Ensuring Student Privacy on the Internet

I read this article because I take this issue very seriously in my classroom. Every once in a while, I will catch a student trying to sign up or log into a site that asks for specific personal information. I do not believe students should be giving that information at school or at home. I often question why I am giving that information in situations not involving the internet. I think there are too many people out there willing to misuse that information for their own gain. Just look at all the identify theft issues going on with information stolen from a company not the person themselves. If that information were never collected and stored, the problem would not exist. I do not believe teachers should have the right to provide personal information for students instead of parents. However, the more I think about it, I am probably doing so in an indirect way. I am sure personal student information is getting back to the company with the Accelerated Reading and Math programs. Thanks to this article, I will probably take a few more walks down the hallway to give academic information about students rather than give it over e-mail.