PERSONAL PRIVACY
PERSONAL PRIVACY
Before you read on,. stop and think for a moment about privacy and the internet. Does this topic even concern you? Why should anyone worry about privacy issues? Why should educators be concerned?
First, let's begin with you. You write an occasional e-mail to Uncle Joe. You aren't making million dollar trades online or discussing corporate secrets, so why care? As an educator why does it matter if you are informed about issues of personal privacy? We believe that the better informed you are about your own personal privacy issues, the better you will be able to protect the privacy of your students. The more informed you can become on this topic, the better you will be able to instruct your students. The use of technology in the classroom is here to stay and it is growing.
In the area of personal privacy there is a large amount of information stored on computers. Consider the following: medical records, insurance records, pharmacy records, arrest records, employment records, bank and credit records, social security records, government data banks, tax records, school records, phone records, video rental records, cable tv records, and mailing lists. The above list is not all inclusive. It is a good starting point to think about what types of information may be stored on you. Not all personal information is easily accessible, but some is. How much information do you want others to have access to? How much protection should be given to records that are stored online?
Medical records should be confidential. In an article for The Washington Post Magazine http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/national/longterm/exposed/exposed1.htm author Arthur Allen points out that in the digital age medical privacy is a tradition under assault.
The March/April 1999 issue of Consumers Digest has an excellent article on the privacy of your medical records. The article by John F. Wasik is titled Protecting Your Medical Privacy . The article claims that employers can gain information about your medical records with ease. Mr. Wasik gives the following statistics:
The article discusses the damage that the release of medical information has caused for some individuals. The previously mentioned article Exposed from The Washington Post Magazine by Arthur Allen also cites examples of harm done to individuals by the release of medical information.
I Love The Internet But I Want My Privacy Too! by Chris Peterson points out a need for heightened security on medical databases. He recou nts the story of a worker in Florida's public health system who downloaded onto a disk 4,000 names of individuals who listed HIV positive. The worker copied the disk and mailed it to all the major newspapers in Florida (pg. 86).
Access to medical information appears to be much too relaxed. Legislation seems to be a step behind technology. Some information is released because laws are too lax or non-existent. Other information is released unintentionally through carelessness or intentionally through malicious intent.
Should you have an interest in the issue of privacy and medical records an excellent site to visit is The Electronic Privacy Information Center - Medical Record Privacy. You can reach it at http://www.epic.org/privacy/medical/ This will get you started on the information available concerning medical records. The site has numerous links.
The issue of privacy concerns for medical information directly ties in with the issue of privacy rights in regards to pharmaceutical and insurance records. Most of you use insurance to pay medical and pharmaceutical bills. Think about how many times you have signed a consent to release your medical information so that insurance claims can be processed.
The March/April 1999 Consumers Digest article by John F. Wasik titled Protecting Your Medical Privacy explains the MIB. The Medical Information Bureau (MIB) is a national database of health records maintained by health/life insurers to disclose medical records to other insurance companies and insurance support organizations. It was formed in 1902 to reduce fraud and make it difficult for policy applicants to conceal medical information. The MIB is not open to public inspection or direct government regulations. The Federal Trade Commission looked into the MIB in 1983 and reached an agreement with them to improve disclosure.
The MIB has a 600 insurance company membership. The MIB has 210 codes for various medical conditions and "five very limited codes for reporting nonmedical information that might affect insurability".
If you would like to see if the MIB has a file on you, you may request one for $8. To obtain an MIB report application you can go to www.mib.com or write to the MIB at P.O. Box 105, Essex Station, Boston, MA 02112, or call 617-426-3660 (pg. 63).
Stopping insurance fraud and reducing insurance rates is a wonderful thought. It would appear that the MIB would be a good idea. The concerns would be who sees your records, how many hands do your records go through, and what if there are errors on your records. Were you even aware that a bureau like this existed? We weren't.
Technology offers so many benefits to us. It is wonderful that a doctor can pull up your health records in a matter of minutes. Doctors can consult on surgeries from thousands of miles away. Prescriptions can quickly be cross referenced to alert us to dangers. We are part of the society that is use to the "right here - right now" mind set.
For as long as many of us can remember we have been able to drive right through a restaurant and get our supper in a matter of minutes. Loans don't take weeks, only a day or less. We are accustomed to getting the information that we want when we want it. We move at a fast past. Most of us have no patience for waiting, but we pay a price for the speed of our services.
Technology has helped speed our access to records and other information. We are slowly catching up with legislation to protect our rights to privacy available via electronic technology. We need to weigh the benefits to the possible misuse. What price do you put on your privacy?
Numerous articles offer suggestions for protecting your privacy. One very interesting site to visit is the Gallatin Group. This site offers a variety of options and things to do to protect yourself on the web. It also gives you information on programs you may purchase to help with this as well. You can reach it through http://www.gallatingroup.com/how/links_privacy.html
In the area of protecting your medical privacy the best advice we found were the suggestions by John F. Wasik in his Consumers Digest article. For complete details the article should be read in its entirety. A summary of the suggestions are:
Hopefully we have peaked your interest in what pharmaceutical, medical, and insurance records might be stored on you. What about other personal information, such as employment records, credit histories and social security records? Have you ever wondered what information would appear on a background check done on you?
