159Smart Society, Education. New Forms of „Information Society” Education...
Dawid Czerw
War Studies University
in Warsaw
dawid.czerw@icloud.com
ORCID: 0009-0006-8345-173X
SMART SOCIETY, EDUCATION. NEW FORMS
OF “INFORMATION SOCIETY” EDUCATION
IN THE LIGHT OF POLISH AND EU LAW
INTELIGENTNE SPOŁECZEŃSTWO, EDUKACJA. NOWE
FORMUŁY EDUKACJI „SPOŁECZEŃSTWA INFORMACYJ-
NEGO” W ŚWIETLE PRAWA POLSKIEGO I UE
Abstract: This issue concerns the reality of new technologies and services of the informa-
tion society, which provide society with many professional and social advantages, but
which also bring with them a wave of various risks. Nevertheless, as an information soci-
ety we are happy to use these solutions to an unimaginable extent. It is therefore necessary
to ask whether, as a society aspiring to become a 5.0 society, we are suciently, or not at
all, educated about these technologies, both in terms of their benets and potential dangers,
e.g. cyber threats or impacts on us and our environment? The article presents an analy-
sis of the current forms of education in Poland in 2021 in primary and secondary schools
and questions whether, with the development of a reality lled with new technologies
and in an era of information overload, we are placing sucient emphasis on education in
the dimension indicated?
Zarys treści: Kwestia ta dotyczy rzeczywistości nowych technologii i usług społeczeństwa
informacyjnego, które zapewniają społeczeństwu wiele korzyści zawodowych i społecznych,
ale które niosą ze sobą również falę różnych zagrożeń. Mimo to, jako społeczeństwo informa-
cyjne chętnie korzystamy z tych rozwiązań w niewyobrażalnym zakresie. Należy zatem zadać
pytanie, czy jako społeczeństwo aspirujące do miana społeczeństwa 5.0 jesteśmy dostatecznie
lub w ogóle wyedukowani w zakresie tych technologii, zarówno pod kątem płynących z nich
korzyści, jak i potencjalnych niebezpieczeństw, np. cyberzagrożeń czy wpływu na nas i nasze
otoczenie? Artykuł przedstawia analizę obecnych form edukacji w Polsce w 2021 r. w szkołach
podstawowych i ponadpodstawowych i stawia pytanie, czy wraz z rozwojem rzeczywistości
wypełnionej nowymi technologiami i w dobie przeładowania informacyjnego kładziemy
wystarczający nacisk na edukację we wskazanym wymiarze?
Keywords: education, information society, new technologies, cyber threats, robotisation, com-
puterisation, cyberspace, articial intelligence
159
159gl;;
Nr 7 ss. 159–173 2022
ISSN 2543–7321 Przyjęto: 11.06.2022
© Instytut Bezpieczeństwa i Zarządzania, Akademia Pomorska w Słupsku Zaakceptowano: 11.06.2022
Oryginalna praca badawcza DOI: 10.34858/SNB.7.2022.013
STUDIA NAD BEZPIECZEŃSTWEM
160 Dawid Czerw
Słowa kluczowe: edukacja, społeczeństwo informacyjne, nowe technologie, cyberzagrożenia,
robotyzacja, komputeryzacja, cyberprzestrzeń, sztuczna inteligencja
Introduction
In the middle of the 20th century, the Polish writer of the hard science ction
geno.e, philosopher and futurologist, and eminent gure, Stanisław Lem, in his publi-
cations conveyed messages concerning the digital reality that has already materialised
today. The guru of fantasy, and visionary thinker, made bold and accurate assump-
tions about the development of society with the advent of information technology
development. A no less visionary approach was put forward by Karel Capek in a 1920
publication titled “Rossum’s Universal Robots,” in which he used and popularised
the word ROBOT for the rst time.
Both authors presented, at the time, seemingly fantastic and surreal visions about
new technologies and their application. They wrote about automation, robotisation,
computerisation, the internet, cyberspace and virtual reality, creating original ideas of
fantasy literature. In doing so, they warned of phenomena that could be dangerous to
humans and even to humanity as a whole.
