networking.