Home / Main / PA Jul 09
Internet Privacy and the Use of Facebook
Hi everyone,
I wanted to send out a quick email about a couple of topics which have have come up recently. First, I want to address the use of Facebook. Laura touched upon this topic at the last round of regional meetings, but I think with the summer setting in, and some of us finding ourselves at work with inordinate amounts of free time, some quick reminders and/or clarifications are in order. If you do not use Facebook, I apologize for the unnecessary notification.
Of course, facebook and twitter are great ways to reach out, share our experiences, vent, kill time, and so forth, and both sites have privacy settings that make it so only your friends can see pictures or comments you post on your site. However, I want to remind you that not everyone knows about these privacy settings, and if you post a comment on someone's site which is open, regardless of your own privacy settings, it is available for the world to see. The same goes for pictures--if someone posts a picture of you, and their site is open for anyone to access, then it means that picture of you is out there floating around on the world wide web. Please, just keep this in mind when you are making comments or you see a picture of yourself on facebook. Protect yourself - don't post comments that are hurtful toward your community or coworkers, or would otherwise compromise your relationship with others if the wrong person happened to stumble upon it. Additionally, if there is a picture of you which you feel is inappropriate in some way or another, please don't hesitate to "untag" yourself from it, contact the person who put it up, or otherwise correct the situation.
Summer can be a pretty boring time, and you might find yourself checking and posting on facebook quite often while you are at work. Please just remember that you do not know who is around and possibly looking at your computer when you're on this site, so use discretion in scrolling through photos, in particular. If you are using a computer which the school has provided for you, please also keep in mind that your password is on file somewhere, and the school has the right to open up your computer and check the history or your files at their discretion. As such, I suggest that when you're finished using facebook, updating your blog, checking your email, etc, please log out! This will protect you and your private information from possibly being read by coworkers.
I also wanted to remind you to please refrain from putting pictures of students or anything which includes their personal information on the internet. I know that we all mean well and public forums are the best place to share photos quickly...but first and foremost, we are teachers, and it is against the law to display any pictures or information without their parents' written consent. I understand that many of you post these pictures for "friends only" but when does "private" become "public"? Many of us have hundreds of friends on sites like facebook, so even pictures posted for only friends to see...are a breach of privacy for the students. This also goes for student information: please do not mention or show the full names or grades of your students, or refer to a particular student by name. Also use discretion when posting pictures of Japanese coworkers...they are held under extreme public scrutiny (as are we), and I'm sure they would be nervous about having their picture posted anywhere online.
Finally, I have one last request: of course, those of you who use Facebook know that I check it and update compulsively. I have noticed recently that sometimes people mention issues about work, or things the PA should take a look at...on the site. If you have an issue or a question, or think I should know about something, please, do not contact me in a public forum. I would far rather you email me at this address or in the very least contact me in a private message than by seeing it on my or someone else's public wall.
I am sending this email because I want us to protect ourselves and each other. There have been cases in the past where Japanese teachers have found JETs' blogs, or have accessed a site which a JET thought was private, and wasn't. The results were ugly, and some unfortunate JETs have been all-but-ostracized from their community as a result of comments they made which other teachers found. I do not want to see any of us put in a situation like this!
Okay, that's it from me! Thanks for reading and I hope you are all having a great summer!
Take care, Tiffany