The book I Love The Internet But I Want My Privacy Too! by Chris Peterson will guide you step by step in finding out what personal information is available online about you. The book is well written and understandable to the nontechnical person.
Chris Peterson suggests that you start off with a simple people search. Go to a search engine such as Yahoo or Excite. Look for the people search or people find and click there to begin. You simply type in your name and click on search. If you are listed in any phone directory your name, address, and phone number will appear. You can then click on map to see where your home is located. Driving directions to your home are also available to someone wanting to locate you.
This type of information has been available for years at the public library. In fact much of the personal information we discuss has been available for years at libraries and county buildings. We should have been concerned about our rights to personal privacy long before now. What technology has brought us is an ease to search for these records from the privacy of our homes and offices. People can search records with greater ease and anonymity. Electronic access is bringing all our records together in one place - cyberspace.
"For example, the Kansas State Legislature in 1990 created INK. This system http://www.accesskansas.org/about-ink.html has a modest annual subscription fee and contains a wide variety of public records. You can search for motor vehicle and driver records, corporation status, district court records, medical boards, vital records, and much more.
Indiana has placed a limited number of public records and registries on the Internet. Locating state records on abandoned property, land, driver's licenses, vehicle liens, titles, and registrations are as simple as typing in http://www.state.in.us This makes information easily available to the citizens of Indiana - and anyone else. It provides other services, too. A "Sex Offender Registry" comprises information from several sources, chief among them the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. You can search this registry checking for those convicted of:
In the state we are from , Illinois, you can also find a listing of registered sexual offenders online. By typing in http://www.idoc.state.il.us/ you can visit the Illinois Department of Corrections site. You can type in a last name and search to see who with that last name has been an inmate. We selected a last name at random just to see what information would appear. We were able to read the person's date of birth, race, sex, height, weight, hair, eyes, date of admittance, discharge date, and sentencing information.
A recent article (April 6, 1999) appeared in our local paper The State Journal Register - Springfield, Illinois. The article Deadbeats warned: Pay up or be put up by Gordon W. Marsh stated that the Illinois Department of revenue has warned 5,000 delinquent individuals and business that their names will be published on the Internet if they do not pay their tax debts. A state law effective in January allows the publication of this information for taxpayers who have owed the state at least $10,000 for more than six months. Notice will be delivered to taxpayers 60 days before their names are made public. The department will exclude the names of those who are in the process of disputing delinquent taxes judicially or administratively. The list will also exclude those who are paying their debts through an approved plan.
Checking this type of information is very vital for some employers. It would be critical to know if a teacher, child care provider, or school bus driver was a registered sexual offender. It is understandable that employers would want to screen prospective employees. What is of great concern is the accuracy of your records. With the large amount of information that is being stored into databases errors are bound to occur. Many of the articles you will read in the area of privacy concerns will cite horror stories of individuals that have battled for years to clear their names.
Chris Peterson explains reference services
known as look-ups. These services gather a vast amount of information about
you and store it in one place. Most of the look-up services only sell their
information to other commercial or professional companies, but several look-up
services are available directly to individuals. "If you are working in a
company with access to one of these databases, you could sit at your computer
with only a person's name and address and develop a detailed profile. You
could discover the person's prior address, date of birth, and telephone number
(even if the number is unlisted). With slightly more effort and maybe more
money, you can learn the person's occupation, Social Security number, and
financial commitments, including the value of his or her house and the property
taxes paid on it(pgs 22-23)."
Before offering personal information to any website you might want to first
check out the website to see how this particular company or organizations
handles their information. The P3P project is a site which you can
visit to check up on websites and companies to see just whom they share their
information with. P3P may be reached at
http://www.w3.org/P3P/
In I Love The Internet But I Want My Privacy, Too! Chris Peterson takes the reader through the second step of checking a personal privacy profile. Peterson recommends visiting www.knowX.com Some of the information available at this site is free and some is available for a fee. If you do your searching during off hours you may be able to search some areas for free. When you arrive at the knowX site you will be able to read information about price lists and what type of information is available to search for (pgs. 35-36). It may be well worth your time to see what information you can find online about yourself.
One of the most vital components needed in locating information about an individual is his or her Social Security number. Is your Social Security number printed on your checks? How often do you give it out without a second thought? Maybe you should reconsider how easily you offer your number in the future.
