Thursday, December 13, 2007
Journal 6 Iste 's Dec/Jan 2007-2008 The ABCs of Privacy Practices for Educators by Dark, McPherson, & Troutner
Iste 's Dec/Jan 2007-2008 The ABCs of Privacy Practices for Educators by Dark, McPherson, & Troutner bring up important issues when computers, and PDA's are compromised or stolen . Violating private information laws have many school districts looking at how they handle student confidential information. Simple guidelines in choosing a password can be a simple way to protect information but many people just don't use them. Here are a few easy to remember guidelines when selecting a password. Select a password with more than eight characters, combine letters numbers and symbols (@#%$) and avoid using your name or spouse's name or your birthday, or words in the dictionary. In addition, passwords can be created in both Word and Exel files further protecting the information if your or compromised. To create a password on Word or Excel click on Save As, Tools, General Options or Security Options, Enter a password in the box next to password open or advanced button for encryption, Enter paswword in the box next to password to modify if it is OK for others to open the file and make changes, Click OK, Type a name and location for you file, Click Save and you are done. This would be especially useful for teachers who have important student confidential information residing on their computers. Recently our school was buglarized andcomputer or PDS is stolen all the computers throughout the school were taken. Our special education teacher was especially concerned about all the confidential data that was on his computer. Theft happens and it is important to be prepared, but hope that it never does.
Question 1 - Where does a school start in protecting it's information? Schools should start by first identifying the information that is confidential. A good website to visit is the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security at Purdue University http://www.cerias.purdue.edu/education/k-12/securing_k12/.
Question 2 - What laws should schools be worried about with student confidential information? Schools need to compile with laws such as Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA, 1974) and the Child Online Protection Act (COPA, 1998).
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