Children, Technology, Problems, and Preferences
Barry A. Farber, Gavin Shafron, Jaleh Hamadani, Emily Wald, and
George Nitzburg
Teachers College, Columbia University
Increasingly, young people are using various forms of technology in the service of communicating
with others, and many have noted the possibility of various dire consequences of this phenomenon,
including sexting, cyberbullying, online harassment, and Internet addiction. In our own survey of over
300 adolescents, we found that texting and face-to-face communication were considered the most
“convenient” forms of communication, while face-to-face communication and phone conversations
were perceived as most likely to lead to “feeling understood” and “feeling intimate.” Face-to-face
communication and texting were perceived as most likely to result in feeling regret for sharing too
much information. By choosing to communicate through technology, many young people, including our
patients, can continue to be social and, at the same time, keep a somewhat safer emotional distance.
C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Clin. Psychol: In Session 68:1225–1229, 2012.
Keywords: children; technology; communication; disclosure; Facebook
Listen boy, it’s not automatically a guarantee;
To insure yourself, you’ve got to provide communication constantly.
Billy Joel, Tell Her About It
When I was in college, I wouldn’t “text” a girl to ask her out on a date. I would
ask her, in person. One human being to another. And when she said “no,” which
she always did, I would suffer the humiliation and self-loathing that a young man
needs for his, or her, personal growth.
Steve Carell, actor/comedian, commencement speech, Princeton University, 2012
Increasingly, young people are using various forms of technology in the service of communicating with others. Cell phones (used for talking and texting), e-mail (including instant
messaging), blogging (e.g., Tumblr and Twitter), and social networking via Internet sites such
as Facebook, MySpace, and Google+ (Google Plus) can all be used to share information with
others and may at times be preferred to face-to-face talking. A report conducted by the Pew
Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project in 2011 found that 80% of teenage Internet
users between 12 and 17 years of age utilize a social networking site, and that 93% of these
users had a Facebook account. According to a media poll conducted in 2009, more than 50%
of adolescents log onto their favorite social media site more than once a day, and 22% log on to
that site more than 10 times a day. There are myriad changes in communicative patterns wrought
by contemporary technology–the Internet, for example, has been said to redefine the process
of self-disclosure (Lehavot, cited in Mills, 2008)–and psychologists and other social scientists
are just beginning to understand the consequences of these changes for child and adolescent
development, socialization patterns, dating, psychopathology, and the utilization and process of
psychotherapy.
Many commentators and pundits have written about the supposed dire consequences of social media upon the youth of this generation. Among the phrases used in both the popular
and professional press in recent years: “kids lost in cyberspace,” “the antisocial effects of social
Please address correspondence to: Barry A. Farber, Box 102, Program in Clinical Psychology, Teachers
College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. E-mail: farber@tc.edu
C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: IN SESSION, Vol. 68(11), 1225–1229 (2012)
Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jclp). DOI: 10.1002/jclp.21922
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Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, November 2012
media,” “the flight from conversation,” and “Facebook depression.” “Problematic Internet use”
(PIU; Caplan, 2003), like “social media syndrome” (O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011; Sloviter,
2011), is said to beset those whose excessive use of online technology results in negative offline
consequences. Indeed, a report by the American Pediatric Association directly implicates social
networking sites such as Facebook and not the common “storm-and-stress” of adolescence as
being responsible for some of the more pronounced clinical symptoms seen by clinical professionals today (O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011; Sloviter, 2011). Depression, sleep deprivation,
social anxiety, aggression, Internet addiction, social isolation, and susceptibility to the influence
of online advertising have all been noted as potential consequences of adolescent social media
usage (Leung, 2002; Valkenburg & Peter, 2007). In addition, clinicians, parents, and other helping professionals (including teachers) have voiced serious concern over the adverse effects of
sexting, online sexual solicitation, and online harassment, and yet another concern focuses on
the phenomenon of sharing too much personal information through, for example, the use of
Facebook’s chat feature, a form of instant messaging (IM).
The papers in this issue have, for the most part, focused on the consequences of cyberbullying,
sexting, and so-called Internet addiction. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics,
cyberbullying—the “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell
phones, and other electronic devices”–is the most common online risk for all teens and can
cause severe psychosocial outcomes such as depression, suicide, anxiety, and severe isolation.
Patchin and Hinduja (2010) found that students who experienced cyberbullying, as either victim
or offender, had significantly lower self-esteem than those with little or no experience with
cyberbullying. The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project in 2011 found that
9% of teens between the 12 and 17 years of age have been victims of bullying through text
messaging, and that an additional 8% have encountered online bullying through email, a social
network site, or IM.
In addition, as texting has become a centerpiece in the communication of many young people,
the role of cell phones in the sexual explorations of teens and young adults has become a concern
to many. Sexting–defined as creating, sharing, and forwarding of sexually suggestive nude or
nearly nude images–has become a prevalent phenomenon in the culture of today’s adolescents.
A nationally representative telephone survey conducted by the Pew research team in 2009 found
that 4% of 12–17-year-olds (and 8% of 17-year-olds) who owned cell phones had sent a sexually
suggestive nude or nearly nude image of themselves to another person. In addition, 18% of 14–
17-year-olds had received a sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude photo or video of someone
they knew on their phones (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2009).
A 2009 study by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy suggests
even higher rates when including other forms of social media: 19% of teens aged 13–19 years
had sent a sexually suggestive picture or video of themselves via email or cell phone or by
another mode, and 31% had received either nude or seminude images of someone else. These
rates become more concerning as we take into consideration the rapidity by which the rate of
teenage cell phone owners and users have increased and the added capabilities of the cell phones
as technology advances. Moreover, one of the findings of the qualitative study that followed the
Pew Internet survey revealed that sexting culture puts considerable pressure on teenagers to join
in this activity.
Still, as both Essig and Levy-Warren (this issue) wisely point out, it may well be the case
that the dangers of these new forms of communication are somewhat overstated and are in fact
no more or less virulent than other technological innovations of the past. Consistent with this
perspective, researchers have begun to consider the possibility that at least to some teenagers, that
which adults label as “cyberbullying” may be experienced more along the lines of “drama” (Klass,
2012). It is also instructive to remember there was considerable concern when the telephone was
introduced in the early 20th century: “It was going to bring down our society . . . men would be
calling women and making lascivious comments, and women would be so vulnerable, and we’d
never have civilized conversation again” (Moreno, cited in Klass, 2012, p. D5).
Furthermore, while it seems evident that technologically mediated communication (TMC)
must lose “something in the translation,” i.e., that it cannot be as intimate or informative as
face-to-face communication, there is evidence to indicate that there are, in fact, advantages
Children, Technology
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to these forms of communication. That is, the very distance, disembodiment, and, at times,
anonymity afforded by these modes of communication can, for some people at least some of
the time, provide a measure of safety and immediacy that may facilitate the frequency, breadth,
and depth of interpersonal disclosures. The experience of closeness can occur in the sparsest of
technologies (e.g., text messages) and the right choice of words, even absent tonal quality and
body language, can convey powerful and effective interpersonal messages. Moreover, there is
emerging evidence about the advantages of “ambient awareness,” the nearly incessant, smallscale online contact afforded by current technologies (Thompson, 2008). One can, for example,
become far more aware of and sensitive to the daily rhythms of their friends’ lives.
Certainly the rapidity with which TMC has been adopted by children and young adults in this
new millennium is putative evidence of its influence and possibilities. For those who have been
“born digital,” technology may be experienced not as a means of avoiding intimacy with others
but rather as providing endless opportunities for connection. One example, 43% of teenagers
surveyed reported that they use IMing to express something they wouldn’t say in person (Time,
2007). Moreover, according to a study by the MacArthur Foundation (Lewin, 2008): “While it
may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on
MySpace or sending instant messages . . . they’re [also] learning how to get along with others,
how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page” (p. A20). Furthermore, according
to this study, teens use new media to initiate new relationships.
But there’s still so much we do not yet know about the uses or misuses of new technologies.
Among other limitations of most studies of these phenomena, none have distinguished among
the multiple forms of TMC; that is, none have compared the ways in which different technologies
are used by youth. Thus, my research team at Teachers College (Columbia University) has begun
to investigate the ways and extent to which different forms of TMC serve different purposes for
older children and adolescents. We surveyed over 500 people, though the results we report below
are based solely on those (N = 334) who are aged 25 years or younger. Essentially, we asked
our respondents to compare different forms of technology in terms of their ease of communication, ability to communicate certain types of information, and “emotional consequences”
(i.e., tendency to lead to specific emotional states). The following types of communication were
included: phone (talking), phone (texting), e-mailing, IMing, using Twitter, and using social
networking sites (e.g., Facebook); we also included “face-to-face” communication to compare
this “old-fashioned” means of communicating with newer forms.
Our respondents reported that texting and face-to-face communication were the most “convenient” forms of communication (both with means over 6.0 on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging
from 1 (not at all) to 7 (to a great extent), with “talking on the phone” rated slightly lower (mean
[M] = 5.6); Twitter was the lowest-ranked choice on this item (M = 2.4). Similar results were
obtained for items reflecting the likelihood of feeling “understood” and the likelihood of feeling
“intimate,” with face-to-face and phone conversations the highest rated forms of communication and Twitter the lowest rated. When asked, “How likely are you to feel insincere or phony”
when using each of these forms of communication, our sample of adolescents and young adults
gave their highest ratings to social networking sites (M = 4.6) and texting (4.3) and their lowest
ratings to face-to-face communication (M = 2.2), talking on the phone (M = 2.3), and IMing
(M = 2.3). Furthermore, on average, these young people felt that, among all these forms of communication, they most often use text messages and social media sites like Facebook to “avoid
more uncomfortable face-to-face communication” (M = 5.13 and M = 5.20, respectively). These
results suggest that contemporary youth have more favorable views of face-to-face and phone
conversations and more realistic perspectives on the limitations of technological communication
than most adults, especially parents of children and adolescents, might imagine.
