CIPA & COPPA

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         This week I learned about CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act) and COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act). Both of these acts are intended to protect minors with online usage.
Upon reading about these laws, I find that they both serve a good purpose as it is very important to protect children online, especially in schools.

       In order to be compliant with CIPA, at my school, St. Francis Xavier in LaGrange, IL, we supervise students via DyKnow, a monitoring software, when students are using school devices. In addition to this, we educate the students on internet safety by teaching Digital Citizenship lessons through a curriculum established by Common Sense Media.

       Regarding COPPA, I talked with my school's technology coach about it, and she said that the main reason why she tells staff to wait when they want to use a new app or online feature is because she wants to investigate if using that feature complies with COPPA. Earlier in the year, I wanted to use Screencastify with my 6th graders. Looking back on this, I remember she told me that we had to buy a license in order to be compliant with COPPA. At the time, I didn't know much about this law, but now I understand what she meant by this. My 6th graders are under 13, so we couldn't use the free version.

    Overall, I think these laws are fine. I think they do what they can to protect children, and it's better to have them than to not have anything at all. I think online safety can be complicated, especially as new things come out. While it's important for schools to educate students with online safety, the main individuals who need to be involved in ensuring children understand the importance of online safety are the children's parents. I remember being 10-11 years ago back in 1998 and my mother having a conversation with me about the internet. Her words stayed with me and definitely stressed the importance that the internet isn't a toy and that I need to be careful with who I communicate with and with what I search for. As I stated, these laws and schools can do what they can to protect children, but I believe it's the main responsibility of parents to protect their children, especially in the gray areas of personal phone usage, etc.

    It was brought to my school's attention this week that many middle-school students have been participating in several Instagram accounts. Apparently one of these accounts takes pictures of students and staff and shows fictitious relationships. My principal wrote an e-mail to families regarding this situation and stressed that the school will investigate and monitor on our part, but that we need families to do the same by stressing the importance to the children of being good digital citizens and by monitoring their children's usage of social media.

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       Furthermore, I think 13 is a proper age to target. They chose that because it's roughly the first age of high school. I know individuals could lie about their age, but that shouldn't be happening in elementary schools, and if it is happening with children and their personal devices, that's where I'm further emphasizing that parents need monitor those devices. If they're going to allow their children to use those devices, they need to make sure they're using them appropriately and complying with the law.