Subject: DRAFT: Bill of Rights and Responsibilities (electronic community) (fwd)

From: Dan Eddleman <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 9:10:50 EST

> Date: Mon, 22 Mar 93 08:44:10 EST
> From: [email-masked]
> To: Judy Hallman <[email-masked]>
> Subject: Re: Electronic version of draft of EDUCOM Bill of Rights???
> 
> On Sat, 20 Mar 1993 14:10:01 +0500 (EST) you said:
> >Frank,
> >
> >I picked up a printed copy of the October 27 draft of the EDUCOM Bill of
> >Rights at SIGUCCS Management Symposium in St. Louis yesterday. Is it
> >available electronically -- by e-mail or ftp? I think your work would be
> >of interest to people on our campus who are struggling with these issues
> >and also to those of us working on Freenets. I'd like to pass on your
> >draft to others if that is OK with you and if I can do it electronically.
> >
> >Judy Hallman, University of North Carlina at Chapel Hill
> >
> >
> 
> Judy,
> 
> I'm pleased to hear you received a copy and am more than happy to help
> you share it.  The text of the Bill is avaiable electronically on both
> our ListServ and ftp file server.  It can be accessed as follows:
> 
> 
> 1.  from VM/CMS system on Bitnet
> 
>               TELL LISTSERV AT AUVM GET BRREC TEXT
> 
> 2.  from a Vax system on Bitnet:
> 
>               SEND LISTSERV@AUVM GET BRREC TEXT
> 
> 3.  via e-mail send the following command to
>     [email-masked] (this command must be
>     in the body of the message):
> 
>                       GET BRREC TEXT
> 
> 4.  via anonymous ftp from ftp.american.edu
> 
>     Login as:  anonymous (give your e-mail address as the password)
>     Then type: cd au
>                get brrec.text
>                quit
> 
> If you would like an updated copy of the file sent to you whenever it
> changes, use one of the first three methods above, but first obtain a
> password on our Listserv by sending the following command:
> 
>                 PW ADD password
> 
> Then send the following commaand to set up an Automatic File Distribution
> (AFD) subsciption for the file:
> 
>                 AFD ADD BRREC TEXT PW=password
> 
> 
> Judy, please do give me feedback on your thoughts and suggestions and
> encourage others to do the same.  We are anxious to hear about the Bill
> and its impact.  So far I've been pleasantly surprised by the number
> of individuals and institutions that have been using the Bill as the
> basis for reviewing and creating policy on their own campuses.
> 
> Thanks for inquiring about the Bill and how to access it electronically.
> 
> 
>                                               Frank Connolly
> 
============================================================================== 

==========================
As revised on 1/18/93
====================
INTRODUCTION
The seeds for a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Electronic Learners
were sown in 1989, in a project to analyze the impact of the National
Research and Educational Network (NREN) on our society.   The project team
labored for some time trying to meld concepts of intellectual property with
those of education, the idea of free society with that of of controlling
knowledge.  Although no one on the project was a lawyer, discussion
consistently was framed in legal jargon, describing the problem as one of
legal rights under intellectual property law. A breakthrough came when the
team realized it was going about the analysis backwards.  Instead of
grappling with the question of what was possible and valuable, we were
posing the issues as what should be protected and how.

The fruits of these early efforts were presented in a report to the U.S.
Congress Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) titled A Bill of Rights for
Electronic Citizens.  Its main focus was that initial concerns ought to be
on values as related to technology (which of the things society values can
be facilitated through technology), and only later should we consider how
to use controls (for example, laws) to help us achieve the things we
valued.  From these insights the present project springs forth. The goal of
this project is to articulate the values and the fundamental rights that
accompany them.

While individual privacy rights receive the most attention in the media,
many other issues related to digitized information directly affect the
quality of life in electronic communities.  The Bill of Rights which amends
the U.S. Constitution addressed the tension between individual citizens and
the powers of a strong, central government.  The challenge in our
interconnected and digitized educational community is to find the right
balance between protecting individual rights and fostering the creation and
sharing of ideas and knowledge in a market-oriented, free society.  Just as
the original Bill of Rights recognized the existence of individual rights,
it also recognized their limits and the responsibilities that came with
them. So, too, in our educational communities, electronic or otherwise.
This document (and the work that produced it) is an attempt to change the
culture of our educational community by extending its traditional values
into the new circumstances and relationships that result from information
technology.

This Bill is presented as a work in progress.  It has been drafted by
members of the higher education community and proposes to represent the
perspective of educators at all levels (K-life).  Assuming that such a
narrowly drawn group could accurately represent the views, ideas and
intents of the broader population of educators is, indeed, presumptuous.
This stance was taken not to exclude those involved in other aspects of
education, but rather to complete a draft statement in a timely manner,
recognizing that others would be sought out to critique our efforts and
help hammer out and write the next version.

We intend the Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Electronic Learners
to be used as a model which other electronic communities can use to draft
similar statements.  Even as we develop our model, we are establishing a
national board to oversee the development of similar statements for other
communities.  We intend to urge that the collected statements be the basis
for a broad national effort to develop a comprehensive Bill of Rights for
Electronic Citizens.  As is true with the EDUCOM Code, we expect the end
product to be widely distributed, referred to, and used as a guide by
organizations and individuals as they develop policy and personnel
statements.

