Don’t you love how we tell kids to do things (or not do them) and then undermine the whole concept with our own actions and decision?
Over the last week I’ve gone over the concept of Internet Safety with three classes. Â A key concept in the lessons is “Don’t give out your personal details to anyone”. That is, don’t go publishing your name, address, school and photo on your Bebo page then opening it up to the world.
That’s sensible enough.
I was talking to another teacher (I say “another” as if I’m qualified… roll on summer 2011!) who had the following thrust at him as a question:
“Well, sir, in that case what happens if I lose my school bus pass? It’s got my name, photo and address on it and it’s got the school name printed across the top.”
Of course, he thought this was silly. There’s no way it would have all of those details on.
Actually. Yes. Yes, it does. He looked and was struck dumb. The obvious answer is “well, don’t lose your bus pass” but these things happen. They go walkies, they get dropped, they get stolen along with the bag they’re inside.
And then someone has their hands on this young girl’s school and home addresses.
Does anyone else think this is madness? It’s a school bus pass for a bus that runs from a locale to the school direct, not a public bus. As long as the pupil has a pass, their address is immaterial. It needs a photo to show that the carrier is the one entitled to the bus trip. That, I accept. Even having the name on isn’t the end of the world. The name of the school makes a bit of sense, but why would they be on the wrong bus? If they were colour-coded or had some other identifying feature even that wouldn’t be necessary.
But home address? If the pass is lost, the student applies for another. If it’s got the school name on it then the finder can return it there – the school would be able to find the pupil.
So while we’re telling them not to publish their details somewhere public, the school is handing them a piece of card that they have every chance of dropping with just that information on. Not as bad as shoving a poster up, but depending on who finds it every bit as worrying.
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Ah… but there’s paper and then there’s the Internet. Everyone knows that the Internet is where the real scary stuff happens – not in the real world of paper.
Have I complained about the newspaper report to you chaps yet? Free newspaper had big headline that tore into a janitor who also ran the primary school football team. He was being pilloried for creating a website that featured team photos and photos of the boys playing: here’s Jimmy scoring a goal; here’s the winning team etc. However, on the same front page was a large picture of two girls who had won a competition. Their names, ages, and name of the local primary school they attended were all prominently displayed… but that was OK because it was in a local paper and not the evil Internet. Bah!
As you say, David, that’s the evil of the internet for you. People still work on the assumption that’s guilty until proven innocent. After all, newspapers are fine and hunky dory, never doing any wrong.
Except for that slight breach of privacy by the Scottish Mail on Sunday regarding the kids from Dunblane. Oh, and the Guardian journalist’s recent piece on Stephen Gately dying partly due to the fact he was gay. Ah, yes, and The Sun’s utterly fictitious account of Liverpool fans’ actions at Hillsborough. And…