School Technology Policies

In Thomas Claburn’s article, “Beware Hijacked Social Networking Accounts, FBI Warns,” a number of different money-scam methods currently used by scammers are mentioned. From elegantly insidious to boldly clever, a new trend is to impersonate friends who are in distress overseas.

http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=UWNMKMT3Y03TFQE1GHPCKH4ATMY32JVN?articleID=220300878

I almost wish I was clever enough to be a scammer, myself. I am even more worried about students at every level who are targeted through their social network profiles to provide money, access to other accounts, and connections to adults. I occasionally find it hard to believe that schools still believe that publicly-available social networking tools are safe enough for students and staff members.

A number of years ago, a friend of mine succumbed to the “please send me seed money and I will send you a large deposit” scam run through email channels. With social networking sites, students are being “friended” by a profile, not a person, and regardless of the profile’s appearance, the person on the other end of the computer is not interested in the well-being and protection of students. Putting up a false profile is common practice, especially when bullying rears its ugly head in schools.

If OUR job is protecting students during the teaching and learning process, are we doing it well by exposing our students to wide-open social networking using public funds?