PREAMBLE
In order to protect the rights and recognize the responsibilities of
individuals and institutions, we the members of the educational community
propose this Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for the Electronic
Community of Learners.  These principles are based on a recognition that
the electronic community is a complex subsystem founded on the values
espoused by the educational community.  As new technology modifies the
system and further empowers individuals, new values and responsibilities
will change this culture.  As technology assumes an integral role in
education and lifelong learning, technological empowerment of individuals
and organizations becomes a requirement and right for students, faculty,
staff, and institutions, bringing with it new levels of responsibility that
individuals and institutions have to themselves and to other members of the
educational community.

ARTICLE I: INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
The original Bill of Rights explicitly recognized that all individuals have
certain fundamental rights as members of the national community. In the
same way, the citizens of the electronic community of learners have
fundamental rights that empower them.

Section 1.
A citizen's access to computing and information resources is a right.
Access to computing or information resources shall not be denied or removed
without just cause.

Section 2.
The right to access includes the right to appropriate training and tools
required to effect access.

Section 3.
All citizens shall have the right to be informed about personal information
that is being and has been collected about them, the right to review and
correct that information, and the right to control the distribution     of
of that information beyond the expressed purpose of its collection.

Section 4.
The constitutional right to freedom of speech applies to citizens of
electronic communities just as it does to citizens of other communities.

Section 5.
All citizens of the electronic community of learners have ownership rights
over their own intellectual works.

ARTICLE II: INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Just as certain rights are given to each citizen of the electronic
community of learners, each citizen is held accountable for his or her
actions.  The interplay of rights and responsibilities within each each
individual and within the community engenders the trust and intellectual
freedom that are the heart of our society. This trust and freedom are
grounded on each person's developing the skills necessary to be an active
and contributing citizen of the electronic community. The skills include an
awareness and knowledge about information technology and the uses of
information and an understanding of the role of the individual in the
electronic community of learners.

Section 1.
It shall be each citizen's personal responsibility to actively pursue
needed resources: to recognize when information is needed and be able to
find, evaluate, and effectively use information.

Section 2.
It shall be each citizen's personal responsibility to recognize (attribute)
and honor the intellectual property of others.

Section 3.
Since the electronic community of learners is based upon the integrity of
all information, it shall be each citizen's personal responsibility to be
aware of the potential for and possible effects of manipulating electronic
information: to understand the fungible nature of electronic information
and verify the integrity and completeness of information that he or she
compiles or uses.

Section 4.
Each citizen, as a member of the electronic community of learners, is
responsible to all other citizens in that community: to respect and value
the rights of privacy for all; to recognize and respect the diversity of
the population and opinion in the the community; and to behave ethically;
and to comply with legal restrictions regarding the use of information
resources.

Section 5.
Each citizen, as a member of the electronic community of learners, is
responsible to the community as a whole to understand what information
technology resources are available, to remember that the members of the
community share them, and to refrain from all acts that waste resources or
prevent others from using them.

ARTICLE III: RIGHTS OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
Educational institutions have legal standing similar to that of
individuals.  Since our society depends upon educational institutions to
educate our citizens and advance the development of knowledge, educational
institutions must attract financial and human resources to survive.
Therefore, society must grant to them the rights to the electronic
resources and information necessary to accomplish their goals.

Section 1.
Educational institutions' access to computing resources and information is
a right rather than a privilege.  Access to computing resources and
information shall not be denied or removed without just cause.

Section 2.
Educational institutions in the electronic community of learners have
ownership rights over the intellectual works they create.

Section 3.
Educational institutions have the right to allocate resources in line with
their unique institutional missions.

ARTICLE IV: INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Just as certain rights are assured to educational institutions in the
electronic community of learners, so too each is held accountable for the
appropriate exercise of those rights to foster the values of society and to
carry out each institution's mission.  This interplay of rights and
responsibilities within the community fosters the creation and maintenance
of an environment wherein trust and intellectual freedom are the foundation
for individual and institutional growth and success.

Section 1.
The institutional members of the electronic community of learners have a
responsibility to provide all members of their community with legally
acquired computer resources (hardware, software, networks, data bases,
etc.) in all instances where access to or use of the resources is an
integral part of active participation in the electronic community of
learners.

Section 2.
Institutions have a responsibility to develop, implement, and maintain
security procedures sufficient to insure the integrity of individual
and institutional files.

Section 3.
The institution shall treat electronically stored information as
confidential.  The institution shall treat all personal files as
confidential, examining or disclosing the contents only when authorized by
the owner of the information, approved by the appropriate institutional
official, or required by local, state or federal law.

Section 4.
Institutions in the electronic community of learners shall train and
support faculty, staff, and students to effectively use information
technology.  Training includes skills to use the resources, to be aware of
the existence of data repositories and techniques for using them, and to
understand the ethical and legal uses of and responsibility for the
resources.