September has arrived and school has started.
As we know well, technological innovation and easy access to the web has a huge impact on the world of education. It improved the training processes and contributed to supporting the children by enhancing their skills and relationships.
Often, however, due to a lack of education and little digital awareness, the incredible opportunities offered by a easy access to technological tools and the internet turns into a danger and a risk.
Sexting, online defamation, revenge porn, digital overexposure, cyber crimes… are just some of the alarming phenomena of this dark side of technology.
For this reason, we know that it is central actively strive to deliver useful information and suggestions for younger people protect yourself from risks connected to the development of the digital world and to reaffirm on a daily basis, even in the school environment, those principles of civility and respect, such as privacy and personal dignity, which must always be at the center of the education of every citizen of today and tomorrow.
But don’t worry: valid help is offered by the Guarantor for the protection of personal data!
The Guarantor has recently published the new version of the “Privacy-proof School” handbook.
From the electronic register to the use of the smartphone in class, from the photos taken and shared on social media to the nightmare of all parents: the WhatsApp group!
The objective of the new guide is to offer families, students, without forgetting teachers, a tool to ensure the broadest protection of the data of people who grow up, study and deal with the school world.
The handbook, in addition to addressing the issues related to the processing of personal data in the scholastic world, dedicates particular attention to the correct use of new technologies (electronic register, digital teaching, recording of lessons, etc.), increasingly present in the school dimension.
Furthermore, face up Also themes regarding some worrying phenomena that can involve younger people (like cyberbullying, il revenge porn and the sexting) going as far as defining good digital education practices (from sharenting to the correct management of videos and photos taken on the most disparate occasions such as parties, events and school trips).
The handbook and the answers to the most frequently asked questions on the topic of school and privacy are available on the thematic page of the Guarantor’s website dedicated to the world of school (www.gpdp.it/scuola).
In the meantime, we provide you with some useful suggestions to start off on the right foot.
Happy school year & Embrace Data Protection!
1 – School communications:
The notices placed online must be of a general nature, while individuals must be addressed with communications of an individual nature.
E.g. The name and surname of students whose parents are late in paying their fees or canteen service cannot be published on the school website, or posted on the noticeboard.
Schools and local authorities they cannot publish online (school website, social profile, etc.), in a form accessible to anyonethe lists of children who use school bus services, indicating among other things the respective pick-up and drop-off stops or other information on the service.
This dissemination of personal data, which among other things can make minors easy prey to potential bad actors.
2 – The parents’ chat:
We avoid sharing personal data in the class chat that makes identifiable, for example, students involved in particularly delicate matters or recipients of disciplinary measures.
3 – Sharenting:
As parents, we pay particular attention be careful when sharing content online that concern our children and their classmates (photos, videos, ultrasounds, stories).
What is posted online or shared in messaging chats risks no longer being in our control. If you decide to publish images of your children, it is important to at least try to follow some precautions, such as:
- make the minor’s face unrecognizable or cover it with a “smiley” emoticon;
- limit the visibility settings of images on social networks;
- avoid creating a social account dedicated to the minor;
- read and understand the privacy policies of the social networks on which we upload photographs.
4 – Images of events, performances and school trips:
Video footage and photographs collected by parents during plays, trips and school events do not violate privacy. The images, in these cases, are collected for personal purposes and intended for a family or friend environment and not for dissemination.
However, particular attention must be paid to the possible publication of the same images on the Internet and on social networks.
In such cases the dissemination of images of minors requiresas a rule, consent of the operators the parental responsibility and of the other people present in the photographs and videos.
5 – Recording of the lesson:
If the school regulations allow it, it is possible to record the lesson exclusively for personal purposes, e.g. for study purposes. We remind our children that any other use or possible diffusion online requires the consent of the other people involved in the recording.
In any case, Video recording is not permitted of the lesson in which class dynamics manifest themselves.