The hypotheses set out in the literature of the last century are currently materialis-
ing in many aspects of life, to the extent that many of us would not be able to function
if these tools were not present. While technologically literate societies are happy to
enjoy the benets of technology in everyday life, which provide many advantages on
both professional and social grounds, their awareness, responsibility and education in
terms of potential dangers seems to be insucient, at least in terms of formal education.1
Outline of the problem of using ICT services – results of a statistical survey
Publicly available statistics from 2021 show the current scale of our dependence
on the Internet, which is on an upward trend. The Digital 2021 report series,2 pub-
lished in collaboration between We Are Social and Hootsuit, shows that over the past
year web-based services such as e-commerce and social media etc. have become
an indispensable part of people’s lives. Of a population of 7.83 billion people, 5.22
billion use a mobile phone today, representing 66.6 per cent of the world’s total popu-
lation. 4.66 billion people worldwide used the Internet in January 2021, 316 million
more compared to the same period in the previous year. Social media currently has
4.20 billion users worldwide. This number has increased by 490 million in the last
12 months, showing year-on-year growth of more than 13 per cent.3
The same report shows that the average user now spends 2 hours and 25 minutes
on social media each day. In total, social media users worldwide spent 3.7 trillion
1 On the Integrated Qualication System Act of 22 December 2015, Dz. U. (Journal of Laws)
2020, item 226, as amended.
2 https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-global-overview-report, [accessed: 08.12.2021].
3 Ibidem.
161Smart Society, Education. New Forms of „Information Society” Education...
hours on social media in 2021, which equates to more than 420 million years of con-
nected human existence. These comparisons may evoke dierent emotions, although
it is the statistical number of hours per day spent “online” by a user that is astonishing.
In total, the average internet user now spends almost seven hours a day using
the internet across all devices, which equates to more than 48 hours a week online
– that’s a full two days out of the week. Assuming the average person sleeps between
seven and eight hours a day, this means that we now spend around 42 per cent of our
lives awake and spend almost as much time online as we do sleeping.
According to the Business Insider website, during an average eight-hour working
day, an employee works productively for only three hours.4 They vary the rest of their
working time with pleasures such as mentally moving to the online world and brows-
ing social networks etc.
One of the reasons why we use the internet so much is the widely available in-
formation society services,5 which enable us to work remotely, to entertain ourselves,
to carry out many activities and needs (which are e.g. shopping, obtaining informa-
tion, communication, etc.). Services are also dened in Article 4(25) of RODO,6
which refers us to Article 1(1)(b) of Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parlia-
ment and of the Council, and means any service normally provided for remuneration,
at a distance, by electronic means and at the individual request of the recipient of
the service. In Poland, an information society service is dened as a service provided
electronically.7 In other words, it is a service provided without the simultaneous (phys-
ical) presence of the parties at the time the service is provided (service provided at
a distance).
Provision of a service by electronic means means that the service is sent and re-
ceived at its destination by means of electronic equipment for the processing (includ-
ing digital compression) and storage of data and is entirely transmitted, routed and re-
ceived by wire, radio, optical or other electromagnetic means. An information society
service must furthermore be provided at the individual request of the recipient of the
service, e.g. use of a social networking site, sending of e-mails or video on demand.
An information society service should (but not necessarily) be provided for re-
muneration, but this is not just about situations where the service provider receives
remuneration expressed in money, but remuneration understood as economic value.
This is therefore of all kinds:
– online newspapers;
4 https://businessinsider.com.pl/twoje-pieniadze/praca/psychologia-pracy-efektywna-praca-jak-
dlugo/xc545sz, [accessed 14.12.2021].
5 The concept of “information society” is formulated, [in:] Krzysztofek, K., Understanding
the development from traditional to information societies, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego,
Katowice 2005, p. 169; Goban-Klas, T., Media and mass communication. Teoria i analizy prasy,
radia, telewizji i Internetu, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa–Kraków 1999, p. 286.
