Digital Rights and Responsibilities is one of the 9 Elements of Digital Citizenship. It is defined as “those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world.” (Ribble, 2015) According to Mike Ribble, these rights include the right to privacy and free speech. These rights are basic rights awarded many individuals but when connected with technology there are responsibilities that come along with those rights.
Students and employees who use technology often have their rights and responsibilities outlined in an Acceptable Use Agreement. Appoquinimink High School’s Acceptable Use Agreement can be found below.
Appoquinimink School District Educational Technology: Acceptable Use Agreement |
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Appoquinimink High School’s Acceptable Use Agreement |
Digital RightsThe digital citizen has the right to freedom of speech and technology is a great what to share and vocalize those rights. Individuals need to be sure to use technology in an appropriate and ethical way. For example, I have the right to free speech but if I was to yell “FIRE” in a crowded space there would be consequences for my actions. Does my right to free speech override the rights of others’ safety and well being? The answer is clear in this example but it is often blurred when it comes to technology.
The digital citizen has the right to privacy. Citizens in the digital world need to understand how to keep their information private. Vicki Davis includes privacy as one of her “9 key P’s” of digital citizenship. (Davis, 2014) Check out Privacy and Vicki Davis’s other 8 P’s on Edutopia here. 9 Key P's of Digital Citizenship |
digital responsibilitiesLarry Magid explains that students need to experience the good and bad of technology to learn how to assess the risks and how to react to them. So children have the right to have access to all technology and the responsibility to be a good digital citizen. (Magid, 2013)
One such responsibility would be using technology ethically. This includes asking permission to and giving credit to authors and creators of the work. It also means you must cite those works when you use or reproduce them. To learn more about how and what to cite click on the following reference tools. Purdue Owl Citation Machine BibMe |
Digital Citizens Bill of rights
In 2012, Congressman Darrell Issa of California penned a Digital Citizens Bill of Rights. Although government’s entrance into digital laws make some nervous, Issa however had some very sound ideas. Table 1
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using technology to cheat or plagerize
According the Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics surveyed student in both public and private schools and had the following results.
For more information about plagiarism click this link. |
Technology is a privilege that we have been fortunate to have access to. Although we are responsible for our own actions, it is also the responsibility of a good digital citizen to report issues and violations of our rights and responsibilities. Cyberbullying, cheating, threats and any other safe or unethical practices should be reported. Both parties need to be held accountable. This accountability system is the entire digital community’s responsibility.
Digital Citizenship by Christine Serin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.