FCW’s story, Group says kids should learn cybersecurity discusses the release of a report from the Cyber Security Industry Alliance called Teaching Children Cyber Security and Ethics. The report calls for the creation of a national program (like “Just Say No� or "No Child Left Behind") to promote cyber security awareness among kids in schools.
I don’t think the states would stand for yet another unfounded mandate, so I don’t think this is a viable proposal, though it does raise a red flag about cybersecurity and kids.
Nevertheless, my hackles were initially up over the idea that the government was going to set a standard for ethical computer behavior. But then, I remembered a story a friend told me. She was taking an ethics class (might have even been computer ethics) at a community college, and the instructor posed a hypothetical question: If you were a contractor working on the computer system at the Department of Motor Vehicles and had access to individual driving records, would it be ok to look up (not change, just view) your friends’ records? Almost all the students said yes. And what was worse, they didn’t see the problem with that. A victimless crime.
So maybe we do need some ethics foisted upon us.
In my (limited) experience, I’ve found government workers have pretty high ethical standards -- use of computers, communication with vendors, accepting lunches, etc. This heightened ethical sense may be because there are very clear rules about what’s permissible and what’s not. Or it may be the result of working in a job that’s under scrutiny from Congress, watchdog groups, taxpayers.
What’s your experience?
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