Scenario: Mrs. Peters enjoys working with technology. She has been working with computers for several years now and has her own website to allow friends to keep up with what her family is doing. Every year she posts her family’s holiday photo on the website. A friend who lives overseas contacts her and says that she saw her family’s photo being used as an advertisement. Neither Mrs. Peters nor her husband know anything about it. How do you protect your identity?
In this scenario, Mrs. Peters is in no way using technology inappropriately. She is simply updating her friends on the things that have been going on in her life being that she does not see them on a regular basis.
The only thing inappropriate about this scenario is the fact that a marketing company has taken Mrs. Peters’ photos off of her website without her permission or, as stated in the scenario, has let her or her husband know that her pictures were used for their advertisement. According to Accenture.com, “As people share their personal data with their service providers, digital trust becomes extremely critical, especially for communications, media and technology companies.” This example falls into element 6 of digital citizenship; digital trust. The issue of digital law is the common mistake that everyone makes, which is keeping themselves knowledgeable of the intellectual property rights and copyright protection and the violations that can, at times, be very severe.
However, in the company’s defence, Mrs. Peters did not copyright her photos and the scenario says nothing about her having any sort of protection over her photos. The internet has made it so easy for people to post, locate, and download, and although this is a strength of modern technology, it is sometimes not good, such as Mrs. Peters’ situation.
For someone that spends majority of her time on the internet and works with computers, Mrs. Peters’ must educate herself on issues such as this otherwise it will continue. To avoid future problems, Mrs. Peters must:
- Protect her information against theft or unauthorized use
- Control who gains legal access to information/ photos, and what they can do with them
- Offer reciprocal benefits. This means that the company’s action to taking the images was necessary and Mrs. Peters should collect whatever what she deserves from her photos
- Take responsibility for misuse and ensure corrective action
Following these steps will surely have Mrs. Peters established in digital trust (law).
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