If someone can access information, it is okay to do so. As adults, we value our own privacy and therefore, we respect and teach our children to respect others' rights to privacy. We teach our children not to look in others' desks or wallets, not to open or read others' mail, not to enter others' homes without being invited, not to enter businesses when their doors are locked, not to go in offices that are not open to the public and not to betray confidences by telling others' secrets. Electronic files, information, mail and telecommunications have not changed these critical rights. We must serve as models for our children by not reading their mail or files without their permission.
Vandalism is damage to or destruction of the physical property of others.
We teach our children not to vandalize property or to tamper with or damage things that belong to others. Tampering with and changing electronic information is vandalism and disrespect for others' property. This includes changing another child's report stored on a computer disk, modifying or erasing others' files and programs or transmitting programs that will change or erase others' files or information through telecommunications or on disks. We need to channel our children's creative energies into creating computer programs that benefit, rather than hurt, others and their property. The development of responsible computing values and behavior in our children requires good role models and instruction and reinforcement of these values and acceptable behaviors.