On the other hand, when asked to evaluate the likelihood of feeling regret for sharing too
much information in using these various forms of communication, our respondents rated faceto-face and texting most highly (means of 5.1 and 3.5, respectively) and Twitter (M = 2.1) the
lowest among these media. Although regrets about oversharing may be somewhat related to
convenience of use (i.e., how convenient it is to impulsively share information by texting, for
example), this is unlikely to be the only explanation for these results. Our sense is that regrets
about oversharing are also more likely when young people use forms of communication that
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Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, November 2012
make them feel most exposed. The intimacy of face-to-face talks may make these talks feel
exposing: Even if you do not want to share information, it may be written on your face and
therefore visible, or in response to a direct question you may feel compelled to share information
that you later regret. By comparison, technologies like cell phones allow young people to share
certain pieces of information while otherwise staying hidden from view.
Do these young people feel that they are more likely to use one of these forms of communication more than another in sharing certain details of their lives? For the most part, whether it
involves telling a close friend about “a fight with a significant person in your life,” “sharing a
positive experience,” “telling a secret,” or asking for “advice on a problem,” face-to-face talking
and cell phone talking had the two highest means, whereas e-mail and Twitter received the
lowest endorsements. Texting and posting on social media sites like Facebook tended to be in
the middle range of ratings for these items. The one small deviation from this pattern was for the
item, “telling a best friend about ordinary life details,” wherein the two highest scores were for
face-to-face communication and texting. Notably, both face-to-face and cell phone talking allow
users to note subtle changes in tone of voice or facial expressions that communicate feelings and
emotion, whereas text messages and sites like Facebook (emoticons aside) do not. It is perhaps
heartening that young people continue to use, and even generally prefer to use, those means of
communication (face-to-face and phone calling) that best allow communication of significant
or complex feelings and emotions when sharing more private, intimate information.
Our findings also indicate that technology companies have created convenient and appealing
ways for young people to communicate information without a great deal of emotion. While
young people in general may find the lack of emotional communication limiting (especially when
truly personal information is being shared), some may prefer these newer forms of technology
because they allow a great deal of information to flow freely while limiting emotional stimuli to
a trickle. By contrast, face-to-face communication may barrage young people with emotional
stimuli, including subtle or hard-to-read facial expressions, tones of voice, and social cues, all of
which may be misperceived as criticism and rejection, feel too intimate, or leave the individual
feeling personally or socially inadequate. By choosing to communicate through technology,
many young people, including our patients, can continue to be social while at the same time
keeping a somewhat safer emotional distance. Ideally, electronic communication allows young
people to have more time to think about what they want to say; they can act out by sneering or
yelling profanities without endangering their social relationships or personal reputation.
Nevertheless, electronic communication may also feel stressful because it is essentially incessant, and because norms governing its use often include the requirement to return a message (or
respond to a Facebook post) virtually immediately. Furthermore, it is hard for young people,
in fact hard for everyone, to “backtrack” when an electronic social communication goes awry
and someone’s feelings get hurt—at times, terribly hurt. “Ruptures in the relationship” (Safran
& Muran, 2011) may be more difficult to repair in many forms of e-communication. As Aaron
Sorkin observed in his movie The Social Network, the Internet can be especially dangerous
because an expression of a conflict or problem is “written in ink.” There are no expiration dates
for Internet postings, so the impulsive judgments of our teenage patients may well follow them
into adulthood. In this regard, a colleague’s patient was told online by a friend-of-a-friend (i.e.,
a stranger to the patient) that he was “so weird,” which led the patient to respond by posting
physically threatening statements that he only later took down after strong encouragement from
his therapist.
The results of our study and others also indicate that, despite notable exceptions (e.g., postings
about depression or even suicidal feelings), young people tend to keep their social interactions
on sites like Facebook superficially positive. As a consequence, older children and adolescents—
especially those troubled individuals who become our patients–often use social media sites to
compare themselves to their seemingly successful peers. They may focus on all the positive
experiences and accomplishments others are posting, including how many “likes” others are
getting and, as a result, feel increasingly like outcasts or “not good enough.” In addition,
adolescents and young adults may satisfy their need for frequent boosts to their self-image by
sharing status updates on their accomplishments, posting revealing pictures of their bodies, and
otherwise expending a great deal of mental energy trying to convince themselves and others that
Children, Technology
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“all is well.” Although they may be temporarily comforted by receiving “likes” for a skin-deep
or false persona, young people—including our patients–may ultimately feel quite uneasy and
even disturbed by the incipient awareness that they are being rewarded with “likes” for keeping
their true selves, including their pain, hidden and unheard.
Despite the ubiquity of technologically mediated communication in the lives of young people,
despite its significance in the development of identity and personal relationships, and despite
its potential for creating or exacerbating multiple psychosocial problems, it remains unclear as
to how much of this landscape is being introduced into psychotherapy sessions. We believe that
therapists working with children and adolescents should be pursuing these important new lines
of inquiry. But do our young patients trust that we can understand and accept these critical
parts of their lives? In fact, how much of their online experiences young patients share with their
therapists is the focus of our lab’s next series of studies.
References and Recommended Reading
Brenner, J. (2012). Pew Internet: Teens. In Pew Internet American Life Project. Retrieved from
http://pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/April/Pew-Internet-Teens.aspx
Caplan, S. E. (2003). Preference foe online social interaction: A theory of problematic Internet use and
psychosocial well-being. Communication Research, 30, 625–648.
Davila, J., Stroud, C. B., Starr, L. R., Miller, M. R., Yoneda, A., & Hershenberg, R. (2009). Romantic
and sexual activities, parent-adolescent stress, and depressive symptoms among early adolescent girls.
Journal of Adolescence, 32, 909–924.
Klass, P. (2012, January 10). Seeing social media more as portal than pitfall. The New York Times. Retrieved
from: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/health/views /seeing-social-media-as-adolescent-portal–
more-than-pitfall.html
Lenhart, A., Madden, M., Smith, A., Purcell, K., Zickuhr, K., & Rainie, L. (2011). Teens, kindness
and cruelty on social network sites. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/∼/media//Files/Reports
/2011/PIP_Teens_Kindness_Cruelty_SNS_Report_Nov_2011_FINAL_110711.pdf
Leung, L. (2002). Loneliness, self-disclosure, and ICQ (“I Seek You”) use. CyberPsychology & Behavior,
5(3), 241–250.
O’Keeffe G. S., & Clarke-Pearson, K. (2011). The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and
families. Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, 800–804.
Seiter, E. (2002, February). Children and on-line communities. Paper presented at the Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Sloviter, V. (2011). Diagnosis: Social media syndrome. Pediatrics for Parents, 27, 30–31.
Time. (2007). Verbatim Numbers. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1686816,00.html
Turkle, S. (2012). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. New
York, NY: Basic Books.
Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2007). Preadolescents’ and adolescents’ online communication and their
closeness to friends. Developmental Psychology, 43, 267–277.
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Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences ( 2011) Vol 3, No 1, 240-259
Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and
Preventions
Kamini Dashora, PhD, Principal, P.P. Patel College of Social Sciences,
(Affiliated Sardar Patel University, Vidyanagar, Gujarat, India)
Abstract: The world of internet today has become a parallel form of life
and living. Public are now capable of doing things which were not
imaginable few years ago. The Internet is fast becoming a way of life for
millions of people and also a way of living because of growing
dependence and reliance of the mankind on these machines. Internet has
enabled the use of website communication, email and a lot of anytime
anywhere IT solutions for the betterment of human kind.
Cyber crime is emerging as a serious threat. Worldwide
governments, police departments and intelligence units have started to
react. Initiatives to curb cross border cyber threats are taking shape.
Indian police has initiated special cyber cells across the country and have
started educating the personnel. This article is an attempt to provide a
glimpse on cyber crime in society. This article is based on various reports
from news media and news portal.
Keywords: Cyber crime, Hacking, Phishing, Cyber squatting
1. Introduction
Crime and criminality have been associated with man
since his fall. Crime remains elusive and ever strives to hide
itself in the face of development. Different nations have
adopted different strategies to contend with crime depending
on their nature and extent. One thing is certain, it is that a
nation with high incidence of crime cannot grow or develop.
That is so because crime is the direct opposite of
development. It leaves a negative social and economic
consequence. Cybercrime is defined as crimes committed on
the internet using the computer as either a tool or a targeted
victim. It is very difficult to classify crimes in general into
distinct groups as many crimes evolve on a daily basis. Even
in the real world, crimes like rape, murder or theft need not
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Kamini Dashora, P.P. Patel College of Social Sciences, Gujarat, India
necessarily be separate. However, all cybercrimes involve
both the computer and the person behind it as victims; it
just depends on which of the two is the main target. Hence,
the computer will be looked at as either a target or tool for
simplicity’s sake. For example, hacking involves attacking
the computer’s information and other resources. It is
important to take note that overlapping occurs in many
cases and it is impossible to have a perfect classification
system.
The term ‘cyber crime’ is a misnomer. This term has
nowhere been defined in any statute /Act passed or enacted
by the Indian Parliament. The concept of cyber crime is not
radically different from the concept of conventional crime.
Both include conduct whether act or omission, which cause
breach of rules of law and counterbalanced by the sanction
of the state. Before evaluating the concept of cyber crime it is
obvious that the concept of conventional crime be discussed
and the points of similarity and deviance between both these
forms may be discussed.
