Welcome to the deep dive. Today, we're getting
into something really critical in the digital
age. The professional contract basically, how
it changes. Yeah, when everything runs on networks
and devices, right? What is being responsible
actually? look like. Exactly. So we're diving
into the framework for ethical, legal, and responsible
computing. They call it ELR. And we're specifically
drawing on Gary Ackerman's work over at hackscience
.education. And it's a solid framework because
it really targets the professional user. It has
a strong focus on educators, sure. But honestly,
these ideas apply pretty broadly to anyone handling
tech resources and sensitive info. And we absolutely
have to start with the stakes here. Because one
of the biggest things from these sources, it's
a stark legal point, really. When a professional,
say an educator, violates professional standards,
or worse, the actual law, the school, the organization,
they have zero legal obligation to protect that
person. You could be found personally liable,
full stop. That really hammers home that this
isn't just like, Good advice. It's your personal
standard of care, legally speaking. Absolutely.
And that totally flips the script, doesn't it?
You're not just following rules because HR put
out a memo. Right. You're doing it to protect
yourself fundamentally. And also, you know, the
mission of the place you work for, that threat
of personal liability, that's what gives these
duties real teeth. OK, so let's unpack this framework
then. The source breaks it down into six core
duties, and the first three are all about protection.
Protecting systems. data, and intellectual property.
Let's start with the system itself. Seems basic,
but. Well, yeah. Basic, but complex. Partaking
the system isn't just putting a password on your
laptop. It's about governance. Governance. Yeah.
Keeping the technology safe from threats, both
inside and out. That means things like preventing
unauthorized configuration changes, thinking
about insider threats, and dealing with shadow
IT. Ah, shadow IT. That's when people bring in
their own apps or devices onto the network without
approval. Exactly. So system protection is about
maintaining the integrity and security of the
whole shared system, not just your little corner
of it. If you skip security updates or install
something that creates a vulnerability, well,
that's a failure on your part. Gotcha. It's about
the professional's duty to the shared infrastructure,
which, okay, leads naturally to the next thing.
protecting what's on that infrastructure, the
data, precisely. If step one is the hardware
and network, step two is the information itself.
And the source makes a really important distinction
here. Which is? You have to protect data against
damage or destruction that's purposeful, obviously,
but also against damage or destruction that is
inadvertent. Inadvertent. OK, that word jumps
out. Why the emphasis there? Well, because that's
often where the biggest risks lie, especially
with things like PII, personally identifiable
information and compliance rules like GDPR. Hmm.
Your intent doesn't really matter if you accidentally
cause a data breach or lose critical records.
Inadvertent could be anything from, you know,
bad data lifecycle management for getting backups
or just, oops, delete in the wrong folder. No
malice needed. Huh. But how do you even defend
yourself if someone says you lost data inadvertently?
It sounds like you're judged just on the outcome.
Well, yes and no. It forces you to show you did
your job properly. You need to demonstrate due
diligence. So documentation. documentation, following
procedures, showing you have the right training,
keeping records. The question becomes, did you
act reasonably? Did you take the proper precautions?
It demands a level of care that's maybe, well,
maybe more than people are used to. That makes
sense. Like if you were sloppy with sensitive
student files, even if you didn't mean for them
to get out, the failure is still on you. OK,
and that flows right into the third protection
pillar, intellectual property. Ah, yes, IP. This
is really the legal bedrock of using digital
stuff professionally. And it's way beyond just
not pirating software. It means really understanding
and sticking to software licenses. Is it proprietary?
What are the rules? Is it open source? What are
those obligations? Creative Commons, each has
specific conditions. And those conditions can
get really tricky, especially in schools, right?
Right. Using a single user license for a whole
lab or photocopying chapters from a digital textbook
without permission. Exactly. And doing that directly
exposes you, the professional, to legal trouble.
It doesn't matter if your department head said,
just make it work, save some money. Wow. If there's
an audit or a lawsuit, the fact that someone
told you to do it... Legally, that's often irrelevant.
The liability snaps right back to the person
who actually violated the copyright or license.
Okay, so those first three duties, protect system,
protect data, protect IP, they're heavily focused
on the individual's legal responsibility. Almost
like self -preservation in a way. Yeah, you could
see it like that. Legal and physical protection.
