While new classroom learning methods have made information more readily available, the way it is used has raised important ethical questions. Understanding these issues affecting our classrooms will help administrators, teachers, parents and students better understand how to address them. People who collect evidence in an unethical manner risk not only exclusion from evidence, but also sanctions for violating various ethical rules. For example, the professional rules governing the conduct of lawyers in New York State emphasize that “although a lawyer is not a moral adviser as such, moral and ethical considerations affect most legal issues and can decisively influence how the law is applied.” Therefore, a lawyer who gathers evidence in an unethical manner may be sanctioned by the lawyers` organization that regulates the lawyer`s conduct. Rasa Juzenaite works as a project manager in an IT legal consultancy in Belgium. She holds a Master`s degree in Cultural Studies with a specialization in Digital Humanities, Social Media and Digitization. She is interested in the cultural aspects of today`s digital environment. Digital information processed by NET can be used as evidence. However, due to various issues, digital evidence can be declared inadmissible or considered unreliable by the courts. Issues related to evidence gathered through NETS can be divided into two broad categories: (1) general issues related to collecting evidence on NETs and (2) issues related to gathering evidence through social networks (see Figure 2). The first category includes issues related to digital evidence in general, such as the inadmissibility of evidence because it was obtained without authorization and the unreliability of evidence due to authentication issues. The second category includes specific issues related to the collection of evidence via social networks, such as the authenticity and admissibility of evidence collected via social networks. The two categories of digital evidence issues are discussed in Sections 3.1 and 3.2, respectively.
Step 2: Use the following resources to find a licensed medium (video, image, audio) under each of the Creative Commons licenses (6 in total). You have to hunt something, but you can find one of each. You can also use other resources if you can find them on the Internet. Christopher McGilvery, a senior lecturer at Angelo State University, recommends an approach that can help teachers demonstrate and guide students on how to use technology ethically. It offers the acronym TECH SMART as an option to help students navigate the ethical waters of their digital world. Children learn ethics in school from the first day of kindergarten. The teacher tells them the rules and the reasons for the rules. They learn not to cheat or hurt each other. However, the advent of technology in the classroom increases the complexity of teaching ethics. The first category includes unlawful use of user-generated content created by NET in general. Such problems may arise, for example, from the illegal use of copyrighted photos taken by portable devices (e.g. Google Glass and Smart Watch).
According to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, an international copyright treaty in force in more than 160 countries, copyright in creative works automatically enters into force upon their creation. Thus, anyone copying or distributing digital content from NET is likely to infringe copyright. The term “new and emerging technologies” (NET) encompasses the most new, advanced and significant innovations developed in various areas of modern technology. Current examples of NETs include, for example, zero-emission hydrogen-powered cars, next-generation robotics, genetic engineering techniques, developments in artificial intelligence; Nanotechnologies, social networks, etc. Legal issues related to “new and emerging technologies” (NETs) fall within the scope of laws governing the use of data, evidence, creative works and inventions. We will continue to focus on four of these laws: Teachers can integrate tasks that use digital tools into the classroom. This allows students to learn how to manage technology responsibly with teacher supervision. The third category includes issues related to the illegal collection of copyrighted content from social networking platforms. For example, such problems can arise from the use of data mining technologies that automatically collect a large amount of copyrighted user-generated content published on social networking platforms. When it comes to the ethics of digital use in the classroom, teachers and administrators must exercise judgment when identifying situations that have a detrimental effect on the overall integrity of students` work and behaviour.
It is also important for teachers to describe both the technological rules and the reasons behind them in order to create an atmosphere of transparency and support. Teachers can focus on how technology can enhance students` learning and help them understand how technology can connect and build on real-world activities. The term “new and emerging technologies” (NET) is constantly expanding. Two decades ago, most NETs were connected to artificial intelligence machines. The popularity of augmented reality, nanotechnology, the Internet of Things and 3D printing began to grow at the beginning of the current century. In addition, four types of issues related to the collection of evidence via social networks are addressed, namely issues related to the authenticity of evidence collected via social networks (section 3.2.1), issues related to the admissibility of evidence collected via social networks (section 3.2.2), ethical issues (section 3.2.3) and issues related to the law on stored communications (section 3.2. 2). The rapid pace of technological progress makes it difficult for people to assess the ethical implications of their actions in the digital space.
Understanding the ethical issues of technology in the classroom and remembering TECH SMART helps students become ethical citizens in a digital world. If evidence from social networks is collected without authorization or is not reliable, it is considered inadmissible. Permission to collect evidence for social networks usually takes the form of an arrest warrant (i.e. A specific type of authorization issued by a state institution) or a subpoena (i.e., a legal document requiring a person or entity to provide evidence). Once the warrant or summons is filed with the operator of a social networking platform, the operator is required by law to provide the requested evidence. Most social networking platforms have made it clear what type of warrants and subpoenas they will review.