Information Ethics at its Best: Privacy Matters

As a teacher, I’m faced with tons of issues.  One of the most important is student privacy.  Any information that I gather at the beginning or during the year must be maintained confidential.  Sometimes, this is absolutely impossible.  The best of intentions often backfire when we live in a very close knit community where everyone knows each other.  Often times, we have parents who gather outside their homes and talk about what their child learned in school and sometimes that sparks outrage from the remaining parents.  Why isn’t their child learning the same thing?  Why is their child receiving different assignments?  Why is their homework different?  Believe it or not, we have those same parents coming to our school and demanding to find out the answers to their questions. 

The first stop will always be the office.  Parents will come in demanding to speak to the principal about what their neighbor said the day before.  The principal will then direct the parent to their child’s teacher and the interrogation begins.  As teachers, we must be prepared to answer quickly and accurately.  By the time we’re done explaining our classroom procedures, we have successfully put out the fire.  This is not always the case, though.

In doing my research for this assignment, I sat down with our librarian and asked the very difficult question about the four principles associated with information ethics within the library.  She was kind enough to give me the time to answer my questions and detail an occurrence that she experienced a couple of years back.  She explained to me that the most severe thing that she has seen had to do with respect for privacy.  Two sets of parents came in to speak to her regarding some books their children will checking out.  One set of parents blamed another child for the way their child was behaving and their choice of books.  Apparently, one child was influencing another in checking out questionable reading material.  First off, what was the questionable reading material and did it exist in an elementary library?  The answer to that was yes!  Our library books are labeled “LG” for lower grades and “MG” for middle grades.  We apparently were carrying books that were labeled “MG” in a PK-5 school. 

As the parents came by to speak to the librarian about the reading books that were being checked out by the students, they demanded to know their reading record for the past year and that is where the right to privacy was challenged.  She explained to the parents that she would not be able to share that information with anyone other than the parent of the student in question and that was with the approval of administration.  The issue was resolved by explaining that the book record was confidential and that the books in question were being reviewed and if need be, would be removed.  Because the books were clearly labeled “MG,” the books were immediately sent back to distribution and forwarded to one of the district’s middle schools. 

The books in question were clearly in the wrong school and if the parents had not brought their concerns in, we wouldn’t have known that the books were in the wrong place.  This case was helpful in more ways than one.  First, we were able to see one of the four principles being challenged.  Secondly, we were able to determine that mistakes occur when book are distributed and we were able to fix it with the attention it received. 

This case also brought to light that librarians often have to answer questions, much like teachers.  Plus, everyone involved in a school setting must refer to administration when challenges are made.  The support must be there when addressing school, classroom, or library issues.  I would be very hesitant to share any information with anyone without consulting with administration. 

Dr. Bell made some very important observations when it comes to the challenges we face with information ethics.  First, get the facts straight.  Next, identify the moral dilemma.  Then, evaluate the moral dilemma using the principles of information ethics to decide which side has the most ethical support.  Lastly, test the solution.  Richard Severson calls this principled reflection.  These are some important and valid points to always remember. 

I wanted to briefly touch upon an article I read written by Michael McFarland regarding the right to privacy.  The article stated that information ethics comes into question heavily when we are dealing with technology and the millions bits of data that is available on the Internet.  The article focused on a database that identified AIDS patients and how readily available it is to access.  Are we really able to see patient’s confidential medical records online?  Yes, we are!  Are we really that invasive?  Why would this information need to be available?  Are we taking things too far?  A book list is guarded and kept confidential.  I would imagine that medical records should be as well.  This article was scary and eye opening.  The digital world we live in is truly making things easier, but that alone is crossing the boundary of ethics within the information world.

Bell, M. (1998).  Kiss and Information Ethics.  TAET Journal, Spring 1998.

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/technology/internet/privacy/medical-records-privacy.pdf