6 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, on
the protection of natural persons in relation to the processing of personal data and on the free
ow of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC.
7 On provision of electronic services Act of 18 July 2002, Dz. U. (Journal of Laws) 2020,
item 344, as amended.
162 Dawid Czerw
– email;
– online TV;
– social networks;
– communicators, auction portals;
– dating apps;
– e-libraries;
– medical e-visits;
– restaurants providing a meal delivery service;
– car rental companies;
– hotel booking portals;
– banking;
– discussion portals;
– advertising portals
– online shops;
– e-training;
– e-advice and many others (omitted here).
It would seem that in Poland we use the Internet mostly for private purposes and
less frequently for work. Nothing could be further from the truth. Due to technologi-
cal possibilities and “public health” conditions in Poland, many employers have de-
cided to enable remote working.8 According to the Central Statistical Oce, in 2020,
14.2% of all working people in Poland will work remotely, using the Internet, which is
a considerable number of 2,317,700 people.
Taking the above data into account, it can be concluded that, apart from sleep
and active web surng, the real world is only a sideline for us, which we have to use
for everyday hygiene, a meal, walking the dog or shopping. The amount of time we
devote to surng the web every day, both privately and professionally, means that we,
as an information society, are confronted with considerable challenges and threats in
various forms.
Each of us, because of the inuence of the development of technology, the in-
ternet of things9 and articial intelligence, is becoming more and more dependent
and less cautious in our daily activities, after all, it is “the good itself,” and any risks
concern other users, not us. Thus, we become completely defenceless in the face of
the impact of the internet. We are aected, for example, by social media algorithms
and automated scripts for commercial, social or political purposes and factors that
shape our behaviour, perception and absorption of information, knowledge, intellectual
development, and the online identity we create online, very often without realising
how wrong we are about its anonymity.
In the digital world, we can never be fully anonymous or safe. Each of our on-
line activities leaves a kind of digital footprint that we leave behind us by visiting
8 Labor Code Act of 26 Juni 1974, Dz. U. (Journal of Laws) 2020, item 1320, 2021, 1162, as
amended, art. 67.
9 Ashton, K., That “Internet of Things”, 2009.
163Smart Society, Education. New Forms of „Information Society” Education...
various websites, lling in forms, sending e-mails, adding various attachments, vide-
os, photos, comments, etc., thus sharing our emotions, views, preferences, problems,
location, nances, needs, family situation, health data, data about our address, marital
status and information about our absence from home. It is clear that the information
we leave about ourselves on the web can become subject to, for example, hacking at-
tacks or targeted algorithms.
Current forms of training
It seems natural that as a society aspiring to become society 5.010 with the develop-
ment of technology we should acquire knowledge, shape and develop our awareness,
responsibility, skills, e.g. information and cognitive skills, which are the foundations
for the functioning of the information society and the knowledge society.11 There is
a mutual correlation between these two types of societies, because having an amount
of data implies the need to be able to manage it, transform it, build logical relation-
ships from it, to have knowledge, understood as the totality of human skills or a given
mind, but also a body of knowledge in a certain eld and consisting of information
systematised and placed in context, processed through the prism of our experience,
i.e. it is an appropriate analysis and synthesis of information.
It should be noted that having information is not the same as having knowl-
edge. Knowledge implies, among other things, that, with knowledge, we can judge
which information is true or not. So, given the direction we are going in, and that infor-
mation technology allows us to absorb information more eciently, can we conclude
that we are becoming better at using the information we have? Is it possible to uphold
the assumption of social philosophers that free access to information on any subject is
a sucient condition for forming opinions and making judgements, and consequently
for making informed decisions and being a responsible Internet user?
