M O D U L E VI

CYBER / DIGITAL LITERACY

At the end of the chapter, the students should have:
a. defined cyber or digital literacy
b. showed awareness of common cyber ethical issues
c. developed a working understanding of media /cyber literacy and
how they relate to one another

A. Definition
B. Common Cyber Ethical Issues
A. Definition
Cyber Literacy means the ability to use computer technologies effectively and to
simultaneously understand the implications of those actions. It is also important to know where
to go to find reliable and accurate resources in cyberspace, otherwise known as cyber
intelligence. The word understanding is key here, as it goes beyond knowing how to use the
technology but to have a consciousness of one’s actions.
Media Literacy is the ability to identify different types of media and understand the messages
they are communicating, including who is the intended audience and what is the motivation
behind the message.
Information Literacy is a subset of media literacy; the ability to locate, access and evaluate
information from a variety of media sources.
Digital Literacy can be defined as the ability to locate, evaluate , create , and communicate
information on various digital forms.
Bawden (2008) collated the skills and competencies comprising digital literacy from
contemporary scholars on the matter into four groups:
1. underpinnings-this refers to those skills and competencies that support or enable
everything else within digital literacy, namely: traditional literacy and computer literacy
2. background knowledge –this largely refers to knowing where information on a particular
subject or topic can be found, how information is kept, and it is disseminated- a skill taken for
granted back in the day when information almost exclusively resided in the form of printed text.
3. central competencies-these are the skills and competencies that a majority of scholars
agree on a s being core to digital literacy today, namely:

 Reading and understanding digital and non-digital formats;

 Creating and communicating digital information
 Evaluation of information
  Knowledge assembly
 Information literacy and
 Media literacy
4. attitudes and perspectives

 Independent learning-the initiative and ability to learn whatever is needed for a

person’s specific situation and
 Moral /social literacy-an understanding of correct, acceptable, and sensible
behavior in a digital environment.

B. Common Cyber Ethical Issues

The foundations of all secure systems are the moral principles and practices and the
professional standards of all employees of the organization, i.e., while people are part of the
solution, they are also most of the problem. The following issues are examples of security
problems which an organization may have to deal with:
a) Ethics and Responsible Decision-Making
The foundation of all security systems is formed by moral principles and practices of the
people involved and the standards of the profession.
b) Confidentiality & Privacy
Computers can be used symbolically to intimidate, deceive or defraud victims. Laws have
been enacted to protect the individual from having damaging information stored in
computerized databases.
c) Piracy
Piracy refers to the unauthorized duplication of copyrighted content that is then sold at
substantially lower prices in the 'grey' market. The ease of access to technology has
meant that over the years, piracy has become more rampant. For example, CD writers are
available off the shelf at very low prices, making music piracy a simple affair.
d) Fraud & Misuse
The computer can create a unique environment in which unauthorized activities can
occur. Crimes in this category have many traditional names including theft, fraud,
embezzlement, extortion, etc. Computer related fraud includes the introduction of
fraudulent records into a computer system, theft of money by electronic means, theft of
financial instruments, theft of services, and theft of valuable data.

e) Liability
Programmers or retailers possess the right to define express warranties. Thus, they have
to be realistic when they state any claims and predictions about the capabilities, quality
and nature of their software or hardware. They should consider the legal aspects of their
affirmative promises, their product demonstrations, and their product description. Every
word they say may be as legally effective as though stated in writing. Thus, to protect
against liability, all agreements should be in writing. A disclaimer of express warranties
can free a supplier from being held responsible for any informal, hypothetical statements
or predictions made during the negotiation stages.
f) Patent and Copyright Law
A patent can protect the unique and secret aspect of an idea. It is very difficult to obtain a
patent compared to a copyright. With computer software, complete disclosure is required;
the patent holder must disclose the complete details of a program to allow a skilled
programmer to build the program. Moreover, a United States software patent will be
unenforceable in most other countries.
g) Trade Secrets
A trade secret protects something of value and usefulness. This law protects the unique
and secret aspects of ideas, known only to the discoverer or his confidants. Once
disclosed the trade secret is lost as such and can only be protected under one of the
following laws. The application of trade secret law is very important in the computer
field, where even a slight head start in the development of software or hardware can
provide a significant competitive advantage.

h) Sabotage
The computer can be the object of attack in computer crimes such as the unauthorized use
of computer facilities, alternation or destruction of information, data file sabotage and
vandalism.

Read : The Digital Natives

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants By Marc Prensky From On the Horizon (MCB
University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001) © 2001 Marc Prensky

Evaluate
Based from your reading, answer the following questions.

1. Who are the digital natives?

2. Who are the digital immigrant educators?

 3. What are the content subjects in the digital native time?

Engage

1. Watch a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) https://youtu.be/eIho2S0ZahI

2. Were you able to understand the video in just one view? Why or why not?

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3. Summarize the speaker’s lecture in a paragraph.

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