2. Computer as a Tool
When the individual is the main target of Cybercrime,
the computer can be considered as the tool rather than the
target. These crimes generally involve less technical expertise
as the damage done manifests itself in the real world.
Human weaknesses are generally exploited. The damage
dealt is largely psychological and intangible, making legal
action against the variants more difficult. These are the
crimes which have existed for centuries in the offline. Scams,
theft, and the likes have existed even before the development
in high-tech equipment. The same criminal has simply been
given a tool which increases his potential pool of victims and
makes him all the harder to trace and apprehend.
3. Computer as a Target
These crimes are committed by a selected group of
criminals. Unlike crimes using he computer as a tool, these
crimes requires the technical knowledge of the perpetrators.
These crimes are relatively new, having been in existence for
only as long as computers have - which explains how
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Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions
unprepared society and the world in general is towards
combating these crimes. There are numerous crimes of this
nature committed daily on the internet. But it is worth
knowing that Africans and indeed Nigerians are yet to
develop their technical knowledge to accommodate and
perpetrate this kind of crime.
4. Conventional Crime
Crime is a social and economic phenomenon and is as
old as the human society. Crime is a legal concept and has
the sanction of the law. Crime or an offence is “a legal wrong
that can be followed by criminal proceedings which may
result into punishment.”The hallmark of criminality is that,
it is breach of the criminal law. Per Lord Atkin “the criminal
quality of an act cannot be discovered by reference to any
standard but one: is the act prohibited with penal
consequences”. A crime may be said to be any conduct
accompanied by act or omission prohibited by law and
consequential breach of which is visited by penal
consequences.
5. Cyber Crime
Cyber crime is the latest and perhaps the most
complicated problem in the cyber world. “Cyber crime may
be said to be those species, of which, genus is the
conventional crime, and where either the computer is an
object or subject of the conduct constituting crime” “Any
criminal activity that uses a computer either as an
instrumentality, target or a means for perpetuating further
crimes comes within the ambit of cyber crime”
A generalized definition of cyber crime may be
“unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or target
or both” The computer may be used as a tool in the following
kinds of activity- financial crimes, sale of illegal articles,
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Kamini Dashora, P.P. Patel College of Social Sciences, Gujarat, India
pornography, online gambling, intellectual property crime, email spoofing, forgery, cyber defamation, cyber stalking. The
computer may however be target for unlawful acts in the
following cases- unauthorized access to computer/ computer
system/ computer networks, theft of information contained
in the electronic form, e-mail bombing, data didling, salami
attacks, logic bombs, Trojan attacks, internet time thefts,
web jacking, theft of computer system, physically damaging
the computer system.
6. Distinction Between Conventional and Cyber Crime
There is apparently no distinction between cyber and
conventional crime. However on a deep introspection we may
say that there exists a fine line of demarcation between the
conventional and cyber crime, which is appreciable. The
demarcation lies in the involvement of the medium in cases
of cyber crime. The sine qua non for cyber crime is that there
should be an involvement, at any stage, of the virtual cyber
medium.
7. Reasons for Cyber Crime
“The Concept of Law” has said ‘human beings are
vulnerable so rule of law is required to protect them’.
Applying this to the cyberspace we may say that computers
are vulnerable so rule of law is required to protect and
safeguard them against cyber crime. The reasons for the
vulnerability of computers may be said to be:
1. Capacity to store data in comparatively small space: The
computer has unique characteristic of storing data in a
very small space. This affords to remove or derive
information either through physical or virtual medium
makes it much easier.
2. Easy to access: The problem encountered in guarding a
computer system from unauthorised access is that there
is every possibility of breach not due to human error but
due to the complex technology. By secretly implanted
logic bomb, key loggers that can steal access codes,
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Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions
advanced voice recorders; retina imagers etc. that can fool
biometric systems and bypass firewalls can be utilized to
get past many a security system.
3. Complex: The computers work on operating systems and
these operating systems in turn are composed of millions
of codes. Human mind is fallible and it is not possible
that there might not be a lapse at any stage. The cyber
criminals take advantage of these lacunas and penetrate
into the computer system.
4. Negligence: Negligence is very closely connected with
human conduct. It is therefore very probable that while
protecting the computer system there might be any
negligence, which in turn provides a cyber criminal to
gain access and control over the computer system.
5. Loss of evidence: Loss of evidence is a very common &
obvious problem as all the data are routinely destroyed.
Further collection of data outside the territorial extent
also paralyses this system of crime investigation.
8. Cyber Criminals
The cyber criminals constitute of various groups/
category. This division may be justified on the basis of the
object that they have in their mind. The following are the
category of cyber criminals
1. Children and adolescents between the age group of 6 – 18
years
The simple reason for this type of delinquent behaviour
pattern in children is seen mostly due to the inquisitiveness
to know and explore the things. Other cognate reason may
be to prove themselves to be outstanding amongst other
children in their group. Further the reasons may be
psychological even. E.g. the Bal Bharati (Delhi) case was the
outcome of harassment of the delinquent by his friends.
2. Organised hackers
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Kamini Dashora, P.P. Patel College of Social Sciences, Gujarat, India
These kinds of hackers are mostly organised together to fulfil
certain objective. The reason may be to fulfil their political
bias, fundamentalism, etc. The Pakistanis are said to be one
of the best quality hackers in the world. They mainly target
the Indian government sites with the purpose to fulfil their
political objectives. Further the NASA as well as the
Microsoft sites is always under attack by the hackers.
3. Professional hackers / crackers
Their work is motivated by the colour of money. These kinds
of hackers are mostly employed to hack the site of the rivals
and get credible, reliable and valuable information. Further
they are ven employed to crack the system of the employer
basically as a measure to make it safer by detecting the
loopholes.
4. Discontented employees
This group include those people who have been either
sacked by their employer or are dissatisfied with their
employer. To avenge they normally hack the system of their
employee.
9. Mode and Manner of Commiting Cyber Crime
Unauthorized access to computer systems or networks /
Hacking: This kind of offence is normally referred as hacking
in the generic sense. However the framers of the information
technology act 2000 have no where used this term so to
avoid any confusion we would not interchangeably use the
word hacking for ‘unauthorized access’ as the latter has wide
connotation.
Theft of information contained in electronic form: This
includes information stored in computer hard disks,
removable storage media etc. Theft may be either by
appropriating the data physically or by tampering them
through the virtual medium.
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Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions
Email bombing: This kind of activity refers to sending large
numbers of mail to the victim, which may be an individual or
a company or even mail servers there by ultimately resulting
into crashing.
Data diddling: This kind of an attack involves altering raw
data just before a computer processes it and then changing
it back after the processing is completed. The electricity
board faced similar problem of data diddling while the
department was being computerised.
Salami attacks: This kind of crime is normally prevalent in
the financial institutions or for the purpose of committing
financial crimes. An important feature of this type of offence
is that the alteration is so small that it would normally go
unnoticed. E.g. the Ziegler case wherein a logic bomb was
introduced in the bank’s system, which deducted 10 cents
from every account and deposited it in a particular account.
Denial of Service attack: The computer of the victim is flooded
with more requests than it can handle which cause it to
crash. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoss) attack is also a
type of denial of service attack, in which the offenders are
wide in number and widespread. E.g. Amazon, Yahoo.
Virus / worm attacks: Viruses are programs that attach
themselves to a computer or a file and then circulate
themselves to other files and to other computers on a
network. They usually affect the data on a computer, either
by altering or deleting it. Worms, unlike viruses do not need
the host to attach themselves to. They merely make
functional copies of themselves and do this repeatedly till
they eat up all the available space on a computer's memory.
E.g. love bug virus, which affected at least 5 % of the
computers of the globe. The losses were accounted to be $ 10
million. The world's most famous worm was the Internet
worm let loose on the Internet by Robert Morris sometime in
1988. Almost brought development of Internet to a complete
halt.
Logic bombs: These are event dependent programs. This
implies that these programs are created to do something only
when a certain event (known as a trigger event) occurs. E.g.
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Kamini Dashora, P.P. Patel College of Social Sciences, Gujarat, India
even some viruses may be termed logic bombs because they
lie dormant all through the year and become active only on a
particular date (like the Chernobyl virus).
Trojan attacks: This term has its origin in the word ‘Trojan
horse’. In software field this means an unauthorized
programme, which passively gains control over another’s
system by representing itself as an authorised programme.
The most common form of installing a Trojan is through email. E.g. a Trojan was installed in the computer of a lady
film director in the U.S. while chatting. The cyber criminal
through the web cam installed in the computer obtained her
nude photographs. He further harassed this lady.
Internet time thefts: Normally in these kinds of thefts the
Internet surfing hours of the victim are used up by another
person. This is done by gaining access to the login ID and
the password. E.g. Colonel Bajwa’s case- the Internet hours
were used up by any other person. This was perhaps one of
the first reported cases related to cyber crime in India.
However this case made the police infamous as to their lack
of understanding of the nature of cyber crime.
Web jacking: This term is derived from the term hi jacking. In
these kinds of offences the hacker gains access and control
over the web site of another. He may even mutilate or change
the information on the site. This may be done for fulfilling
political objectives or for money. E.g. recently the site of MIT
(Ministry of Information Technology) was hacked by the
Pakistani hackers and some obscene matter was placed
therein. Further the site of Bombay crime branch was also
web jacked. Another case of web jacking is that of the ‘gold
fish’ case. In this case the site was hacked and the
information pertaining to gold fish was changed. Further a
ransom of US $ 1 million was demanded as ransom. Thus
web jacking is a process whereby control over the site of
another is made backed by some consideration for it.
