Italian+and+U.S.+Project+in+January+2008

=Discussion of themes from George Orwell's book, __1984.__=

Students from the U.S. and Italy will share information and ideas concerning __**the privacy theme**__ from George Orwell's book, //1984,// that relate to society today.

An example of privacy issues involves how many **__surveillance cameras__** are placed in society. Another example of privacy issues involve the use of **__cell-phone cameras__** taking photos without permission from the subject.

__**Students in both countries can share some facts and their opinions on these privacy issues then compare how many of these issues are the same in each country.**__

Privacy Topic Responses by U.S.A. Period 2 Privacy Topic Responses by U.S.A. Period 4 Privacy Topic Responses by U.S.A. Period 5
 * __U.S.A. Student reponses from Patrick Henry High School in San Diego, California:__**

__**Articles on this topic:**__

The followiing is a U.S.A. news article that shares about many types of surveillance cameras in many areas in America and points out that everyday citizens are probably the most common type of spy on others with the use of the cell-phone camera. Here is the link for the article: [|"Little Brother is Watching".]

Another U.S. news article shares how parents are keeping track of their children with clothes having a Global Positioning System (GPS) sewn inside. Here is the link for this article: [|"Parents Spying on Kids".]

January 15, 2008, our San Diego Union-Tribune Newspaper published an article: [|MySpace promises to make site safer.] Ways of protecting the privacy and safety of children is discussed.

Here is a link to the assignment given to the students at Patrick Henry High School in San Diego, California. Link: [|Privacy Topics.]
 * __Privacy topics for student comments: (Students work in groups on one topic)__**

1. Unobtrusive (hidden) cameras placed in public and private places watching and taping people. 2. Parents use GPS (Global Positional System) to keep track of their children. Some companies are making clothes with this system sewn into the clothing. Radio chips (Radio-frequency identification) are also sewn in clothing to track a person. (Pet animals have these placed under the skin permanently.) Also, parents are able to buy certain cell phones that have tracking devices to monitor and keep track of their children. 3. Employers that use GPS (Global Positioning System) and hidden cameras to keep track of their employees. 4. Online data mining of people's personal information. People can search and learn about people's interests and activities. Sometimes people are able to get personal information for identity theft. 5. Online data mining of people's consumer information. This allows companies to track what people buy so the people can be targeted to special ads for what items they usually buy. Computer chips are being placed in more and more products and appliances to monitor who buys them. Also, more stores are allowing automatic check-out systems and can even take credit cards with the people's personal credit numbers. 6. Collection of personal information, secretly, by government FBI or other agencies to fight terrorism; allowing private citizens to have their house phones tapped or using electronic devices to tap into cell phones. To ward against terrorism this is also extended to people being searched going into public areas such as the airport and government buildings. Ideas to analyze: With school shootings, recently, should students be searched coming into schools? With shopping mall shootings, recently, should people be searched coming into enclosed shopping malls? 7. Internet online safety concerns for children. Many companies sell blocking systems. Many schools have blocking systems. Who should control this and when should these items be used? 8. The government has a "Government no-fly list" that identifies people that are not allowed to fly on an airplane. Research how the government determines who should be on this list and if you agree or not and why. 9. Cell-phone cameras and how they can be used on people without their permission. This feature can turn an ordinary citizen into a spy. 10. Social networking sites such as FaceBook and MySpace can be corrupted by false information. Should there be some sort of Social Networking Police? 11. People becoming their own doctors by researching diseases on the Internet and possibly following wrong medical advice. Should there be some laws to prevent bogus medical information from being posted? 12. Identify theft is becoming a serious problem. Research how often this occurs, how horrendous it is, and what safety guidelines people should follow to prevent this.
 * __The main topics are listed below for easy reference:__**