Cyber Bullying Presentation

Digital Footprint - Self Assessment

How much you know about Digital Footprints? If you have gone through the post on Digital Footprint, take this test to assess yourself.

Copyright, Trademark and Patents - Self Assessment

This is a self assessment test on Copyright, Trademark and Patents prepared as part of the Cyber Smart Project. Now it is open to all.

Mobile Security Tips

Secure your Device: Secure your mobile with a strong password or fingerprint detestion. Change any default passwords on your mobile device to ones that would be difficult for someone to guess. Use different passwords for different programs and devices. Do not choose options that allow your device to remember your passwords. Set the password lock time also very short - 30 seconds.

Keep software and the device up to date. Install updates for apps and your device’s operating system as soon as they are available. Do not ignore the friendly popups reminding you to update your mobile and the applications. Keeping the software on your mobile device up to date will prevent attackers from being able to take advantage of known vulnerabilities.

Disable remote connectivity after Use. Some mobile devices are equipped with wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth, that can connect to other devices. Disable these features when they are not in use. Turn them on when you need them and only connected to trusted networks.

Think Before you Post. Before posting photos or messages to the social media, think. Think whether it is required, is it something that reveals your personal information and whether it will harm someone 

Take Care. Always keep your mobile locked. Do not leave your  mobile unattended in a public place. Do not hand it over to strangers. If it is really required to hand over the phone to someone, use the second space/guest mode feature available in most smart phones.

Learn More about Your Apps. Learn more about the apps you have installed on your mobile. Read the reviews and see the permissions required before installing them.  Be aware that apps may request access to your location and personal information. The permission asked by the application should be something required for its proper functioning. Also do not install third-party apps. If it is really needed, do some research before installing it.

Be Cautious about Public Wifi. We all want to save our data and will be happy to access internet through a public Wifi. If you are using it, do not use it for transmitting any sensitive information.

Take a Backup. Take a back up of your data regularly. You can use the cloud services to backup or connect to your pc to backup contact list, important photos, videos, documents and other information.

Anti-virus and Anti-malware: Having a good antivirus or antimalware can help you to prevent any damage if you happen to download some malicious content unknowingly

Copyright, Trademark and Patents

 

What is Copyright?

Copyright is a form of protection granted by the law of a country for original works of authorship. When anyone prepare an original work of literature, art, music or any other creative work, the person automatically own the copyright to it.

The author/creator of the original work will have the exclusive rights to reproduce the work (make copies) and distribute the work, public performance of the work (drama, play, musical concert etc) and to make derivative of the work (adaptation or translation). It means, no one can do any of the things mentioned above to the copyrighted works in any form without the permission of the copyright owner.

There are some limitations and exceptions to the copyright and one such case is the "Fair Use".

Works Protected by Copyright

Copyright may apply to a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms, or "works".

• Literary works (poems, theses, fiction, plays and other literary works)
• Motion pictures, choreography, musical compositions, sound recordings
• Paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs
• Computer software
• Radio and television broadcasts, and
• Industrial and architectural designs.

What is not Protected?

Copyright will not protect the ideas or principles covered in a work. It will not protect names of products, titles, business names, slogans, formulas etc. Works that are not in a tangible form (written, audio, video or artworks) will not be protected under copyright. For example a public speech delivered by someone will not be copyrighted unless it is recorded in written or recorded format.

Copyright Infringement

If anyone uses a copyrighted work in way that exploits the rights of the original owner as provided by the copyright laws, it is called copyright infringement. The terms "theft" or "piracy" or "freebooting" is used to refer to copyright infringement. The violator of copyright may have to pay penalty as per the laws existing in the country.

Piracy refers to unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted materials. It is common in the case of films, music and publishing industry. The term freebooting refers to the act of downloading someone else's copyright-protected material, often from YouTube, and uploading it into sites like FaceBook,Twitter and similar websites.

Fair Use

Fair use permits the usage of copyrighted material without the permission of its copyright owner.  Fair use allows limited rights of copying the material for educational and research purposes. Also if you are writing a literary criticism, commentary  or report, it is not violation of copyright.

Indian Copyright Act 1957

The copyright in India is governed by Copyright Act 1957 which was amended in 2012. The first copyright legislation in India was the Indian Copyright Act, 1914.