In a brief from the ACLU, Workplace Rights - PRIVACY IN AMERICA: Social Security Numbers http://www.aclu.org/library/ibpriv4.html your social security number is described as a virtual pass key to a vast amount of private, and often sensitive, information about you. California's Senator Dianne Feinstein testified that it took her less than three minutes to retrieve her own SSN from the Internet.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) claims that Social Security numbers should be safeguarded. They state that knowing a person's SSN allows access to information such as tax records, credit records, school records, and medical records. The latest information in regards to legislation concerning Social Security numbers can be viewed at http://epic.org/privacy/ssn/
For those of you interested in more information on financial records online we would recommend reading the article Internet Banking Gets Real , by Mike Hogan, published in the February 1999 magazine PC Computing. You may also wish to start your reading by visiting the following sites:
As you will quickly see there is a wealth of information about privacy concerns in each area. We found so much information that we dedicated sections of the paper to speak directly to such topics as e-mail privacy, privacy legislation, and children's rights to privacy on the Internet.
As educators we must consider privacy issues. The Electronic Privacy Information Centers brief Privacy of Education Records by David A. Banisar states that education records are protected by a number of federal and state statutes and regulations. Generally, school records should not be released without the prior permission of the student.
"The Federal Education Records and Privacy Act (FERPA) [2], commonly known as the Buckley Amendment, requires that any school or institution that receives federal funds for education may not release school records or any other personally identifiable information without the prior consent of the student[3], with a few specific exceptions."(Banisar 1994)
It is interesting to note that posting test scores or other personal information, except directory information, that is identifiable by either a student's name or Social Security number is a violation of FERPA. Mr. Banisar recommends that schools should not use Social Security numbers as student identity numbers or place Social Security numbers on student ID cards.
We would recommend that educators read Mr. Banisar's article at http://www.epic.org/privacy/education/school.html Educators need to keep abreast of the laws effecting privacy and students.
Think about technology and the future. Will student records be kept online? How will access to these records be protected? Will parents be given passwords to gain access to grades for their child? Someday will we be sending student records from school to school electronically? Student records are confidential. In our schools they are kept in the office in a locked cabinet. There are strict guidelines to who has access to the records. If records are ever transported through cyberspace what happens if they are sent to the wrong place? How will we safeguard this information?We have a lot to consider as educators in the area of privacy and the Internet.
One of the instructors for this course was Nicholas C. Burbules. Mr. Burbules serves in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign. His article Privacy, Surveillance, and Classroom Communication on the Internet may be viewed at http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/facstaff/burbules/ncb/papers/privacy.html This article will make educators stop and reflect on what privacy we have ever granted to students. Within his article he discusses the use of surveillance in the school setting.
Electronic surveillance is a topic in itself. We could compose an entire paper just on its uses in the school setting. We have become so accustomed to the presence of video cameras that we hardly notice them. They are at most ATM machines, they are in high crime areas, they monitor traffic along our highways, they provide security in banks and stores. Some schools even have surveillance cameras.
We like them. They make us feel safe. But, what about the hidden surveillance cameras? Do we have a right to privacy? Do we have a right to know if we are being monitored? As you read more about privacy issues and begin to explore the links we have provided you will come across sites that recount lawsuits that have been filed due to hidden monitoring.
Electronic surveillance is more than security cameras. Sites are available on the Internet that sell devices with hidden cameras. You can purchase smoke detectors, clocks, radios, and lamps that cleverly hide small cameras. The sites often promote the sale of this merchandise as protection for your children against mistreatment from childcare providers.
Technology has also brought us electronic monitoring. Electronic monitors can be placed on an individual's ankle to monitor his or her whereabouts. The use of monitors has freed up much needed space in correctional facilities. Some educators will have students that are under electronic monoriting.
One of the most fascinating articles on surveillance was from PC Computing the April 1999 issue titled Office Surveillance by Paul Somerson. A Minnesota legal case has brought to light information that will concern many. In a sexual harassment lawsuit the client's attorneys asked Polar executives a routine question about the existence of any recordings that could shed light on the case.
It turned out that almost every computer purchased after March 1996 contains a microphone. The IT departments at Polar and other companies had routinely been using special sound-activated software to record and collect conversations. Polar's attorneys admitted that most IT departments had been running special SCP (Speech Collection Port) software that uses the microphones to bug conversations as a "protective measure." The software can harvest all speech within a five-foot radius of an average PC.
We share this information not to make you paranoid, but to make you aware of privacy concerns. We need to consider how technology impacts on our privacy as individuals and as educators.
As a parent, wouldn't it be nice to log on at work and visit the webcam that is located in your child's classroom? You could check and see what little Missy is doing, but what if little Missy was having a bad day? What if other parents were also online watching the classroom? Would you want everyone to see your child on his or her bad days? What would be the legal ramifications for administrators and teachers? Would it make teachers better or would it just make them feel like they were always being evaluated?
Webcams in the classroom sounds like such a neat idea. Wonderful things are happening in classrooms all over the world. Wouldn't it be a great way to show off our schools? Maybe it would even help with some discipline problems.
But....we have so much to consider before we jump on to something that is new and creative in the area of technology. What rights do students have? Should the students' privacy be protected? Once again we must stop and weigh the positives against the negatives. One section of our paper is dedicated to children's privacy issues and ways that children can be protected.