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Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions
10. Classification
The subject of cyber crime may be broadly classified under
the following three groups. They are1. Against Individuals
a. their person &
b. their property of an individual
2. Against Organization
a. Government
c. Firm, Company, Group of Individuals.
3. Against Society at large:
The following are the crimes, which can be committed
against the followings group
Against Individuals: –
i. Harassment via e-mails.
ii. Cyber-stalking.
iii. Dissemination of obscene material.
iv. Defamation.
v. Unauthorized control/access over computer system.
vi. Indecent exposure
vii. Email spoofing
viii. Cheating & Fraud
Against Individual Property: i. Computer vandalism.
ii. Transmitting virus.
iii. Netrespass
iv. Unauthorized control/access over computer system.
v. Intellectual Property crimes
vi. Internet time thefts
Against Organization: -
248
Kamini Dashora, P.P. Patel College of Social Sciences, Gujarat, India
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Unauthorized control/access over computer system
Possession of unauthorized information.
Cyber terrorism against the government organization.
Distribution of pirated software etc.
Against Society at large: i.
Pornography (basically child pornography).
ii. Polluting the youth through indecent exposure.
iii. Trafficking
iv. Financial crimes
v.
Sale of illegal articles
vi. Online gambling
vii. Forgery
The above mentioned offences may discuss in brief as
follows:
1. Harassment via e-mails: Harassment through e-mails is
not a new concept. It is very similar to harassing through
letters. Recently I had received a mail from a lady wherein
she complained about the same. Her former boy friend was
sending her mails constantly sometimes emotionally
blackmailing her and also threatening her. This is a very
common type of harassment via e-mails.
2. Cyber-stalking: The Oxford dictionary defines stalking as
"pursuing stealthily". Cyber stalking involves following a
person's movements across the Internet by posting messages
(sometimes threatening) on the bulletin boards frequented by
the victim, entering the chat-rooms frequented by the victim,
constantly bombarding the victim with emails etc.
3. Dissemination of obscene material/ Indecent exposure/
Pornography (basically child pornography) / Polluting through
indecent exposure: Pornography on the net may take various
forms. It may include the hosting of web site containing
these prohibited materials. Use of computers for producing
these obscene materials. Downloading through the Internet,
obscene materials. These obscene matters may cause harm
to the mind of the adolescent and tend to deprave or corrupt
their mind. Two known cases of pornography are the Delhi
Bal Bharati case and the Bombay case wherein two Swiss
249
Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions
couple used to force the slum children for obscene
photographs. The Mumbai police later arrested them.
4. Defamation: It is an act of imputing any person with
intent to lower the person in the estimation of the rightthinking members of society generally or to cause him to be
shunned or avoided or to expose him to hatred, contempt or
ridicule. Cyber defamation is not different from conventional
defamation except the involvement of a virtual medium. E.g.
the mail account of Rohit was hacked and some mails were
sent from his account to some of his batch mates regarding
his affair with a girl with intent to defame him.
5. Unauthorized control/access over computer system: This
activity is commonly referred to as hacking. The Indian law
has however given a different connotation to the term
hacking, so we will not use the term "unauthorized access"
interchangeably with the term "hacking" to prevent
confusion as the term used in the Act of 2000 is much wider
than hacking.
6. E mail spoofing: A spoofed e-mail may be said to be one,
which misrepresents its origin. It shows it's origin to be
different from which actually it originates. Recently spoofed
mails were sent on the name of Mr. Na.Vijayashankar
(naavi.org), which contained virus. Rajesh Manyar, a
graduate student at Purdue University in Indiana, was
arrested for threatening to detonate a nuclear device in the
college campus. The alleged e- mail was sent from the
account of another student to the vice president for student
services. However the mail was traced to be sent from the
account of Rajesh Manyar.
7. Computer vandalism: Vandalism means deliberately
destroying or damaging property of another. Thus computer
vandalism may include within its purview any kind of
physical harm done to the computer of any person. These
acts may take the form of the theft of a computer, some part
of a computer or a peripheral attached to the computer or by
physically damaging a computer or its peripherals.
8. Intellectual Property crimes / Distribution of pirated
software: Intellectual property consists of a bundle of rights.
Any unlawful act by which the owner is deprived completely
250
Kamini Dashora, P.P. Patel College of Social Sciences, Gujarat, India
or partially of his rights is an offence. The common form of
IPR violation may be said to be software piracy, copyright
infringement, trademark and service mark violation, theft of
computer source code, etc. The Hyderabad Court has in a
land mark judgement has convicted three people and
sentenced them to six months imprisonment and fine of
50,000 each for unauthorized copying and sell of pirated
software.
9. Cyber terrorism against the government organization: At
this juncture a necessity may be felt that what is the need to
distinguish between cyber terrorism and cyber crime. Both
are criminal acts. However there is a compelling need to
distinguish between both these crimes. A cyber crime is
generally a domestic issue, which may have international
consequences; however cyber terrorism is a global concern,
which
has
domestic
as
well
as
international
consequences. The common form of these terrorist attacks
on the Internet is by distributed denial of service attacks,
hate websites and hate emails, attacks on sensitive
computer networks, etc. Technology savvy terrorists are
using 512-bit encryption, which is next to impossible to
decrypt. The recent example may be cited of – Osama Bin
Laden, the LTTE, attack on America’s army deployment
system during Iraq war.
Cyber terrorism may be defined to be “ the premeditated
use of disruptive activities, or the threat thereof, in cyber
space, with the intention to further social, ideological,
religious, political or similar objectives, or to intimidate any
person in furtherance of such objectives” Another definition
may be attempted to cover within its ambit every act of cyber
terrorism.
A terrorist means a person who indulges in wanton
killing of persons or in violence or in disruption of services or
means of communications essential to the community or in
damaging property with the view to –
(1) Putting the public or any section of the public in fear; or
251
Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions
(2)
Affecting adversely the harmony between different
religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or
communities; or
(3) Coercing or overawing the government established by law;
or
(4) Endangering the sovereignty and integrity of the nation
And a cyber terrorist is the person who uses the computer
system as a means or ends to achieve the above objectives.
Every act done in pursuance thereof is an act of cyber
terrorism.
10. Trafficking: Trafficking may assume different forms. It
may be trafficking in drugs, human beings, arms weapons
etc. These forms of trafficking are going unchecked because
they are carried on under pseudonyms. A racket was busted
in Chennai where drugs were being sold under the
pseudonym of honey.
11. Fraud & Cheating: Online fraud and cheating is one of the
most lucrative businesses that are growing today in the
cyber space. It may assume different forms. Some of the
cases of online fraud and cheating that have come to light
are those pertaining to credit card crimes, contractual
crimes, offering jobs, etc.Recently the Court of Metropolitan
Magistrate Delhi found guilty a 24-year-old engineer working
in a call centre, of fraudulently gaining the details of
Campa's credit card and bought a television and a cordless
phone from Sony website. Metropolitan magistrate Gulshan
Kumar convicted Azim for cheating under IPC, but did not
send him to jail. Instead, Azim was asked to furnish a
personal bond of Rs 20,000, and was released on a year's
probation.
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Kamini Dashora, P.P. Patel College of Social Sciences, Gujarat, India
11. Statutory Provisions
The Indian parliament considered it necessary to give
effect to the resolution by which the General Assembly
adopted Model Law on Electronic Commerce adopted by the
United Nations Commission on Trade Law. As a consequence
of which the Information Technology Act 2000 was passed
and enforced on 17th May 2000.the preamble of this Act
states its objective to legalise e-commerce and further amend
the Indian Penal Code 1860, the Indian Evidence Act 1872,
the Banker’s Book Evidence Act1891 and the Reserve Bank
of India Act 1934. The basic purpose to incorporate the
changes in these Acts is to make them compatible with the
Act of 2000. So that they may regulate and control the
affairs of the cyber world in an effective manner.
The Information Technology Act deals with the various
cyber crimes in chapters IX & XI. The important sections are
Ss. 43,65,66,67. Section 43 in particular deals with the
unauthorised access, unauthorised downloading, virus
attacks or any contaminant, causes damage, disruption,
denial of access, interference with the service availed by a
person. This section provide for a fine up to Rs. 1 Crore by
way of remedy. Section 65 deals with ‘tampering with
computer source documents’ and provides for imprisonment
up to 3 years or fine, which may extend up to 2 years or
both. Section 66 deals with ‘hacking with computer system’
and provides for imprisonment up to 3 years or fine, which
may extend up to 2 years or both. Further section 67 deals
with publication of obscene material and provides for
imprisonment up to a term of 10 years and also with fine up
to Rs. 2 lakhs.
12. Analysis of the Statutory Provisions
The
Information
Technology
Act
2000
was
undoubtedly a welcome step at a time when there was no
legislation on this specialised field. The Act has however
253
Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions
during its application has proved to be inadequate to a
certain extent. The various loopholes in the Act are
1. The hurry in which the legislation was passed, without
sufficient public debate, did not really serve the desired
purpose. Experts are of the opinion that one of the reasons
for the inadequacy of the legislation has been the hurry in
which it was passed by the parliament and it is also a fact
that sufficient time was not given for public debate.
2. “Cyber laws, in their very preamble and aim, state that
they are targeted at aiding e-commerce, and are not meant to
regulate cybercrime”. Mr. Pavan Duggal holds the opinion
that the main intention of the legislators has been to provide
for a law to regulate the e-commerce and with that aim the
I.T.Act 2000 was passed, which also is one of the reasons for
its inadequacy to deal with cases of cyber crime.