According to some researchers, the fact that information has such important func-
tions in modern society also has negative consequences. No society has suered from
such an overabundance of information and T. H. Eriksen, for example, argues that
the basic skill to be developed in today’s world is to be on guard against 99.99% of
the information reaching us and to focus on the reliable use of the remaining 0.01%.12
It is worth remembering that it is people who decide how to dispose of information
and in this their role is irreplaceable. It is not in the use of technology that the main
source of danger lies, the problem is that people may stop wanting to think, e.g. due to
so-called “information overload.”13 The lack, or rather the low level of information cul-
ture and education, and the implementation of concepts of social development that are
10 Society 5.0 – a human-centred society in which economic progress containing solutions to so-
cial issues is balanced by a system oering high integration of digital and real space, https://sek-
tor3-0.pl/blog/japonski-czlowiek-nowej-ery-czyli-spoleczenstwo-5-0/, [accessed: 03.01.2022].
11 Toer, A., Toer, H., Budowa nowej cywilizacji, Wydawnictwo Zysk i S-ka, Poznań 1996.
12 Eriksen, T.T., Tyranny of the Moment, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warsaw 2003, p. 33.
13 Toer, A., Future shock, Wydawnictwo Zysk i S-ka, Poznań 1998, p. 41 .
164 Dawid Czerw
not always accurate, means that society in the age of the Internet, instead of becoming
more and more reective, is becoming more and more algorithmic, and therefore more
and more “like” the computer to a degree beyond its real needs. The world moving
towards total openness and the public’s desire to consciously share personal informa-
tion with the world is also a signicant problem, and thus the value of privacy is being
eroded. Sometimes we ourselves do not even realise that we are accepting widespread
surveillance.
We are surrounded by information, our everyday life is based on its production,
dissemination and use. We want to be up to date, so we do it quite uno.eective-
ly. As dened by Dr Hanna Batorowska, Professor at UP, “Information literacy is
the responsibility of the information society.” These duties should not only concern
the essence of information, but mainly the moral dilemmas related to its use, dissemi-
nation, sharing, selection, evaluation and management.
In view of the above, it must be recognised that the scale of the penetration of the
Internet into our daily lives and the ocean of information available means that the
elements that should keep up with it, or even surpass it, are the education of society,
multi-level development, humanism and the interdisciplinarity of the elds of life.
It is therefore important to pay attention to current forms of education and to create
awareness in this area.
The declaration,14 made on 12 October 2020 by the Association of Data Protec-
tion Ocers within the framework of a commemorative letter in view of the 4th an-
niversary of the Association, that Information + Knowledge + Wisdom will balance
the imbalance between privacy and today’s high technology, is the essence expressing
the needed educational trend.
It is not without signicance that a new value for the respect of privacy is
expressed in the activities of the SIODO, the “Data Protection Culture.” Developed in
a multi-level manner, it will arouse the need to respect one’s own privacy, as well as
allow for the skilful acquisition, evaluation and application of information, and thus
contribute to raising awareness of the constitutional right to informational autonomy
and the protection of one’s personal rights.
How, then, is the aforementioned education implemented in Poland in 2021? Well,
the basis for consideration is the Ordinance on the core curriculum of formal educa-
tion in Poland15 and the Ordinance of the Minister of National Education of 30 Janu-
ary 2018 on the core curriculum of general education for general secondary school,
technical school and industry secondary school.
In terms of the analysis of the curriculum for grades I–VIII, at least the content
related to the essence and understanding of privacy as a fundamental human right, its
value and potential sources of its threat are overlooked.
14 https://siodo.pl/2020/10/, [accessed: 28.12.2021].
15 Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 14 February 2017, on the basis of the pro-
gram of preschool education and the program basis of general education for elementary school,
including for students with intellectual disabilities of a moderate or severe, general education
for secondary school, general education general education for a special school for special pre-
paration for work and general education for a post-secondary school post-secondary school
Dz. U. (Journal of Laws) 2017, item 356.
165Smart Society, Education. New Forms of „Information Society” Education...
Also overlooked in the analysed core curriculum is content related to building
information management skills, which, in an age of information overload, as Alvin
Toer wrote about in “Future Shock” as early as 1920, is fundamental to navigating
through the thicket of information and assessing its value and sources.
