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?