Information Technology, Article Writing Example

Children Internet Protection Act 2000

The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was passed by Congress in 2000.  This act provided for internet safety policies and restrictions, via the internet, on materials considered harmful to children. This included hard pornography, sadistic violence / torture and other materials deemed unsuitable for the protection of young children.  The ethical concept being one of ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’. Children have access to the internet for a wide variety of educational purposes but certain sites are considered damaging and inappropriate for the education of young minds.  (US Dep’t of Commerce., 2003).

The Government recognized the importance that the internet plays as a global source of information to support educational needs. Nevertheless, there was both a moral and ethical need to protect young children from a range of unsuitable material like pornography, racial hatred sites, and those sites that make them vulnerable to online predators like paedophiles.  Hence policies looked at identification, filtering and blocking of these sites.  As such Congress in recognition of these safety needs adopted a comprehensive strategy that resulted in the passing of the CIPA act. (US Dep’t of Commerce., 2003).

Schools are expected to comply with the Act and obtain two important certification requirements: (i) Internet safety policy adoption for minors and (ii) provision for educating minors on the behaviour and dangers when interacting through social network media and chatrooms, with particular emphasis on cyber bullying and recognition of predatory behaviour. Schools and the libraries are expected to demonstrate their compliance with these important safety requirements.  Research indicates that both parents and schools have been both widely supportive and gained acceptance of these policies.  (Federal Communications Commission, 2012).

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (1998)

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), 1998 was geared at protecting the interests of those children under the age of 13.  Statistics illustrated that in excess of 10 million US children gained access to the internet and that as such they were vulnerable through social media sites and chat rooms.  This information on individual profiles was being collected by unscrupulous marketing agencies and the details sold on for advertising and marketing purposes. In 1995 it was pointed out that such freedom of information could be used to look up and determine profiles of children and as such make them more vulnerable targets to paedophiles and the development of mailing lists for such people.  (Epic, 2012).

It was in 1998 that Congress was presented with a comprehensive report illustrating the lack of privacy of child information over the internet and how this could be used for harmful purposes.  This led to the introduction of the Act that went into effective operation in April 2000.  It has been the particular advances in technology that have led to children being more vulnerable. In particular the access to the internet through the array of hand held devices like cell phones, I-Pads and compact portable wireless computers.  This has restricted the capability and capacity of both parents and teachers to monitor the use of the children.  This new found freedom has presented a significant threat to both the privacy and safety of young children.  Equally the social media software and exposure to teenage online dating sites has increased the threat from paedophiles and other deviant members of society.  Historically there have been few legal regulations that deal with the protection and remedy of such threats and potential abuses of personal privacy and confidentiality.  CIPA and COPPA have gone some way towards taking remedial action steps in this regard. (Information Shield, 2012)

References

Epic. (2012, 8 13). Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA. Retrieved from Epic: http://epic.org/privacy/kids/

Federal Communications Commission. (2012, 8 13). Children’s Internet Protection Act . Retrieved from Federal Communications Commission: http://www.fcc.gov/guides/childrens-internet-protection-act

Information Shield. (2012, 8 13). Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) . Retrieved from Information Shield: http://www.informationshield.com/coppaoverview.htm

US Dep’t of Commerce. (2003). Childrens Internet Protection Act. Washington DC: US Department of Commerce.