The only subject that thematically comes close to the area in question is Safety
Education. This subject has been taught since 1 September 2009 as one hour per week
per school year in the then lower secondary school. Since 1 September 2012, it has
been taught for the same amount of time in upper secondary (post-primary) schools.
Safety education has completely replaced the previously known defence przysposo-
bieczenie obronne. With the introduction of the new core curriculum from 1 Septem-
ber 2017, Safety education was introduced in primary schools. As of 2018, it is taught
in class VIII as one lesson per week.
This subject focuses primarily on general aspects of state security and civil de-
fence. In the form of truncated theory, it prepares students for emergency situations
such as disasters, mass accidents or terrorism. It also develops rst aid skills and at-
titudes that promote health in a broad sense.
Although Education for Safety does not teach about the problems indicated in the ar-
ticle, some educational materials at individual schools include lesson topics that address
cyberbullying and the use of resources available on the Internet. These may amount to
several lesson hours over the entire eight years of primary education, but their imple-
mentation depends on the teacher’s initiative. This seems to be an insucient amount
of hours devoted to education when juxtaposed with the results of a consumer survey of
children and parents carried out by the Oce of Electronic Communications,16 which
shows that in 2020 97% of school-age children were using the Internet.
It cannot reasonably be considered that the fault lies with the school principals, as
the lack of introduction of content into the programmes and adequate preparation of
the teaching sta will not happen “overnight.” It is an action that should be planned
and systematically implemented over years with the addition of content.
According to the above-mentioned report, almost 60% of the teachers participat-
ing in the survey consider that there is too much inappropriate content on the Internet,
including manipulation, violence, swearing, pornography and material that may have
an impact on the demoralisation of the youngest generation, who, in retrospect, will be
responsible for the further education of younger generations. So why is there so little
focus on education about perceived problems?
Attention to the aspects in question is given in the Regulation of the Minister of
National Education of 30 January 2018 on the core curriculum of general education
for general secondary, technical and upper secondary schools.
The above programme indicates that one of the most important skills acquired by
a student in the course of general education at upper secondary and technical schools
is the ability to eciently use modern information and communication technologies,
including respect for copyright and safe navigation in cyberspace. Well, a specic
skill is acquired by a student in 3 subjects.
16 https://www.uke.gov.pl/akt/badanie-konsumenckie-dzieci-i-rodzicow-oraz-nauczycieli-20
20,372.html, [accessed: 05.01.2022].
166 Dawid Czerw
One of these is Education for Safety, already discussed, which in its subject area
includes, among other things, the task for the instructor to explain the meaning of
cyberbullying and knows the procedures to follow in the event of its occurrence,
and identies inappropriate behaviour regarding cyberbullying and knows what
the appropriate response to it should be.
Another subject, which thematically touches upon the problems indicated in
the article, is Ethics, which deals with the identication and analysis of selected moral
problems associated with scientic and technological progress (e.g. the problem of
privacy protection, copyright protection, cyberbullying, the development of articial
intelligence, transhumanism).
The third element of the curriculum in question is also Information Technology,
which covers with its thematic scope a truly important issue, i.e. “respecting the law
and security rules. Respecting information privacy and data protection, intellectual
property rights, etiquette in communication and norms of social coexistence, assess-
ing the risks associated with technology and taking them into account for the safety
of oneself and others.” It is puzzling, however, that the legal aspect is taught as part
of a subject whose most important aim is to develop computational thinking skills,
focused on creative problem solving in various elds with the conscious and safe use
of methods and tools derived from computer science. In its basic and extended scope,
the subject focuses, among other things, on technical and IT aspects of information
security, and this is not conducive to bringing users closer to information awareness
and developing the necessary skills.
