Acceptable Use Policy - Privacy Issues

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A privacy policy should address multiple issues of concerns. How  student/staff personal emails and files will be treated. How staff will handle personal and confidential student information in emails and web pages. How students will handle personal information. Why protecting personal privacy information is a safety issue. How your personal information can be compromised by commercial Internet activities.

• Personal emails and files
  • These files are not guaranteed to be private.
    • System administrators need access to all areas of the network.
    • Parents/guardians will have access to all their children's emails and files.
    • Staff are employees and their emails and files may be monitored by employee policies.
    • Emails sent over the Internet can be intercepted by government agencies, hackers and system administrators at each network the email was routed through.
    • All file storage areas will be treated as school lockers.
    • Email messages can bounce. A bounce is an email message that was returned to the sender because the email address was incorrect, the receiver's email box was full, the receiver no longer is using the email address, the receiver's mail server was down or some other network problem on the receiver's end. This bounced message is also sent to the postmaster (usually the system manager) of the receiver's mail server.
       
• Personal and confidential student information
  • Staff will not include confidential student information in emails.
  • The school needs to set up guidelines for publishing student work on the web.
    • Use only students first names.
    • Pictures should not include personal information.
    • Students address, phone numbers and email address will not be used. 
    • Student pages will use the appropriate teachers email address as a contact point.
    • Parents/guardians may allow identifying information by signing a release form.
       
• Students personal contact information
  • Students will not disclose their personal contact information without the school's or parental permission.
    • Personal contact information includes 
      • students full name
      • home address
      • phone number
      • parent/guardian names
      • Any information that would indicate a students location at a certain time. 
  • Students will not disclose the personal information of others.
     
• Why protecting privacy information is a safety issue.
  • It is easy for someone to misrepresent themselves.
    • There is no way of determining the age of a person online. 
  • Everything you read online may not be true.
  • Some safety rules should be
    • Don't meet with anyone you meet online without adult supervision.
    • Don't open emails, files or click on web links in emails from people you don't know or you don't trust.
      • The links could be to inappropriate web sites
    • Don't respond to email messages that are of a sexual nature, harassing, threatening, or make you feel uncomfortable. Immediately report these to your teacher or parent/guardian. 
    • Don't give out your password to anyone but your parents or guardian. 
      • Passwords should be changed frequently.
        • Use numbers and both uppercase and lowercase letters in your passwords. This makes it more difficult for someone to guess your password.
    • Don't give out personal information about yourself, your family or others without getting appropriate permission.
  • Online Safety Resources
    • National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's or their CyberTipline at 1-800-843-5678
    • Child Safety on the Information Highway by Lawrence J. Magid
    • How to Protect Kids' Privacy Online - A Guide for Teachers by the Federal Trade Commision.
    • Kids and the Internet - Tips for Kids published by the Office of Attorney General of Washington State.
       
    (End of Online Safety Resources Links)
     
• Personal information can be compromised by commercial Internet activities.
  • HTML Email
    • Advertisers include web bots in HTML emails that track if their email was opened and allow them to leave a cookie on your machine.
  • Web Bots
    • Web bots are advertising tracking tools.

In addition to student and staff privacy issues there is one more concern schools need to address. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 requires web sites that collect information from children under 13, or if you operate a general audience Web site and have actual knowledge that you are collecting personal information from children to, have a privacy policy web page. Schools should have a privacy policy page explaining what information they collect from visitors and how it is being used.

Next Section - Acceptable Use Policy - Acceptable Uses