Breaking NSA security--an inside job

Several years before publishing the Davinci Code, Dan Brown published another book about code called Digital Fortress.

I first read this book several years ago--it was published in 1998, before the events of 9/11 that have been used as an excuse for increased government surveillance.  A reread seemed timely given the information released by Edward Snowden about the National Security Agency and the global snooping it carries out.  The amount of digital information circulating these days is many times that of 1998, and the technology to snoop much more sophisticated and complex, but the story is even more relevant.

The premise of the novel is that a rogue programmer creates software that will cause a meltdown of the security on the NSA's central computer.  This programmer will give the agency the key to stop that action if the agency publicly admits to its massive surveillance.

Much of Digital Fortress is chase scenes--in Spain and the NSA headquarters in the U.S.--typical of his novels.  Also, it centres on relationships of the man and woman who turn out to be the good guys and save the data centre from being opened to the world.  Spoiler alert--the key is knowing about the code that Julius Caesar used to send messages to his generals.

A couple of quotes are as pertinent now as when the book was written--maybe more so.

"Over the past few years, our work here at NSA has gotten harder and harder.  We've faced enemies I never imagined would challenge us.  I'm talking about our own citizens.  The lawyers, the civil rights fanatics, the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation)--they've all played a part, but it's more than that.  It's the people.  They've lost the faith.  They've become paranoid.  They suddenly see us as the enemy.  ...We're eavesdroppers, peeping Tom's, violators of people's rights."  (229)

The rogue programmer's favorite quote was the Latin "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes," roughly translating to "Who will guard the guards?"  Great question!

In the credits, Brown offers "a quiet thank you to the two faceless ex-NSA cryptographers who made invaluable contributions via anonymous remailers.  Without them this book would not have been written."

Brown has one of the characters comment that the danger to the secrecy about what the NSA is doing won't come through a technological break, but rather, from a person on the inside.  Thank you Edward Snowden.

 

 

ICT in Education: Workshop on critical perspectives

Fourteen critical issues in technology are identified for a workshop at the BCTF Summer Conference in August 2013

The new technologies raise many educational and social issues as they have become infused in our classrooms and culture. Ursula Franklin says that “every tool shapes the task”—no technology is “just a tool.”

Which are the big technology issues that we should focus on? What should we do on these?

1.         Student information system (beyond BCeSIS)

The ministry has selected a corporation, Fujitsu, to run a new software program to replace BCeSIS. This is the same company that has had the contract to run BCeSIS, but with a new software program.

The ministry-developed system is not the only alternative. The Saanich school district is developing OpenStudent, a open access system for student information.

What are the issues that we should be concerned about?

An analysis of the Ministry’s approach to replacing BCeSIS can be found at http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Publications/ResearchReports/RR2013-03.pdf

OpenStudent can be found at http://www.openstudent.ca/

2.         “Bring your own device”

The BC Education Plan assumes that technology will be infused throughout the school—but largely depends on students bringing their own device.

Should students be able to bring their own device (smart phone, tablet, laptop) into the classroom and use it there?
What are the equity implications of this policy?

What policies should apply to students’ use of devices in classrooms? Type of use? Limits on sending photos and videos?

3.         Cyberbullying

This is a big public issue—for good reason. Ethical and safe communication can be taught in the school. But where?

What responsibility does the school have for actions by students outside of the venue of the school building and grounds?

Lots of material on cyberbullying exists on the web—just Google it.

4.         Boundaries

Social media have porous boundaries. A professional relationship with students requires boundaries.

Many of the cases of discipline of teachers dealt with by teacher unions relate to claims of inappropriate professional behaviour related to online communications. Often the digital footprint ends up as evidence in a hearing.

What should the Federation be doing to help members find a balance between effective use of technology with our students and necessary professional boundaries?

5.         The “cloud” and privacy

BC has a privacy law that requires that personal data must be stored on servers in Canada. This is a positive response to the Patriot Act and the pervasive surveillance that we now know is undertaken by the US National Security Agency.

Cloud services of major corporations like Google and Facebook and many others store information in massive server farms in the US and elsewhere.

This places significant restrictions on the ability for teachers and the school system to legally use these services. Waivers signed by parents may permit some use of these cloud services—but with significant cautions. Some teachers believe that the BC government should change the law to eliminate privacy restrictions for educational purposes. What should the BCTF position be on this?

An excellent publication by Julia Hengstler provides lots of resources on these issues, including sample waiver forms to be signed by parents. It is called A K-12 Primer for British Columbia Teachers Posting Students’ Work Online.

http://jhengstler.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/a-k-12-primer-for-british-columbia-teachers-posting-students-work-online/

6.         Intellectual property and copyright

Do you own what you create—as a teacher, as a student?

When you create a resource for your students, from an individual item up to a full course, do you own it? Or does your employer own it? Who has the right to decide if it can be used, or sold, to another teacher or another district?

What about student-produced material? What permission should a teacher have from a student if the student’s work is to be shared online?

The student developed issues are also covered in Julia Hengstler’s publication.

7.         Distributed Learning

Under what conditions and with which students is Distributed Learning a good option?

