** Reply to note from Colin Hammond <[log in to unmask]> Tue, 14 Dec 2004 11:00:20 -0000
> Hi All,
>
> We have an internet monitoring system that records all users' current
> access. Data includes:
>
> Username IP-Address Time and Website-visited
>
> This has been made available to a lecturer who believes that students are
> not keeping to sites related to their studies. There is a possibility that
> all staff could be given access as well.
>
> The data does not discriminate or filter out staff usage.
>
> Quite simply I think that this includes personal data i.e my name or ID and
> details of what I am doing when on-line.
>
> Question is: Do I have a right of complaint, or am I just being over
> sensitive?
>
> Regards,
> Colin Hammond
>
> IT Operations Officer
> Thanet College
Hi,
Yup it includes personal data ... in fact depending on what communications
you watch and what inferences you draw it might even include sensitive
personal data.
If you were to push it, it might even be decisions made on the basis of
automated processing (I forget the right words). Eg. The logs show the
student never visited a particular site therefore the student can be marked
down despite the fact that the student may have visited a site from home or
a friend printed out the content and they shared it.
To do what you are suggesting is being done ... students (let alone staff)
should be warned that such processing will take place (plainly though you
cannot use it as an aid of marking student work). You should have a code
of conduct for the use of college IT facilities and then you may use the
mechanism to see if students visited sites which are on a prohibited list. If
students abuse your IT facilities, it is a different matter ... and you should
deal with it according to your published guidelines.
If you are put in a corner ... along the lines ... that for academic purposes
such processing is necessary, make the suggestion that the lecturer(s) in
question should also install web cams in student bedrooms or study rooms
to monitor what they study and how long for.
Good luck.
Charles
--
Charles Christacopoulos, Management Information Officer,
Planning & Information, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN,
Scotland, United Kingdom. Tel: 44(0)1382-344891. Fax: 44(0)1382-348845.
http://www.somis.dundee.ac.uk/ ::egothor http://www.egothor.org/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at : -
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
Any queries about sending or receiving message please send to the list owner
[log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|