Digital Ethics?

So today I have been thinking a lot about the topic of Digital Ethics. Now we live in a technological world the way that we communicate has also change significantly.

As an undergraduate I attended UOIT. I completed my B.Com (Hons) degree in E-Marketing and Information Technology. During that time period I had the opportunity to work for an amazing professor. This professor specialized in "mobile network securities" essentially privacy technology. He had received a significant grant from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to re-write the PIPEDA (Privacy Information Personal Electronic Document Act) Legislation that would eventually pass before congress. As a research assistant I was exposed to so many amazing opportunities to learn about Digital Ethics and the critical role that privacy plays in protecting our rights and wellbeing as Canadian Citizens.

I bring up this experience because, even in the 2.5 years since I have graduated from my Undergraduate, so much has changed. The issue surrounding digital ethics continues to become more complex. Every time a new technology is created to make our life easier 10 new unanswered questions are created as a result. Also, every time a new technology is not created and an industry fails to keep up with the pace of society new problems also emerge.

I have been thinking about Shuttering the Internet, and what this means for technology and digital freedoms.

This issue is explored in more detail in this podcast (http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2011/02/spark-137-february-6-9-2011/) from CBC's Spark, a show dedicated to the intersection between technology and culture.

THE INTERNET KILL SWITCH

No, this is not a big red button or a giant hand crank lever. The idea is that the American Government has proposed a bill that would (If the situation called for it) Immobilize the internet.

This article: Does Obama Really Have an Internet Kill Switch? Explains the Issue better http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/032811-does-obama-really-have-an.html

You may recall the uproar just this past January when the Government of Egypt utilized a similar mechanism and effectively shut down every internet provider in the country. This essential disrupted all incoming and outgoing messages. Now Libya has followed the trend and is facing complete internet blackout. http://www.itp.net/584069-libya-in-full-internet-blackout

This Article explains more about what rights and under what circumstances the Government could utilize this technology. http://www.technologyreview.com/web/32451/?p1=A1&a=f

China is a massive country however, when it comes to internet they only thing in China bigger than the Great Wall, is the Great Firewall. On a regular basis China audits and limits the type of information (Incoming and outgoing) that there citizens can be exposed to. http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/China+plugging+holes+Great+Firewall/4482807/story.html

So I have done some research and looked into why would the Government even want this sort of Technology?



WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR OUR CLASSROOM?

First, this indicates just how much social media is embedded into our culture. Teachers need to be aware of just the sort of percieed influence that this sort of technology has over the current generation. If the Government feels so "threatened" by the power of digital technology then perhaps in the classroom we should be paying more attention?

LITERACY

http://blogs.hbr.org/now-new-next/2008/10/the-importance-of-social-media.html In this Article Howard Reigngold an Award Winning Knowledge Networker writes at lengths in 2008 about how teachers can start to use online Social Media in the Classroom as a way of reaching our students.

Personally I feel as if Social Media is a critical component of overall literacy for our generation. All of the reasons that the government wants control of the internet, are the reasons we need to stop and take this digital technology seriously.