3. Cyber torts The recent cases including Cyber stalking
cyber harassment, cyber nuisance, and cyber defamation
have shown that the I.T.Act 2000 has not dealt with those
offences. Further it is also contended that in future new
forms of cyber crime will emerge which even need to
be taken care of. Therefore India should sign the cyber
crime convention. However the I.T.Act 2000 read with the
Penal Code is capable of dealing with these felonies.
4. Ambiguity in the definitions The definition of hacking
provided in section 66 of the Act is very wide and capable of
misapplication. There is every possibility of this section being
misapplied and in fact the Delhi court has misapplied it. The
infamous go2nextjob has made it very clear that what may
be the fate of a person who is booked under section 66 or the
constant threat under which the netizens are till s. 66 exists
in its present form. Furthermore, section 67 is also vague to
certain extent. It is difficult to define the term lascivious
information or obscene pornographic information. Further
our inability to deal with the cases of cyber pornography has
been proved by the Bal Bharati case.
5. Lack of awareness: One important reason that the Act of
2000 is not achieving complete success is the lack of
awareness among the s about their rights. Further most of
the cases are going unreported. If the people are vigilant
about their rights the law definitely protects their right. E.g.
254
Kamini Dashora, P.P. Patel College of Social Sciences, Gujarat, India
the Delhi high court in October 2002 prevented a person
from selling Microsoft pirated software over an auction site.
Achievement was also made in the case before the court of
metropolitan magistrate Delhi wherein a person was
convicted for online cheating by buying Sony products using
a stolen credit card.
6. Jurisdiction issues: Jurisdiction is also one of the
debatable issues in the cases of cyber crime due to the very
universal nature of cyber space. With the ever-growing arms
of cyber space the territorial concept seems to vanish. New
methods of dispute resolution should give way to the
conventional methods. The Act of 2000 is very silent on
these issues.
7. Extra territorial application: Though S.75 provides for
extra-territorial operations of this law, but they could be
meaningful only when backed with provisions recognizing
orders and warrants for Information issued by competent
authorities outside their jurisdiction and measure for
cooperation for exchange of material and evidence of
computer crimes between law enforcement agencies.
8. Cyber savvy bench: Cyber savvy judges are the need of the
day. Judiciary plays a vital role in shaping the enactment
according to the order of the day. One such stage, which
needs appreciation, is the P.I.L., which the Kerela
High Court has accepted through an email. The role of the
judges in today’s word may be gathered by the statementjudges carve ‘law is’ to ‘law ought to be’. Mr
T.K.Vishwanathan, member secretary, Law Commission, has
highlighted the requirements for introducing e-courts in
India. In his article published in The Hindu he has stated “if
there is one area of Governance where IT can make a huge
difference to Indian public is in the Judicial System”.
9. Dynamic form of cyber crime: Speaking on the dynamic
nature of cyber crime FBI Director Louis Freeh has said, "In
short, even though we have markedly improved our
capabilities to fight cyber intrusions the problem is growing
even faster and we are falling further behind.” The
(de)creativity of human mind cannot be checked by any law.
Thus the only way out is the liberal construction while
applying the statutory provisions to cyber crime cases.
255
Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions
10. Hesitation to report offences: As stated above one of the
fatal drawbacks of the Act has been the cases going
unreported. One obvious reason is the non-cooperative
police force. This was proved by the Delhi time theft case.
"The police are a powerful force today which can play an
instrumental role in preventing cybercrime. At the same
time, it can also end up wielding the rod and harassing
innocent s, preventing them from going about their normal
cyber business."This attitude of the administration is also
revelled by incident that took place at Merrut and Belgam.
(for the facts of these incidents refer to naavi.com). For
complete realisation of the provisions of this Act a
cooperative police force is require.
13. Prevention of Cyber Crime
Prevention is always better than cure. It is always
better to take certain precaution while operating the net.
A should make them his part of cyber life. Saileshkumar
Zarkar, technical advisor and network security consultant to
the Mumbai Police Cyber crime Cell, advocates the 5P
mantra for online security: Precaution, Prevention,
Protection, Preservation and Perseverance. A netizen should
keep in mind the following things
1. To prevent cyber stalking avoid disclosing any
information pertaining to one self. This is as good as
disclosing your identity to strangers in public place.
2. Always avoid sending any photograph online
particularly to strangers and chat friends as there
have been incidents of misuse of the photographs.
3. Always use latest and update antivirus software to
guard against virus attacks.
4. always keep back up volumes so that one may not
suffer data loss in case of virus contamination
5. Never send your credit card number to any site that is
not secured, to guard against frauds.
6. Always keep a watch on the sites that your children
are accessing to prevent any kind of harassment or
depravation in children.
7. It is better to use a security programme that gives
control over the cookies and send information back to
256
Kamini Dashora, P.P. Patel College of Social Sciences, Gujarat, India
the site as leaving the cookies unguarded might prove
fatal.
8. Web site owners should watch traffic and check any
irregularity on the site. Putting host-based intrusion
detection devices on servers may do this.
9. Use of firewalls may be beneficial.
10.
Web servers running public sites must be
physically separate protected from internal corporate
network. Adjudication of a Cyber Crime - On the
directions of the Bombay High Court the Central
Government has by a notification dated 25.03.03 has
decided that the Secretary to the Information
Technology Department in each state by designation
would be appointed as the AO for each state.
14. Conclusion
Capacity of human mind is unfathomable. It is
not possible to eliminate cyber crime from the cyber
space. It is quite possible to check them. History is the
witness that no legislation has succeeded in totally
eliminating crime from the globe. The only possible
step is to make people aware of their rights and duties
(to report crime as a collective duty towards the
society) and further making the application of the laws
more stringent to check crime. Undoubtedly the Act is
a historical step in the cyber world. Further I all
together do not deny that there is a need to bring
changes in the Information Technology Act to make it
more effective to combat cyber crime. I would conclude
with a word of caution for the pro-legislation school
that it should be kept in mind that the provisions of
the cyber law are not made so stringent that it may
retard the growth of the industry and prove to be
counter-productive.
257
Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions
References
Cyber Crime Today &Tomorrow, Thiru DayanithiMaran
Cyber crime Up Police found wanting, Chandigarh Tribune Monday May
28, 2001.
Cyber Crimes on the rise in state - Kerala: The Hindu Monday Oct 30,
2006.
Duggal Pawan - Is this Treaty a Treat?
Duggal Pawan – The Internet: Legal Dimensions
Duggal Pawan - Cybercrime
Kapoor G.V. - Byte by Byte
Kolkata man threatens to blow up Stock exchanges arrested. Express
India.com
Kumar Vinod – Winning the Battle against Cyber Crime
Mehta Dewang- Role of Police in Tackling Internet Crimes
Nagpal R- Defining Cyber Terrorism
Nagpal R. – What is Cyber Crime?
258
Kamini Dashora, P.P. Patel College of Social Sciences, Gujarat, India
Nasik Police play big boss for internet voyeurs, Hindustan Times, Sunday,
Oct 28, 2007.
Nowa Pune base for net's cyber cops The Hindu Sunday Nov 26 2006.
Police make headway, The Hindu, Sunday October 29.2006.
Suhas Shetty Cyber Crime Case, First conviction in India under ITA-2000.
Tamil Nadu to come out with IT security policy soon, The Hindu,
Saturday, Oct 27, 2007.
Youth in jail for sending email threat, The Hindu Friday August 10, 2007.
259
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FEATURE | mobile learning
With the proliferation of mobile devices and instant access
to the internet, cheating has become easier than ever. What
can educators do to stop it? By John K. Waters
THE 21ST CENTURY classroom is a wonder of online tools
and content that students can access from an ever-evolving
range of personal mobile devices with capabilities only dreamed
of less than a decade ago. (Just imagine: The first iPhone was
released in 2007!) But the anywhere/anytime access these devices
provide to vast web resources, sprawling social networks, and
real-time communication has spawned a new kind of cheating
in K-12 environments—an easier, tech-enabled version of bad
behavior that is as old as the classroom, but with the potential to
compromise virtually every aspect of modern student assessment.
13
| AUGUST 2013
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FEATURE | mobile learning
What we’re calling high-tech cheating has been
and resources to work together on class projects. They
“Make sure you get enough glue on the bottle,” the
characterized variously as a trend, an epidemic, and a
swarm over shared Google Docs, interact on assign-
video advises. “Once you have this done, you’ll have
plague. But it might be something even worse: a para-
ment-related Facebook pages, and coordinate team
your notes, but nobody will know except you!” Web
digm shift. More students than ever are using informa-
efforts via text message. For digital natives, some have
developer Josh May makes this particular process even
tion technology in ways that break the rules of aca-
argued, sharing information is so natural and so often
easier on his Pirate Weasel website, where he provides
demic integrity, and a shocking number of them don’t
encouraged that lines that were once so bright and
a printer-ready water bottle label onto which notes can
seem to think they’re doing anything wrong—well, not
clear are blurring.
be cut and pasted.
that wrong. They’re taught, after all to use these tools
FIGHTING PLAGIARISM
Click for Mac
Things get even blurrier when you factor in the ex-
But the high-tech cheating ball was already rolling
amples presented by educators in headline-grabbing
way back in the digital Stone Age of 2004, when this
revelations of their own disrespect of the rules. In the
activity was briefly called “cybercheating.” At that time,
past couple of years, teacher-related cheating scandals
Santa Clara University (CA) researchers Stacey Conrad-
have erupted in Atlanta; El Paso, TX; Washington, DC;
son and Pedro Hernández-Ramos declared that “…the
and Columbus, OH. According to the US Government
preponderance of statistical and anecdotal evidence
Accountability Office, 32 states have reported “cancel-
underscores several disturbing trends, indicating that
ing, invalidating, or nullifying test scores from individual
cheating at the secondary level is not only occurring
students, schools, or districts because of suspected or
more frequently, but that students are using much more
confirmed cheating by school officials [emphasis ours]”
sophisticated methods for their transgressions.”
for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years.