The following are protected under the Act:

• artistic work including a painting, a sculpture, a drawing (including a diagram, map, chart or plan), an engraving, a photograph, a work of architecture or artistic craftsmanship, dramatic work,
• literary work (including computer programmes, tables, compilations and computer databases),
• musical work (including music as well as graphical notation),
• sound recording, and
• cinematograph film

The duration of copyright protection in case of literarcy, dramatic and artistic works is the lifetime of the author + sixty years from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year in which the author dies. Other cases, it is sixty years from the beginning of the calendar years next following the year in which the work is first published.

The infringement of copyright is a cognizable offence punishable with for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to three years with a fine which shall not be less than INR 50,000 but may extend to INR 2,00,000.

Trademark and Patent

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others, although trademarks used to identify services are usually called service marks. (Wikipedia).

A trademark may be designated by the following symbols:

• ™ (the "trademark symbol", which is the letters "TM" in superscript, for an unregistered trademark, a mark used to promote or brand goods)
• ℠ (which is the letters "SM" in superscript, for an unregistered service mark, a mark used to promote or brand services)
• ® (the letter "R" surrounded by a circle, for a registered trademark)

A trademark registration may remain in force indefinitely, or expire without specific regard to its age.

Patent

A patent is a right granted to an inventor by the federal government that permits the inventor to exclude others from making, selling or using the invention for a period of time. The patent system is designed to encourage inventions that are unique and useful to society. In most countries the term of rights for patents is 20 years.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is to steal and pass the ideas of some else as your own ideas. Copying ideas or words from a work and using it without giving due credit to the rightful owner is plagiarism. Plagiarism can be avoided if you cite the sources of the original idea or content.

Using poems, articles or other writing you found on the web without providing citation to the original creator is plagiarism. So whenever you take such material from the Internet do look for the copyright and usage policy.

Public Domain

The term “public domain” refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws. It can be under public domain when it was created or it may fall to public domain once its copyright is expired or forfeited.

For example, the works by famous authors like William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Lewis Carrol, Edgar Allen Poe and the like are all under public domain now. That means Anyone can use their works without obtaining permission, but no one can ever own it.

If you find an e-book on the Internet, that does not mean that it is under public domain. That may be a pirated copy or an illegal copy.

Links to Public Domain Materials

• Internet Archive :  A digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.

• Wikimedia Commons:   freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute

• Library of Congress Digital Collections: World's largest library offering free digital content. Some may be copyrighted. 

• Europeana Collections: Europe's digital platform for cultural heritage.

• The Commons Flickr: hidden treasures from the world's public photography archives

• Wikisource: the free library that anyone can improve

• Free ebooks - Project Gutenberg: offers over 54,000 free eBooks

• Open Images: an open media platform that offers online access to audiovisual archive material to stimulate creative reuse.

• National Digital Library of India National Science Digital Library (NSDL) India 

• Creative Commons: legally share your knowledge and creativity to build a more equitable, accessible, and innovative world

Further Reading

https://www.whoishostingthis.com/resources/student-copyright/

http://www.copyrightkids.org/

https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/trademark-basics/trademark-patent-or-copyright

Indian Copyright Act

Digital Literacy: Presentation

Digital Footprint

 

Digital Footprint or Digital Shadow means the trails or traces we leave behind when we are using the Internet or any digital devices. When we are browsing the Internet or using our mobile phones, we leave so much of traceable information about ourselves unknowingly. The information we provide when we register on a website, online chats and other communications, the images, audio or videos we upload and share online all leave some personal information which are publicly available.

The Digital Footprint can be either passive or active. Passive digital footprint is the data you leave unintentionally while you are on the Internet. The website we visit collect many information like the IP Address of your computer or your browsing history. The search engines like Google save your search history online if you are logged in.

Active digital footprint are the data we intentionally submit online. Publishing on a blog, tweeting on Twitter, messages, photos and videos we share on the social networking sites, the emails we sent and the queries and comments we leave on the websites are all our digital footprints.

Everyone of us leave our digital footprint if we are using Internet of which we may not be aware. It is not a thing to be concerned about if we are wise enough to leave a positive digital footprint.

 

IP Address

An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication (Wikipedia).

The IP address enables various devices to communicate each other on a network. The IP address provides an identity to the connected device. A website can identify and store your IP address which enables them to understand your approximate location. This information can be used for serving you with customised advertisements. 

