Originally published May 5 2005
The new, digital generation has strange new ideas about privacy and ethics, says one writer
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Traci A. Logan is rather surprised at the new generation's views on ethics and privacy online and she thinks that it may have something to do with the fact that she has not grown up in a digital world. The new generation's willingness to download music or cheat on their college admissions applications raises a lot of questions about its character. Logan grew up in a world that did not offer such opportunities, however, and she thinks this may be why she does not understand it. After all, when a college applicant can go to a website and see how their application is doing, or spy on former students, it is a scary world out there. However, this new generation seems to be willing to accept that.
Long before the news stories told of a hacker who posted instructions on the Web allowing graduate school applicants to get a ''sneak preview" of their admission status, chief information officers in higher education have been painfully aware of just how vulnerable their organizations are to the perils of cyberspace.
Boston College recently warned its alumni that a hacker may have gained access to personal information stored on a computer located on campus, but managed by a third-party service provider.
The University of California-Berkeley just warned some 100,000 alumni, graduate students, and past applicants that a computer laptop containing their personal information was stolen.
When I first heard the news that Harvard was revoking its acceptance of the students who took advantage of the hacker's directions on the Web, I thought, ''good for Harvard."
Of the three, perhaps age is the more critical key to opening up this deeper layer of understanding about what CIOs are facing in this latest digital divide.
I was introduced to technology and the Internet long after my value system was constructed, not while it was being formed.
This new digital divide transcends the more familiar categories of religion, politics, or economics, yet it influences the views, experiences and behaviors of a generation just as mightily.
This new divide is defined by when and in what context one was exposed to technology, cyberspace, and virtual communities.
They spend their lives in virtual communities, so their notions about personal boundaries and privacy are fundamentally different than our own.
We've moved from a materials and manufacturing-based economy in which proprietary knowledge and information was jealously guarded to a service and knowledge-based economy in which collaboration and information sharing are key ingredients to sustained growth.
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