Five years later, a 2009 report from Common Sense
Media included the results of a national poll conducted
VIDEO: Jason Chu from Turnitin gives educators
a sense of the scope of student plagiarism, and
offers some advice on what teachers can do to
explain why cutting and pasting from the internet
is not a legitimate way to complete an assignment.
Click here for the captioned version.
14
| AUGUST 2013
What Is High-Tech Cheating?
by the Benenson Strategy Group, which found that
The web is a rich resource of shameless cheating
more than 35 percent of teens admitted to cheating
strategies. YouTube is rife with examples. “How to
with cell phones and the internet. The cheating involved
cheat on all of your tests,” reads the listing for one
texting answers to one another during tests, using
video. Click on it and you get step-by-step instructions
notes and information stored on smartphones, and
on how to copy a beverage label and replace all the
downloading papers from the internet to turn in as their
nutritional information with, say, your physics notes.
own work.
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FEATURE | mobile learning
So if high-tech cheating is nothing new, why haven’t
spells out for students precisely what is and isn’t
allowed.
we solved the problem? According to Doug Winneg,
them we’re watching,” he says. “Watching, listening,
CEO and founder of Software Secure, “On one level,
and recording. We clearly articulate what we’re doing
the issue is simple. If left unchecked, students cheat;
when we proctor an exam so that the students won’t
Putting Down the Phone
properly proctored, they don’t. What complicates the
feel tempted. The deterrent power is incredible.”
If the primary instrument of high-tech cheating is the
situation is the evolution of extremely powerful, mobile
The long-term solution to the high-tech cheating
smartphone, why not simply ban the devices during
technology and its ability to connect students to the
problem, according to Winneg, must include thoughtful
exams? A growing number of schools around the
web and to each other.”
and consistent monitoring of exams (whether students
country are taking that approach. Along with banning
Winneg’s company has been using technology to
are taking them online or in the classroom) coupled
cell phones from test environments, the state of
keep students from cheating since 1999, when it de-
with a well-understood, published exam policy that
California has gone so far as to deploy a team from
veloped a patented software system that locked down
student laptops and automatically turned them into
secure test-taking terminals. In 2006 the company
began focusing on the burgeoning world of online
education and added remote proctoring systems to its
product lineup.
The company’s Remote Proctor Suite is a high-tech
solution to a high-tech problem. The system authenticates a student’s identity biometrically and then records
video and audio of the exam environment. (It’s called
a record-and-review online testing model.) Winneg’s
company found a market for this solution because of
the acute needs of online programs to prove their credibility. But he argues that a vigilant proctoring strategy
can also go a long way toward solving high-tech cheating problems in traditional environments.
15
“The students know we’re watching, because we tell
| AUGUST 2013
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FEATURE | mobile learning
HOW TO STOP HIGH-TECH CHEATING
Cheating isn’t a new phenomenon, of course, but never before have teachers had to cope with such powerful tools and
the state education department and the national
Educational Testing Service to check social media
sites “every 15 minutes” to see if students have
snapped pictures of tests and posted them online.
(Last year, 36 questions from standardized exams in
the state showed up on social media sites, the Los
Angeles Times reported.)
A Southern California high school junior who asked
not to be identified says that her experience suggests
response analysis, which looks for test-answer irregularities, are emerging, the most effective current strategies for coping with the problem depend primarily on awareness, understanding, and a relatively low-tech set of best practices.
Here are five straightforward strategies from the experts:
1) Prohibit cell phones in the room during a test. The modern smartphone is “the lock-pick of cheating,” says Doug
Winneg, CEO and founder of Software Secure. The devices can store large databases of test answers, send and receive answers among friends in real time, and connect to Wikipedia. If the school policy allows students to bring cell
phones to school, consider collecting them at the door on test day.
2) Proctor exams properly. That means walking around among the desks, not sitting at the front of the classroom.
“Left unchecked, this generation cheats; properly proctored, they don’t,” says Winneg. Cell phones open a huge door
that a ban alone won’t do much to curtail cell-phone-
to the internet, but they fit in the palm of your hand and are easy to hide. It’s just not enough to tell students to put
enabled cheating if the teachers aren’t paying attention
them in their backpacks or even to confiscate them at the door—students might have another hidden away.
while they are administering tests.
3) Establish a clear set of rules. It’s obvious, even to digital natives, that texting test answers to each other is cheat-
“I have a lot of teachers who say, ‘Put your cell
ing, but how about reaching out on a social network for help from a classmate on a homework project? The line be-
phones in your backpacks,’ but then just sit at their
tween collaboration and cheating is truly a blurry one for students using online educational resources, Winneg says,
desks when we take the tests,” she says. “And they
and policies vary from class to class. Teachers who understand the potential for confusion should draw a clear line
never look up. It’s just really easy to cheat in those
with written policies and those policies should, if at all possible, be schoolwide.
classes. You just keep your cell phone in your lap under
4) Demonstrate the difference between research and “search”—literally. Let students look over your shoulder
your desk and look down. I don’t see people doing it all
while you research and write a short paper, recommends Neal Taparia, cofounder of EasyBib. “When you learn tennis,
the time, but it definitely happens.”
you’re seeing someone swing the racket and you can really see what’s going on,” he says. “But students never see
Cell phones are not permitted in public high
schools in New York City, and yet cell-phone-enabled
cheating grabbed the spotlight last year when a
group of students at NYC’s Stuyvesant High School
were caught texting photos of test pages and sharing
information about state Regents Exams—while they
were taking them.
16
enticements. Although technologies such as adaptive testing, which gives different questions to each student, and test-
| AUGUST 2013
how their teacher would like them to go about discovering sources, connecting the dots among sources, and developing their own ideas. If you could teach that by example, I think it would be a unique step in the right direction.”
5) Focus on developing information literacy skills. “I think most K-12 students think that plagiarism is just handing
in someone else’s paper,” says Dorothy Mikuska, a former high school English teacher and founder of ePen&Inc. “But
the idea of citing sources and properly attributing them is not something that they necessarily connect to plagiarism.”
Another important issue, she says, is citing the right sources. “You have all this user-generated content out there, but
students don’t differentiate.”
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FEATURE | mobile learning
Stuyvesant is one of the country’s most prestigious
phones, is promising to drop the ban. Lifting it, they
This is happening at every high school in the country.
public schools. According to Thomas Zadrozny, who as
say, would allow parents to make sure that their chil-
Our students just got caught.”
a junior reported on the incident for the school news-
dren are safe.
Zadrozny, who heads to the University of Washington
ment, and a group of students turned to cheating as a
to start college this fall, insists that the much-publicized
Not all students plagiarize, but enough of them do to
way to get through it. We dubbed it ‘the cheating ring.’
incident doesn’t reflect the character of his school.
justify some of the hyperbolic language characterizing
The way it worked was, one student coordinated efforts
“You shouldn’t get the idea that everyone in the school
this form of high-tech cheating. Each year, Turnitin, a
by a bunch of them to exchange answers on exams,
does it,” he says. “This was the largest example, but
company that has become something of a household
both in school and on state exams, at the end of the
this is a huge school, and most of the students are on
name among plagiarism-detection services, conducts
2012 school year.”
the right path. And this isn’t just a Stuyvesant thing.
what’s called a matched content analysis. In 2012,
Zadrozny’s story (“Stuyvesant Cheating Ring Exposed”), which he cowrote with Kaveri Sengupta and
Jordan Wallach, with reporting by Arielle Gerber, appeared in The Spectator on Sept. 9, 2012. The story
notes that the students weren’t caught, precisely: One
student, who was apparently included in the cheating
ring reluctantly, came forward and told administrators
that students were sharing answers via cell phones.
“It was common for teachers not to monitor exams
very well,” Zadrozny adds. “I’m not blaming them, but
they do need to wake up to the reality that this is going
on, and they need to be more vigilant during a test.”
This advice could be especially important for New
York City schools in the future, given that nearly every
candidate currently running to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who instituted a ban on student cell
17
Search Is Not Research
paper The Spectator, “It’s a very high pressure environ-
| AUGUST 2013
Our nation requires – and young people deserve –
education geared to the demands of today’s real world.
Generation Ready helps teachers and school leaders
create a stronger, more vibrant generation of Americans –
one that is ready for career and college.
Stronger teachers, stronger schools, stronger students.
We’re Generation Ready. Are you?
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_______________
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FEATURE | mobile learning
Companies like Turnitin are providing what increas-
the company searched 38 million student papers for
concept for students,” Chu says. “I’ve had instructors
matches to online content. About 10 million of those
tell me that students who’ve been caught turning in pa-
ingly might be considered standard tools in K-12 edu-
papers were written by secondary school students; the
pers they purchased online are actually confused about
cation, but there are some widespread misconcep-
rest were written by college and university students.
why they were in trouble. They’d say, ‘Sure, I bought
tions about how these tools work, Chu says. “We don’t
Among the papers searched, the company turned
this, but it’s mine. What’s the problem here?’ ”
actually identify plagiarism,” he explains. “There really
up 156 million matches to previously published
online content. Unsurprisingly, the number one online
source for those matches was Wikipedia. Among the
secondary school papers, the second most popular
source of those matches was Yahoo Answers.
