As one of the UVic students, it is hard to conclude the common condition of privacy awareness among students simply. From my own perspective, my friends and I have never had any conversations about privacy issues. Most Chinese students only care about privacy strategies related to financial transactions. Other than that, we may think our information is worthless for anyone to use. However, after I checked the privacy document from UVic, I changed my mind and found many different circumstances that may impact students’ daily lives.
First, every student should know where their information is stored, who can access that information, and why they access it. Only the student itself is involved in the actions can authorized units access personal information. For example, my term grade for a specific course can be used for calculating the class average and median. With the grade status, I can show my future employer the understanding of class topics.
For a UVic student, it is easy to search for the policy online. Just google UVic student privacy policy on the search bar; the first result is the overall privacy PDF file. However, it is still hard for students to quickly find everything they need. This privacy file has 46 pages and is too long to check everything quickly. If I have an opportunity to design the interface of the privacy pages, I will classify privacy information by different category names. If someone wants to search a specific section, it will be easier to click the needed bar only than browsing the entire file instead.
I found many interesting parts in the UVic privacy file “GV0235.” The main policy section 28 d mentioned that personal information could be used for research and statistical purposes. I understand some researchers need my information to guarantee the accuracy of research outcomes, for example, calculating the UVic graduating rates in 2022. However, if they wanted to choose samples from students randomly, I got selected. Can I say no to this research? What if they never tell me about it, and I cannot say no? The answer lies in the associated procedure #1, section 13. It lists all actions toward unintended information leaks. This surprised me because I thought privacy policies tell students how and why their information is used but do not include actions when leaking happens.
Another one that I got interested in is “PROCEDURES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF UNIVERSITY SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS” section 13. It says all areas with a surveillance system will have a marked sign for everyone. At first, I don’t get the reason since it is equal to telling the bad guys,’ You should do bad things somewhere else.’ After I read other policies later, I understand that this is correct because surveillance should not be an ‘active attacking’ method for preventing crimes. The purpose of the monitoring system is to tell the students, ‘You are protected in this area,’ rather than ‘We can see you everywhere.’
As a UVic computer science student, I learned cybersecurity strategies in one of my CSC courses. However, I only know how to use hash tables and different sorting algorithms to protect personal information; I don’t know why personal information is important, as I said in the beginning. After I read and understood the privacy policies for UVic students, I got some answers. That’s the reason why I choose this topic.
University policies and procedures. University of Victoria. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://www.uvic.ca/universitysecretary/policies/