The practice of Distributed Learning in BC is largely determined by funding. Districts create programs to ensure they are getting the revenue that follows the student. Compliance audits drive many of the practices, rather than sound pedagogy being the focus.

What should be the future direction of Distributed Learning in BC? How can we define that and influence decisions on appropriate use of DL?

The working conditions of DL teachers have deteriorated as funding pressures and funding decisions have played out in recent years. DL is expressly excluded from class-size limits incorporated in Bill 22, and collective-agreement clauses don’t deal with some issues specific to the DL environment.

The BCTF policy on Distributed Learning can be found on the BCTF website or on the Digicritic blog at http://digicritic.blogspot.ca/2013/08/union-supports-online-learning-with.html

The BCTF has published several research reports on Distributed Learning that can be found under “Technology” in the Research Reports section of the BCTF website: http://www.bctf.ca/publications.aspx?id=5630#Technology

8.         “Blended” or “hybrid” learning

This is the new thing in the edtech world. It’s not really new, of course, but addresses concerns that many have about online learning for K to 12 that is only done online.

The concept is simple. Students are engaged in work online sometimes and in a class setting sometimes. A number of research studies say that this combination is the most effective approach. Although there is little research that tells us much about effectiveness in a field that changes quickly, it seems like common sense.

This does, however, call into question encouraging students to sign up for courses offered in districts other than the one in which they live. Blended learning is place-based, not just cloud-based.

9.         Technology in a capitalist system

The capitalist system is based on ownership and the aggregation of “surplus value” through that ownership. As participants in interactive programs we create that value. Our attention and our participation are what major corporations like Google and Facebook, as well as less pervasive businesses, have to sell.

Are open systems based on sharing viable alternatives? Can we really produce an alternative at least on the margins of a capitalist system?

10.       A surveillance society

We are all being watched, particularly online. Many people guessed that was the case, but we now have confirmation through Edward Snowden’s May 2013 “leak” of information relating to secret government mass surveillance programs, and their acknowledgment by the US.

Easy ways of linking information promotes surveillance. The BC government is planning that all of us have a single card that relates to all services—driver’s license, medical care, social services...everything that relates to government.

One of the areas the ministry included in seeking a replacement for BCeSIS is parent and student access to the database from home to look at what the students and teacher are doing, reflected in the eSIS data. Authentication is to be...by the BC ID card.

The government has announced that there will be consultation with the public this fall about this card—and presumably its use.

This is what the Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham has had to say about the card:

Based on Phase 1 documentation, Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham found privacy and security of the card was designed according to legal requirements. Phase 2 will include potential for data linkages across multiple platforms and the rollout could be jeopardized without building public trust, she wrote.

“The BC Services Card program raises significant concerns regarding misuse of personal data, such as unauthorized access, profiling, and function creep,” Denham wrote in a February 5, 2013 letter to Citizens’ Services deputy minister Kim Henderson. “Solutions that government proposes to address these risks should be subject to scrutiny by both the public at large and by those with technical knowledge in the field.”

See more at: http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/08/15/BC-ID-Care/#sthash.cQ3K24hl.dpuf

11.       Big data and data analytics

“Big data” is the basis of much of the direction of technology. It consists of the mass of digital data that is being produced from data points in many of our personal and business activities. We daily produce more data than was produced over thousands of years of human activity. Making any sense of it requires tools to analyze patterns and display the patterns in a way that can be understood—usually called a dashboard.

One of the visions of education technology is “adaptive” learning based on data analytics. It is the learning machine—constantly providing feedback and new content to lead a student to understanding what has been predetermined to be learned.

How big is big data? 

Take a look: http://onesecond.designly.com/

A great critical analysis of the application of data analytics was written by Phil McRae of the staff of the Alberta Teachers’ Association: http://www.teachers.ab.ca/Publications/ATA%20Magazine/Volume-93/Number-4/Pages/Rebirth-of-the-teaching-machine.aspx

12.       MOOCs

MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses, the new “best thing” in online education. They are free to take, but without providing formal university (or K-12) credits, although that is changing. 

A person can take the course just out of interest and not produce anything to share. Beyond that, an individual may join a peer group that reads and responds to work done. Another option is an “autograder” that checks answers submitted against the already-determined “right” answer. 

MOOCs started at some of the high prestige universities like Harvard and MIT. Tens of thousands of people sign up as students—or a smaller number. Materials are provided online—that may be lectures, streamed and/or archived, and readings, many available on the web.

Lots of post-secondary faculty have serious concerns about this creating two-tier education, the quality of some of the courses, and the threat to face-to-face learning by an automated form of education. Some developments are spilling over to the K-12 systems.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/edtechresearcher/2013/08/mooc_killer_apps_the_autograder_vs_the_syndication_engine.html?cmp=ENL-DD-NEWS2

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/edtechresearcher/2013/08/a_new_learning_environment_for_the_future_of_learning.html?print=1

13.       Open source, including open resources

Open source software has long (in technology time) been an alternative to closed, proprietary software. A movement by techies who have been willing to contribute to building software that is open in the sense that techies get access to the code and can make modifications, but with the requirement that the developments also remain open.