But ELR computing, according to this source,
it's more than just covering your bases legally.
It's also about how you interact within your
community, how you teach. Right. This is where
it shifts quite profoundly, I think, from just
protecting assets to actively building a responsible
community. Which brings us nicely to duty number
four, share common resources. Now, on the surface,
this sounds like, you know, don't be a jerk.
Let other people use the printer. Why is this
elevated to a core duty? Because it's not just
about politeness. It's about keeping the whole
operation running smoothly. Think about shared
resources, maybe specialized software, network
bandwidth, even physical devices like 3D printers
or projectors. They're finite. If one person
uses them wastefully or selfishly or even breaks
them through misuse, it directly harms everyone
else who relies on that resource. It hinders
the team or the class or the whole school's mission.
Ah, I see. So hogging the high speed color printer
for a massive rough draft isn't just annoying.
Right. It's arguably an ethical lapse because
you're depleting a shared asset inefficiently,
potentially blocking someone else who really
needs it. Precisely. And acting like that directly
undermines the next duty, which is maybe the
most crucial one for educators, but really for
any leader. Duty number five, model responsible
use. The source puts it so simply and powerfully,
our students will do as we do. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Modeling is everything. Because students or junior
colleagues or whoever you influence, they watch
and they copy, often without even thinking about
it. If you cut corners on licenses, if you're
careless with pathways, if you waste resources,
you're implicitly teaching that behavior. You're
setting the standard. So modeling isn't just
about reciting rules. It's about living the professional
ethic you want others to adopt. It builds that
culture of governance we talked about earlier.
OK. So modeling sets the behavioral standard.
Yeah. The final duty, number six, seems to define
the core ethical obligation regarding who gets
to participate. This is ensure equitable access.
And this is where the source uses that really
strong word. It does. Duty six, ensuring equitable
access for all students to use computers. This
is where the author argues that educators using
computers just for enrichment or as a reward,
they're guilty of malpractice. Malpractice, wow.
That's a heavy charge. Let's dig into that. Why
is using tech as a reward considered malpractice?
What's the reasoning? It goes back to what technology
is today. Digital literacy, being comfortable
with these tools, it's not an extra anymore.
It's fundamental. Like reading or writing. Pretty
much. It's a basic requirement for participating
in society in the economy. So if you treat computer
access as a prize for good behavior or only for
the advanced students, you risk making the digital
divide even wider. You're essentially giving
vital preparation mainly to kids who might already
have advantages while potentially shutting out
the students who need that tech rich education
the most to catch up or get ahead. So it shifts
technology from being a standard tool like, I
don't know, like textbooks or lab equipment that
everyone gets. to being a conditional privilege.
And if the students who are maybe struggling,
who aren't hitting certain benchmarks, never
earn that computer time, wow, the professional
is actually failing in their duty to prepare
all of them. That's the argument. If you connect
all these dots, this principle demands integrating
technology meaningfully into the core curriculum
for every student, regardless of where they're
starting from. It really elevates the whole conversation
beyond just following rules into active social
responsibility. Okay, wow. That was quite the
deep dive into those six duties. So just to quickly
recap, we had protect the system, protect the
data, and protect intellectual property, the
sort of legal and security foundations. The individual
liability pieces. Right. And then the community
ethics side. Share common resources, model responsible
use in that really powerful one. Ensure equitable
access. And you know, even if you listening aren't
an educator, these principles, they still land.
Protecting IP, modeling good digital conduct,
sharing resources fairly, understanding data
responsibility. That applies in pretty much any
professional setting today. Your reputation,
maybe even your job, could hinge on getting this
stuff right. Yeah. It really brings it back to
that core idea from the source. It's not just
about the company policy. It's about your personal
compliance with ethics and the law. Absolutely.
That personal liability piece is key. So here's
something to chew on. How does your own sense
of responsibility shift when you realize that,
at the end of the day, it's your adherence to
the law, not just the organization's policy,
that protects you? When you understand that the
company or school might not have your back legally
if you mess up, what steps do you need to take,
maybe even starting today, to make sure you're
not just compliant, but genuinely acting ethically
and responsibly online? Something to think about
next time you log in.