Another interesting element of reference is the framework curriculum17 for a four-
year general secondary school and the minimum number of hours of compulsory
education classes and tutor classes indicated therein, which for the subjects indicated
above is respectively:
1) Safety Education – 1 hour per week, implemented only during the education
period of Class I
2) Ethics – at least 1 hour per week – although the nal decision on the number of
hours of ethics is taken by the principal
3) Computer science – 1 hour per week implemented during the education period
of grades I–III
I agree with the assumption included in the core curriculum,18 i.e. “An important
task of school is to prepare students for life in an information society. Teachers of
all subjects should create conditions for students to acquire the skills of searching,
organising and using information from various sources and documenting their work,
taking into account the correct composition of the text and the principles of its or-
ganisation, with the use of information and communication technologies.” However,
the success of this task is in doubt:
17 Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 3 April 2019, on framework educational
plans for public schools, Dz. U. (Journal of Laws) 2019, item 639.
18 Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 14 February 2017, op. cit.
167Smart Society, Education. New Forms of „Information Society” Education...
a) Minimalist approach to issues in the core curriculum;
b) too few hours dedicated to their implementation;
c) lack of system orientation.
Within the framework of the subject matter under discussion, the shortcomings
of the systems approach are discernible in both core curricula presented above.
By this I mean a curriculum based on a structured and logically structured range
of topics, forming a whole. Such an approach, together with continuing education,
would inuence the interdisciplinary development of the pupil, providing him or her
with the necessary knowledge appropriate to the stage of life in question.
This would allow for a balanced owering of wisdom in the broadest sense. The sys-
tematic acquisition of knowledge, the development of awareness, intelligence, maturity
and the gaining of experience at further stages of education, combined with commer-
cial education would allow for a number of individual benets.
It would also provide an opportunity in building specialist human resources, future
managers or managers of organisational security and state security in this area. Com-
mercial education could play a signicant role here, contributing to the specialisation
of these individuals. However, there are few such pro-social activities, to say the least,
that I see in the eld of continuing education. With certain “periodic booms”, such as
the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation,19 commercial education
oers appear to be aimed at the most protable customer segment, which in this case can
“create” an expert in information security management in a few days.
The dilemma, however, is that they lack in-depth knowledge of, for example,
information security systems, the methodology used in audit activities, or even
the subject of information society threats in the security system of organisational
units. Instead, content concerning the creation of registers, records, the so-called in-
formation clauses (which, in fact, should not be called that), the “implementation of
RODO” in the organisation, with the help of sample documents, prevails.
Admittedly, some are saturated with knowledge that is highly cumulative, both
practical and theoretical, but which cannot be taught eectively in a day or two,
or often even a year, of postgraduate study. However, it would not be an exaggeration
to say that no one would risk hiring a head of human resources or a chief accountant
after this level of training, even if he or she had regulations and model letters at their
disposal; what is needed here is well-established knowledge and skills.
The remodelling of current and the creation of new forms of education requires,
above all, qualitative changes in the interpretation and conceptualisation of specialised
knowledge in confrontation with increasing technological development and the scale of
its penetration into everyday life and the resulting new challenges for society. Curricula
and all forms of education should be built on a systems approach, which will force is-
sues to be treated as open systems, interlinked to form a coherent whole.
19 Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, op. cit.
168 Dawid Czerw
Risks
It should realised that it is not the information itself that is at risk, but rather its
unskilful and irresponsible use. There are many dangers, for example, psychological
dangers (inner compulsion to be online, escape from the real world into an articial
virtual world, access to pathological cultural groups, alienation), technical dangers
(loss of condentiality and integrity of data), medical dangers (dangers to human
health caused, for example, by work at a computer or the harmfulness of radiation
from a computer monitor) and legal dangers (dangers to human health caused, for
example, by work at a computer or the harmfulness of radiation from a computer
monitor). The risks are also linked to the development of modernity (excessive infor-
mation, disparity of information, problematic value of information, information noise,
information stress and ethical dilemmas).
