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I realise that, even with the way I have titled this blog entry, I have shown bias on the matter of schools "spying" on students. However, my aim is to assess this situation as methodically and unemotionally as possible, in order to eliminate any emotional or otherwise bias. So, here goes!
THE SITUATION
The IT Manager at my school created a false facebook account, with a false name and identity, in order to befriend other St Peter's students and essentially keep tabs on the stuff they were posting on facebook. This blog will discuss the ethical (or otherwise) nature of this behaviour.
THE DISCUSSION
There are really only two positions to take on the actions of the St Peter's IT Manager: That the behaviour is ethical, or that it is not. Here is an argument for each side.
The Behaviour is Ethical
A school must protect both its students and its reputation. In order to do that, school's must keep an eye on the behaviour of the students who have a stake in that reputation. So, if the students must essentially be spied on to keep them and the reputation of the school safe, why shouldn't they?
Surely it is ethical to monitor the facebook profile comments and pictures etc. of the school's students to achieve saftey for both the students and the schools reputation. Such a small sacrafice in terms of privacy and honesty is worth the potential disaster such actions divert.
In a tossup between privacy/honesty and student safety/reputation, surely safety and reputation wins.
The Behaviour is Not Ethical
Every human has a number of basic rights that are afforded to them no matter what the circumstances. Privacy is one such right, and a school should not be able to breach this right, even if it's reputation could be at stake. Plain and simple.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
The above discussion is based on the assumption that the IT Manager of the school is using a false profile to befriend other students just to see if they are doing or saying anything they shouldn't - which is what he is doing.
However, if there was already some kind of indication that the student or students in question had said or done something on their facebook page that put the school or themselves in danger, would the actions of the St Peter's IT Manager be ethical then?
CONCLUSION
It is my judgement that the IT Manager (or anyone else, for that matter) spying on students on facebook by creating a false identity and befriending them, is unethical. Every human has a right to privacy, and nothing, school or otherwise, has a right to breach that - at least not without some indication of wrongdoing.
The philisophical side of the above discussion is all very well and good, but in practice the kind of spying discussed goes on every day. I can't see change coming there - schools, employers and other people will continue to use facebook as a means to assess their student/potential employee or whatever else.
Hopefully, this breaching of privacy will not become any more prominent or serious.
Interesting thinking, Justin. Surely the philosophical approach to deciding is the only way. If we follow our emotions, as you clearly did in your title, then you are not going to come down on the side of Mr Pryce/the school.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, arguing individual cases is not productive in trying to arrive at a robust, reasonable ethical viewpoint on this issue.
You'll note that the starting point of Mr Pryce's presentation yesterday was in fact to give consideration to legal/ethical standards, such as have already been established. I think it was clear that Mr Pryce's actions were taken within very strict public, ethical guidelines that the school follows and that his actions were in fact not only ethically appropriate, but laudable.
It was good to see you change your view over the course of the discussion.