Lots of the software that underlies the operation of the Internet is open source. The software for smart phones and tablets is built on open source, in contrast to the operating systems of the iPhone, Microsoft phone, and Blackberry. These are proprietary, and putting up walls is a key to their model for producing revenue.

Open resources are starting to gain traction at the post-secondary-education level. The Public Knowledge Project and others are pressing a model of academic publishing that is open and free to use, in contrast to the expensive and profitable journals for which university libraries pay and researchers provide content.

Open textbooks are also a growing phenomenon. Free, open textbooks have been developed for some post-secondary courses in BC, helping to reduce the cost of an expensive part of education. This approach to textbooks and other e-books will make a significant difference to access to reading resources in less-developed countries that have few publishing options and currently little access to books except by elites.

What are the implications for K-12 education?

The Public Knowledge Project can be found at http://pkp.sfu.ca/

The BC Open Textbook project can be found at http://open.bccampus.ca/

14.       Not enough stuff

Transformation of education using technology?

Not if teachers don’t have the goods to do it. What is needed?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2013-08-16

LK:cep/af:tfeu

Union Supports Distributed (online) Learning--with Conditions

Teacher unions in Canada have had concerns about developments in online learning, but have generally been supportive if they have felt conditions were appropriate. Most provinces have relatively small numbers of students in online programs and they are integrated into the schools with face-to-face programs.  The Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union has provisions in the collective agreement that make working conditions for teachers in online programs equivalent to those in face-to-face classrooms.

In the U.S., most of the online programs are run as Charter Schools and the staffs are not unionized.  In fact, online learning has been seen by opponents of unions as a way of breaking unionization in education.

The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation adopted policy at the Annual Meeting of 2001 that supported DL—if conditions are appropriate.  This was at the beginning of the expansion of the number of students in DL programs from 2200 to about 80,000 last year.  (That is the number of students taking at least one course—many are taking only one.)

Unfortunately, many of the conditions for success identified in the BCTF policy do not exist in practice.  Limited funding in the school system as a whole has led to districts finding resources by squeezing staffing in the DL programs, leading to deteriorating working conditions for DL teachers.  When the BC government legislated class size limits for face-to-face programs, they explicitly excluded DL from limits.

This is the BCTF policy adopted in 2001 and still in place.

51.11 - Distributed Learning

That BCTF policy on distributed learning be:

1.      Distributed learning remains a positive offering within the BC public school system when fully supported by adequate staffing, funding and resources within provincial guidelines.

2.      Distributed learning should not be used in place of sufficient staffing or adequate facilities.

3.      a. Distributed learning and electronic delivery of public education programs should be delivered under the provision of the collective agreement.
b. Distributed learning programs and courses in BC public schools should be equivalent to other programs and courses in curriculum, assessment and reporting.

4.      Policies on distributed learning should be adopted by any school district that intends to use distributed learning for any of its students, either in its own district, or in conjunction with another district that runs programs:

a.        the teacher local should be involved in the formulation of the policy;

b.       the policy should include criteria and processes for making a decision on whether distributed learning is an appropriate placement;

c.        the policy should consider the social purposes of education, as well as the educational development of individuals.

5.      The school district in which any public school student lives should receive funding for that student. Decisions on requests to place the student in a distributed learning program should be made by the school district according to established criteria and processes. If a school district believes that an out-of-district distributed learning placement is most appropriate, then it should make enrolment and financial arrangements with the other district.

6.      Development of learning resources for distributed learning should be directed by the Ministry of Education, and BCTF members, identified through the BCTF process, should be involved in the development of the resources and compensated according to their rate of pay under the collective agreement provisions that apply in their local.

7.      Distributed learning programs should not include marketing learning materials, courses and programs outside of BC.

8.      There should be no financial or other incentive for parents or school districts to enrol students in one program over another.
(01 AGM, p. 42-43)

9.      That locals should ensure that all distributed learning courses and programs are being offered by qualified teachers who are members of our bargaining unit.

51.13 - That locals be encouraged to develop policies on distributed learning that include a statement of where distributed learning may be used appropriately, the appropriate conditions for the work of teachers using distributed learning and transparency in budgets for distributed learning and that locals use these policies in attempts to influence school district practices.
(Jan./Feb. RA 03 p. 17)

51.15 - 1. That the BCTF opposes allowing Grade 10–12 students in the public schools taking courses in the independent distributed learning programs.

2.      That the BCTF supports legislation and policies that ensure quality public school distributed education programs.

3.      That public education programs, such as distributed learning, should be carried out through public institutions, not private societies.

4.      That distributed learning programs not be promoted as better than classroom-based programs or be used to replace classroom-based programs in schools.

5.      That locals be made aware of the possible implications for staffing, transfers, and layoffs from some distributed learning programs not meeting the ministry conditions by May 31 and thus not able to offer distributed learning programs.
(May 06 Ex., p. 12)

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Research reports on Distributed Learning in BC are available on the BCTF website:   http://www.bctf.ca/publications.aspx?id=5630#Technology