“Think about that!” says Jason Chu, senior education
manager at Turnitin. “You have students who are writing papers, and their version of doing research, which
is really informed by their social habits, is to go to a
social sharing site. What’s the credibility behind Yahoo
Answers? It doesn’t make any sense, but it sheds light
on the challenge students are facing when it comes to
6 DIGITAL LITERACY RESOURCES
One of the most effective ways to address and reduce the instances of digital cheating is to promote, teach, and
model positive digital behavior in three key areas: digital literacy (critical thinking when watching, interacting with,
and creating media), ethics (codes of conduct), and safety (understanding digital risks, from malware to dangerous
people and information). Here are a few resources to help schools promote the teaching of such skills.
21st Century Information Fluency Project (21CIF) provides professional development and resources for educators to help students locate, evaluate, and use digital information more effectively, efficiently, and ethically.
Cable in the Classroom is the education outreach arm of the cable industry, with a mission that includes promoting digital citizenship. Its website offers a number of resources for educators.
The Center for Media Literacy is an organization dedicated to promoting and supporting media literacy education
as a framework for accessing, analyzing, evaluating, creating, and participating with media content.
research online.”
For many students born in the digital age, Chu says,
Media Literacy Clearinghouse is operated by digital literacy expert Frank Baker. The site offers an aggregation
and evaluation of media literacy teaching resources.
research means search. “The irony, of course, is that
there’s so much information available to students online
that they don’t know how to parse,” Chu says. “They
don’t know how to interpret it, how to evaluate it, how
to make sense of it.”
And they don’t really understand who owns it. “Copyright and intellectual property rights are often a fuzzy
18
| AUGUST 2013
New Media Literacies, a research initiative based within the University of Southern California’s Annenberg
School for Communication, looks at the challenges for educators and students living in a “participatory culture.”
The site includes white papers and teaching guides.
SOS for Information Literacy, a web-based multimedia resource funded by the Institute of Museum and Library
Services, includes lesson plans, handouts, presentations, videos, and other resources to enhance the teaching of
information literacy.
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FEATURE | mobile learning
SHARE
is no true plagiarism-detection service out there, one
the same screen, the same interaction. But there are
that will unequivocally and with full confidence identify
different rules. Teachers need to establish clear param-
I’d almost say that some teachers need to become
plagiarism. You can’t teach a machine to parse intent.
eters and show their students that there’s a difference
students again to effectively understand what stu-
What all plagiarism detection services do is identify and
between cutting and pasting in a status update on
dents are doing and how best to address the prob-
compare matched content. It’s really up to the instruc-
Facebook and original material written for a class blog
lems they face.”
tor to look at the those matches and decide whether it’s
or discussion forum.”
a case of poor citation, a student who simply forgot to
Students in hybrid classrooms are especially vulner-
“It’s an entirely different world,” Taparia adds, “and
“Digital natives are attuned to sharing files and helping each other out,” says Dorothy Mikuska, a veteran
put in the quotation marks, or did they copy the content
able, Chu believes. Confusion is almost inevitable in
high school English teacher and founder of ePen&Inc,
in a way that’s not appropriate.”
classes that conduct business both on and offline—
which makes the PaperToolsPro bibliography tool.
unless teachers make it a point to clarify distinctions.
“We’ve taught them well to collaborate in this way.
Making that job more challenging, adds Chu, is the
fact that “this generation of digital natives writes every
The Southern California high school junior describes
But the transparency of doing their own work is not as
day. Previous generations would write for assignments.
her perspective on collaboration versus cheating this
significant to them. They’re not as motivated to be as
Nowadays, students are writing all the time. They’re
way: “It is confusing! A lot of my teachers tell us to
careful about citing sources.”
text-messaging. They’re sharing on social media sites
work together on our homework, but I think they’re
“Kids do learn in groups today,” says Software Se-
like Facebook. But they’re writing, and it’s easy for
more trusting about us working together in person,
cure’s Winneg. “They live in a highly connected world,
them to conflate content information that they share,
and they don’t want us doing it online so much. Or
and it’s second nature for them to go online to get
that they use and access every day, and apply that per-
they do want us to work together online, because
answers and to reach out to friends for help. And many
spective to how they produce school papers.”
that’s how we do it in that class. And we just do it that
teachers are encouraging them to do that in their daily
way anyway all the time. But it’s not cheating; it’s just
schoolwork. So this confusion between collabora-
the way we do our schoolwork.”
tion and cheating is about more than just monitoring
Collaboration Blurs the Lines
All this line-blurring can be especially challenging for
student test takers. This is a learning generation, but
online that there’s often genuine confusion about the
teachers from older generations, says Neal Taparia, co-
they’re used to having instant access to information
difference between cheating and collaborating.
founder of online bibliography service EasyBib. “It’s dif-
online—which is the good news and the bad news.”
Digital natives are also so used to working together
“Teachers need to be mindful of the collision of stu-
19
| Next Page
ficult for educators who were in school in a pre-internet
dents’ social media activities with their school activi-
world to relate to how students are collaborating and
John K. Waters is a freelance journalist and author
ties,” says Chu. “It’s the same tools, the same process,
researching today,” he says.
based in Mountain View, CA.
| AUGUST 2013
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individual use.
Chapter 3
TECHNOLOGY, PRIVACY,
CONFIDENTIALITY, AND SECURITY
As you've seen, most conflicts in the intersections of copyright policy,
libraries, and technology come about because copyright policy constrains
desirable technology or because copyright holders use technology to
undermine copyright policy. Library policies play much lesser roles, except
for the special case of preservation and archiving.
Some technology-policy issues work the other way around. New
technologies and new applications of old technologies may be perfectly
acceptable from legal and general social policy standpoints, but may conflict
with library policies. What happens then?
With few exceptions, all libraries claim to protect user privacy and
circulation confidentiality—and all libraries need to be concerned with the
security of their collections (and their staff, but that's beyond the scope of
this discussion).
The fundamental principal of user privacy means that a user's reading
(listening, viewing) habits are strictly their own—that librarians don't
concern themselves with those habits and strictly protect that information
from others.
Circulation confidentiality is the same principle, but in reverse and on an
aggregate basis. It's a relatively recent principle, at least in practice—after
all, many public and other libraries used to use signature book cards, where
past readership could be observed simply by reading the card.
Librarians care about collection security for obvious reasons: If the collection
walks away on a regular basis, any library with a finite budget will cease to
exist.
a.
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Balancing New Technologies, Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security
Innovative librarians keep on the lookout for new technologies that can
improve library service. Companies develop new technologies and uses, then
pitch them to libraries, pointing out the problems the new technologies can
solve. That's as it should be; libraries have long been leaders in effective use
of new technology, and should remain so.
Problems arise when new technologies and uses are implemented without
considering the policy framework. Every technology, even seemingly minor
ones, should receive at least a cursory policy scan.
_o
o
If your library proceeds with a new technology that does affect privacy and
confidentiality, and you haven't addressed those issues in advance, there's
a good chance someone else will address them for you. That's particularly
likely if you're on a coast, in a major urban area, or in any high-technology
or upscale town or region.
n
.a
When your users raise questions, you need to have answers. "We didn't
think about that" generally doesn't serve very well as an answer.
I
I
The two examples that follow represent real-world situations, one where
the technological development already exists in hundreds of libraries, and
one where it's been suggested but rarely implemented. In neither case is the
technology simply a bad idea. It's rarely that simple.
A third example considers technology that's been implemented in thousands
of American libraries. Maybe you did a policy check when your library implemented that technology; maybe the policy check is still valid. Are you sure?
Radio Frequency Identification
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) seems like a great idea for libraries, all
the more so as the price of RFID tags keeps dropping. RFID may offer better
security than existing systems but can also make circulation and returns
faster, easier, and (particularly for returns) less likely to cause injuries to
library staff.
Richard W. Boss summarizes some of the advantages:
Rapid charging/discharging. The use of RFID reduces the amount of time
required to perform circulation operations. The most significant time savings are
attributable to the facts that information can be read from RFID tags much faster
than from barcodes and that several items in a stack can be read at the same
time . . .
Simplified patron self-charging/discharging. For patrons using self-charging,
there is a marked improvement because they do not have to carefully place
materials within a designated template, and they can charge several items at the
same time. Patron self-discharging shifts that work from staff to patrons. Staff is
relieved further when readers are installed in bookdrops . . .
High-speed inventorying . . . A hand-held inventory reader can be moved
rapidly across a shelf of books to read all of the unique identification information.
Using wireless technology, it is possible not only to update the inventory, but also
to identify items [that] are out of proper order.
Automated materials handling . . . This includes conveyer and sorting systems
that can move library materials and sort them by category into separate bins or
onto separate carts.'
Karen Schneider adds another indirect advantage:
Reduction in workplace injuries. Workplace injuries caused by the repetitive
motions related to flipping books and angling books under barcode readers cost
libraries millions of dollars every year.^
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This all sounds pretty good—good enough that at least 130 libraries in North
America were already using RFID systems in August 2004, with hundreds
more considering it.^
So What's the Problem?
I
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|
fD
Richard W. Boss says there isn't one:
'^
There is a perception among some that RFID is a threat to patron privacy. That
perception is based on t w o misconceptions: (1) that the tags contain patron
information and (2) that they can be read after someone has taken the materials
t p home or office.
iB
The vast majority of the tags installed in library materials contain only the item
ID, usually the same number that previously has been stored on a barcode.
The link between borrower and the borrowed material is maintained in the
circulation module of the automated library system, and is broken when the
>
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§•
material is returned. When additional information is stored on the tag, it consists
of information about the item, including holding location, call number, and
rarely author/title. The RFID tags can only be read from a distance of two feet
or less because the tags reflect a signal that comes from a reader or sensor. It
is, therefore, not possible for someone to read tags from the street or an office
building hallway."