An IP address looks like this: 151.101.65.121. This is based on  Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). 

The current version of IP address is the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). 

There are different types of IP addresses like  private IP addresses, public IP addresses, static IP addresses, and dynamic IP addresses. Private IP is the one that used on a private network. For example the IP address used for the computers in the school network so that the computers in the school located at various departments can communicate to each other. Public IP addresses are assigned by our Internet Service Provider (ISP) to enable the computers to communicate with the other devices outside our network (Internet).

You can find your private IP address by the following ways:

• By using the ipconfig command in a command prompt
• By checking the Loal Area Connection properties (available under Network and Sharing Center)

You can find out your public IP address just by visiting websites like https://whatismyipaddress.com/ (click on this link to see the IP details of this computer)

Domain Names

A domain name is used to name a website. For example the domain name of our school library website is kvklibrary.in. The domain names have two parts - a chosen name (kvklibrary) and a TLD (Top Level Domain), here in our case .in. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet.

Domain names are used as it is easier to remember a domain name rather than the associated IP address.

A domain name is not the same as URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A URL is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A domain name is only a part of a URL. A URL provides more information than just a domain name. It can include folder names, file names and the protocol (eg. http).

Example for a URL: http://kvklibrary.in/library/about.php (Here http is the protocol, kvklibrary.in is the domain name and library is a folder and about.php is a file name - web page)

Cookies

Cookies are the messages that a web server passes to our web browser when we visit a website. Cookies are most commonly used to track website activity. These are small files that are stored locally. Cookies help the websites to check the login status of a user, your previous visits to the website and information you have provided earlier like your interests. These enables the sites to provides personalised services to each visitor.

Accepting cookies is not a security threat to the computer. It is not possible to deliver a virus through a cookie. But the cookies can be used to track your online activities. These information can be used to target you with specific advertisements of your interest.

All the browsers provide you with facility to view and manage cookies. 

How to Manage Digital Footprints

Check Privacy: Check the security and privacy settings on the social networking sites. See who has access to the information about you or the information you share online. Set them right to manage the content you share and who you share it with. Read the terms and conditions of usage and the privacy policy of the sites.
Think before you post: Think before you post anything online. Online communications are instant and it may not be possible to remove them forever. 

Delete unused accounts: If you have stopped using a social networking account, better deactivate or delete them. Do not go on creating accounts on whatever social networking site you find online. Only you use those which are beneficial to you and you can manage.

Make a positive digital footprint: Be creative online. Use it in a positive way. the most effective ways to ‘manage’ your footprints is to make sure that the prints you do leave are good ones. Be cautious when you are sharing links or messages

Protect your accounts: Always use secure and strong passwords. Do not share it with others (even to your close friend). Remember to logout from your accounts when you are using a public computer.

Further Reading

Digital footprint - Wikipedia

Awareness Programme on Cyber Safety and Ethical Hacking

Mr. Sidharth talking about Cyber Security and Ethical Hacking

School Library organised an awareness programme on Cyber Security and Ethical Hacking for the students of Class IX - XI today in the Multipurpose Hall.

Mr. Mujib Rahiman, Coordinator addressed the students and welcomed the guests Mr. Krishnankutty, District Coordinator, Sai Organisation and Mr. Sidharth M, a student of B.Tech Computer Science, Amritha University, Kollam. She urged the students to be aware of increasing dangers that the technological innovations brings.

Mr. Sidharth M,  introduced the students the concept of cyber security and ethical hacking and detailed the career prospectus in the field. He discussed various topics like viruses, online privacy, phishing, hacking, Internet of Things and many other internet safety and/or security issues with the students. He also introduced the students to Junior InCTF a competition on Ethical Hacking organised by Amritha University for School students.

Mr. Arun Prasanth, PGT Computer Science talked about Cyber Crimes and instructed the students to be extremely careful about the information they are sharing online and social networking etiquette.

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Mujib Rahiman, Librarian, informed that there is a high demand for cyber security professionals and it is expected to rise in the future. 

Mr. Mujib Rahiman proposed vote of thanks and  stressed about the need for understanding the Internet safety issues and learning how to be safe while surfing the Internet.

	Mr. Mujib Rahiman, Librarian
	Mr. Arun Prasanth, PGT Computer Science

Internet Basics - Self Assessment