I thought this was a very relevant conversation topic that hits close to home! This is an article from the U of T paper that references an open letter written by post-doctoral fellow, Christopher Parsons, that calls out Canadian phone and internet service providers to disclose the extent of consumer information they hand over to the law enforcement/intelligence agencies. This push towards transparency is exactly what we discussed in class last week, and in our first discussion at the beginning of the semester. It will be interesting to see to what degree phone and internet service providers respond. The article also mentions how U of T's online class organization service, Blackboard Portal, gives professors the ability to monitor student engagement with the materials posted online. It makes you wonder if professors have the same ability through Moodle!
http://thevarsity.ca/2014/02/10/u-of-t-steps-into-internet-privacy-conversation/
Should professors be able to monitor student engagement with the materials? :) Is a course bulletin board a forum in which one has a reasonable expectation of privacy? Does using a closed system like Moodle (versus an open system like this blog) make a difference?
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, Chris did his PhD under Colin Bennett of UVic, who is one of the few academics who studies privacy from a political science perspective. I strongly recommend picking up one of Colin's books from the library, if you are interested in policy issues concerning privacy regulation.
Thanks for the post!