If only it were so simple.
"Misconception" 2 is a simple fact: RFIDs can be read after someone has
checked out the materials. That's not true of all RFIDs, to be sure. There are
RFIDs that can be disabled permanently, for example RFIDs used as security
devices in retail goods. Once they've been scanned by the right device, they
should be inert.
Such RFIDs won't work for libraries. The whole point of a library RFID
implementation is to use the same chip over and over, to charge and
discharge an item, get it back to the right shelf, and assure it's where it
should be. Library RFIDs are always readable: It's in the nature of the design.
Consider the last sentence in Boss's reassuring hand wave. Do you always
walk more than two feet from the walls in an office hallway? (As a rough
test, if you reach out your arm can you touch the wall? If so, you're probably
closer than two feet.)
So you always keep a distance of more than two feet from any potential
reader. The next-to-last sentence assumes that reader technology will never
improve—that today's two feet won't be four feet, eight feet, or half a mile
in another few years. That's a remarkably poor assumption, one that flies in
the face of almost everything we know about improvements in transmitting
and receiving technology.
A Little Paranoid Thought Experiment
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^
.5
I
^
Assume for the moment that Boss is right. He's certainly right on the first
count: The RFID on a book does not, in and of itself, have any information
on the patron. As he says, the link between borrower and the borrowed
material is maintained in the circulation module of the automated library
system.
The assumption that this link is broken when the book is returned is a bit
facile, to be sure. Some systems retain that link either for a fixed period or
until the next circulation, to allow time to check for damages. Some systems
haven't been as strict about purging past circulation records as library
policies should require.^
•^
^
J
^
I
What's to stop a snoop (governmental or otherwise) from mounting a
hidden reader just outside the library, near the "official" reader, or in a
similar area where the two-foot limit is no problem? That gives the snoop a
handy record of each item that enters or leaves the library. Combined with
hidden cameras, it can identify who appears to have the item even without
the use of patron identification.
g
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s
Are such hidden cameras likely? There are already tens of thousands of funtime security cameras in use, with more to come. Their use is not only likely
but probable.
1
•§
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For that matter, wouldn't it be convenient to use RFID chips in borrower's
cards? After all, with RFID for items but barcodes for borrower's cards, a selfcheck station still needs both a laser scanner and an RFID scanner. Chip the
library card and you've simplified the station.
•3
o
After all, the patron's chip doesn't actually identify the patron (assuming
your library uses patron numbers with no independent meaning). That link
only exists in the library's database. How secure is your library's database?
That's a significant question even without RFID chips in library cards, since it's
the library's database that makes the item RFID meaningful by relating it to
a bibliographic record. Without access to the database, the RFID information
is useless.
Or is it?
Karen Schneider's Concerns
While discussing the advantages of RFID, Karen Schneider notes some issues.
Skipping over those already discussed (such as library RFID tags must stay
live, and computing and communications technology gets smaller, cheaper,
and more powerful over time), consider her well-informed comments on
several other issues—all of them policy issues that arise from this seemingly
innocuous technology:
3. Libraries should only store barcode numbers on these tags, but we have yet
to develop best practices profession-wide. At least one library in California has
acknowledged that they store patron information on RFID tags . . .
4. Library databases are often maintained by library staff that "grew into" the
job and may not have the training or expertise commonly associated with highly
secure systems. It is dangerous to assume that library systems are so powerfully
secured that they would be impervious to an organization seeking to probe
databases in order to connect library barcodes with library records . . .
6. RFID cheaply and efficiently automates surveillance
The promise of RFID is
equal to its danger: It vastly reduces the labor overhead required to track items.
7. Reliance on features unique to library RFID is dangerous.... A truly privacyfriendly approach to RFID in libraries is to assume that all library RFID tags are
world-readable, and work backwards from there.
8. Libraries nationwide have acknowledged that privacy concerns related to RFID
are new territory . . .
10. Libraries have proved vulnerable to national agendas. Recent legislation . . .
demonstrates that libraries have become highly porous battlegrounds for some of
the larger privacy and public-forum debates in our society . . . With the PATRIOT
Act, we have seen the government become increasingly inventive and aggressive
in its efforts to track the reading habits of library users.*
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Other Concerns
»
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Potential problems don't stop there. David Molnar and David Wagner of
the University of California, Berkeley, discuss ways library RFID chips may
compromise reader privacy even without access to library databases. They
discuss two dangers: tracking and hotlisting.
%
Tracking uses an item's RFID tag to follow the movements of that item—
without knowing or much caring what the item itself is. To what purpose?
§"
s
Combined with video surveillance or other mechanisms, this may allow an
adversary to link different people reading the same book. In this way, an
adversary can begin profiling individuals' associations and make inferences about
a particular individual's views, e.g., "this person checked out the same books as a
known terrorist"'
sj
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Hotlisting? That's where someone compiles a list of items that it wants
to recognize. Chances are, the RFID will contain the same number as the
barcode on a book. What's to stop someone from going through the library
>
1
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|
|
copying down barcodes for books of particular interest—or, for that matter,
scanning the RFID tags to acquire whatever codes they contain, then
relating those codes to the bibliographic information?
Hotlisting is problematic because it allows an adversary to gather information
about an individual's reading habits without a court order. For example, readers
could be set up at security checkpoints in an airport, and individuals with hotlisted
books set aside for special screening.^
Coping with RFID
None of this means libraries should shun RFID chips. It does mean that, as
Schneider and Ayre both urge, libraries need to develop best practices and
deep understanding of the possibilities. Ayre urges government privacy
protections; other authors suggest a number of steps.
The first step is awareness and, subsequently, simple corollary steps, such
as precluding the use of bar codes to search library catalogs. Molnar and
Wagner offer specific technical options to improve the security of future
library RFID systems; those options may not help existing installations, but—
along with ALA best practices guidelines—they offer the likelihood RFID will
be a less mixed blessing in the future.
One response of some futurists and technophiles to any question raised
about privacy and confidentiality is there is no such thing as privacy, so you
might as well get over it. That's not an acceptable answer—and would only
become a true answer if libraries and other agencies choose to make it true.
Collaborative Recommendations and Similar Services
in
Why can't library catalogs be more like Amazon? Variations of that cry have
risen in various quarters. Depending on what "more like Amazon" really
means, one answer is that many of them already have—catalogs showing
book covers, including tables of contents, linking to reviews.
°
\
^
•5
I
What some people mean by "more like Amazon" is a collaborative
filtering and recommendation technology that suggests new items for your
consideration, based on some combination of your own buying patterns
and combined patterns of other purchases. "People who purchased x also
purchased y" represents a simple form of collaborative recommendation;
the technology can go much further.
1
2
§
I
^
I
Since this isn't a discussion of Amazon, there's no point in considering
whether Amazon's collaborative recommendation engine is unbiased.
Some similar engines do appear to operate without bias (and to serve the
company's aims in doing so), with Netflix being one of the most widely
used. Netflix invites you to rate as many movies as you can. Based on those
ratings, the records of what you've already viewed and liked, and similar
records for a couple of million other viewers, Netflix can offer surprisingly
apt suggestions for movies you might never have considered but will
probably enjoy.
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Wouldn't it be great if a library catalog could do the same—offer a personal
reader's advisory that suggests some books (or CDs or DVDs) that you might
really enjoy, based on your past borrowing and related borrowing records
from other library users?
Given cheap disk storage and high-speed computing, the technology is
feasible now. As far as I know, it hasn't been implemented in public libraries.
Confidentiality Issues
The problem with collaborative recommendations is that to work really
well, they rely on stored knowledge of your past history and that of
others. How do you provide such stored knowledge without compromising
confidentiality?
There may be answers to that question, but those answers require testing
and thought. At first glance, it seems problematic. You could achieve one
level of collaboration by only coupling items taken out at the same time
and storing those links with codes that can never be linked to an actual
borrower. Thus, you could say that "someone took out book a, book b, book
c, and DVD d at the same time."
If that pattern happens often enough, then you could suggest that someone
else who checks out book a and book c might find book c and DVD d
interesting. But that's a weak database—and it will keep recommending
books a user has already read, which is likely to be more annoying than
useful.
You'll have much stronger recommendations if the engine can track
borrowing habits over time. I don't know how you could do that while
maintaining confidentiality.
There is a way to avoid the problem of recommending an already-read book
over and over, but it involves significant overhead. If records of a user's past
circulation are only maintained on that user's own PC (or better yet, on
a flash USB drive), stored in some encrypted manner that only the library
database can relate to actual items, those records could be used on the fly to
provide new recommendations without necessar/Vy endangering privacy or
confidentiality, assuming a secure link is used for the process.
These aren't trivial problems. They shouldn't be solved by asking users to
acknowledge their reading history may not be private if they want new
book recommendations. Library users don't generally have or need the same
background or depth of awareness of privacy issues as librarians.
It's the job of librarians to maintain library principles, not to attract users to
waive those principles by offering shiny new toys. I'm sure very few PC users
want adware or spyware installed on their machines, but millions of them
"signed" forms consenting to add such adware or spyware so they could
achieve some desirable end.
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In the case of RFID, the dangers may be limited and controllable compared
to the benefits. It's not at all clear that the supposed benefit of automated
reader's advisory outweighs the dangers, or that the dangers can be
eliminated at reasonable cost. Before any such system comes into play, those
issues need to be studied and resolved.
Online Access to User Records
This doesn't require much dis...
Purchase answer to see full
attachment