PBS高端访谈:线上学习面临的安全问题(在线收听

JUDY WOODRUFF: Million of students return to school this week, many learning primarily online, offering a trove of new data to companies. But what about the apps and the Web sites parents use to keep kids safe? Law professor and Internet privacy expert Leah Plunkett shares her humble opinion on why parents should shy from high-tech surveillance.

朱迪·伍德乐夫:本周,数百万学生返校,同时很多学生还是以线上学习为主。但是,线上学习为企业提供了大量的新数据,而父母使用的那些学习软件和网站能够保障孩子们的安全吗?法律教授和网络隐私专家利亚·普兰克特分享了自己关于“为什么父母应该回避高科技监控”的拙见。

LEAH PLUNKETT, Author, Sharenthood: The other day, my 9-year-old-son tried to convince me that he is ready to walk to school by himself. His pitch: Put one of those smart watches on me, so you will know where I am. My response? No one should be spying on you, including dad and me. When our kids think the best way for them to get more freedom is for us, their parents, to use surveillance technology on them, we are failing them. I'm the mom of two young kids. I'm also a technology researcher and a law professor. With my parent brain, I understand the appeal of tracking our kids. With my professor brain, I understand the risks if we go ahead and do it. We can put a surveillance doorbell system on our front door to see when our kids come and go. We can put a smart watch on them with geofencing that alerts us when they go outside bounds we have set for them. We want to keep our kids safe, but, actually, we're jeopardizing their physical safety. If the technology we're using on them, from smart watches to tracking apps on their phones and beyond, isn't fully secure, their whereabouts could be tracked by people who might want to harm them. Remember, kids who are survivors of abuse often know their abusers. We don't need to make it possible for potential predators in our networks or hackers to access the surveillance technology we put on our kids and stalk them. We could also be jeopardizing their future opportunities. When a technology monitors our kids' location, movements, or other behaviors, we typically have no ironclad guarantee that the information stays put. The tech provider could sell information about where our kids go or how fast they drive to a data broker, which then might sell it to schools and employers. We know that college admissions are increasingly informed by big data analytics. Without ironclad guarantees that a tech provider won't share our children's information, we should assume that they will, either now or in the future, in ways that we can't predict or control. When our children veer off course, we want it to stay in the family. Parents, choose not to stalk your kids. You're unlikely to be the only ones watching.

利亚·普兰克特,作家,《数据分享》:有一天,我9岁的儿子试图说服我,说他已经准备好自己步行去学校了。他的建议是:把一块智能手表戴在我身上,这样你就能知道我的位置了。而我的回答呢?谁都不应该对你进行监视,包括我和爸爸。当孩子认为获取自由最好的方式就是让我们,让他们的父母,对他们使用监控技术时,那表明我们让他们失望了。我是两个年幼的孩子的妈妈,同时也是一名技术研究员和法学教授。作为父母,我能理解他们想要跟踪孩子的吸引力。但是作为教授,我也知道父母继续这样下去的风险。我们可以在前门安装一个监视门铃系统,看看孩子们什么时候来,什么时候走;我们可以给他们戴上有“地理围栏”功能的智能手表,这样当他们超出我们设定的地理范围时手表就会发出警报。我们想保护孩子们的人身安全,但其实我们正在危及他们的人身安全。如果我们在他们身上使用的技术(从智能手表到手机上的跟踪应用程序等等)不完全安全,那么他们的行踪可能会被想要伤害他们的人跟踪。记住,遭受过虐待的孩子往往会认识虐待他们的人。网络中的潜在捕食者或者黑客有可能访问我们给孩子安装的监控技术并跟踪他们,而我们没有必要让这种事情发生,这样还有可能危及他们未来的机遇。当一种技术监控着我们孩子的位置、行动或其他行为时,我们通常无法保证这些信息不会改变。技术供应商可以向数据经纪人出售关于“我们孩子去哪里或者他们开车有多快”的信息,之后数据经纪人可能会把这些信息卖给学校和雇主。我们知道,大数据分析越来越多地为大学录取提供信息。如果我们无法确定技术供应商会不会分享我们孩子的信息,那么不管是现在还是将来,我们都应该以我们无法预测或控制的方式去假设他们会。当我们的孩子偏离轨道时,我们希望它留在家里。父母们,不要跟踪你的孩子,你不是唯一的监视者。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/pbs/pbsjy/511428.html