The scarcity or non-existence of the indicated educational elements in educational
programmes and the lack of a systemic approach to teaching makes an unaware so-
ciety fall prey to the threats indicated above and contributes to the vulnerability of
the individual. Recognising the scale of the potential challenges that lie ahead,
and given the range of forms of education discussed above, it is also worth drawing attention
to cyber threats such as:
– Cyberbullying – bullying by sending and posting harmful content or images via
online communication tools. Cyberbullying occurs when a child or adolescent
is bullied, intimidated, harassed, humiliated, shamed or otherwise harmed by
another child or adolescent using the internet, interactive or digital technolo-
gies, or mobile phones.
– Deepfake – image editing, which involves combining images of the human
face via articial intelligence. The resulting images oer the possibility of ma-
nipulating, blackmailing or compromising the person whose image has been
used.
– Fake news – the large-scale dissemination of false information.
– Flaming – the so-called “insult war”, which involves sending hostile and vul-
gar messages to one or more members of a community.
– FOMO – an acronym for fear of missing out, meaning a paranoid fear of what
is passing us by while we are oine. It involves constantly keeping track of
what is happening online.
– Child Grooming – actions taken to befriend and emotionally bond with a child
in order to reduce the child’s resistance to later sexual abuse.
– Heyt – involving destructive criticism using online posts in a public forum.
– Patostream – consisting of “online” webcasts during which behaviour widely
regarded as social deviance is presented, for which viewers pay so-called dona-
tions.
– Pharming – a more dangerous form of phishing for the user and more dicult
to detect. Characteristic of pharming is that even after entering a valid website
address, the victim will be redirected to a fake (although it may look the same)
169Smart Society, Education. New Forms of „Information Society” Education...
website. The aim is to intercept passwords, credit card numbers and other sen-
sitive data entered by the user on trusted sites.
– Phishing – a method of deceptively obtaining passwords to a user’s online bank
accounts via e.g. emails, including phishing for sensitive personal information
(e.g. passwords or bank account details) by impersonating a trustworthy person
or institution.
– Ramsonware – malware that causes data on devices to be encrypted until
a ransom is paid by the victim. Infection most commonly occurs via emails,
pop-ups and social media.
– Scam – a scam to induce trust in someone and then use that trust to defraud
them of money or other assets, popular on dating sites, charity ads, advertise-
ments for a win, super oer or quick way to make money, etc.
– Sexting – sending photos, videos or messages of a sexual nature via mobile
phones.
– Skimming – the illegal copying of the contents of a bank card’s magnetic strip
without the cardholder’s knowledge in order to perform unauthorised transac-
tions.
– Stalking – persistent and repeated harassment, solicitation of a person using
new technologies.
– Trolling – unfriendly behaviour towards other internet users that is intended to
disrupt an ongoing discussion.
– Vishing – a method of fraud, with its basis in phishing and social engineering
methods, whereby fraudsters use internet telephony to impersonate nancial
institutions.
The above dangers are just a few examples. Every victim of these dangers will nd
himself or herself in an extremely dicult situation. Will he or she be able to cope?
Will a teenager who wants to conceal a situation (e.g. embarrassing photos) from his
or her parents nd help from those close to him or her, when his or her parents are
not even aware of it? Ridiculous content shared within a community (e.g. a class or
school) can lead to anger, sadness, fear, lowered self-esteem or even a suicide attempt
within seconds. Every day 160,000 children in the United States of America do not
go to school because of cyberbullying (online bullying). Unfortunately, we are also
dealing with this phenomenon more and more often in Poland.20
When we reply to an e-mail in a hurry, will we each time spot a form of phish-
ing and recognise an attempt to defraud us by impersonating an institution in order
to obtain personal data or other information from us?
Will we uno.eectively dispose of our data for the range of proof of identity
requirements placed on us?
Without reection, do we share our material possessions on social media,
e.g. a beautiful house, also sharing information about a holiday stay?
20 https://www.gazetaprawna.pl/wiadomosci/artykuly/1097364,michal-wroczynski-w-rozmowie-
z-magdalena-rigamonti-dzis-sztuczna-inteligencja-nie-wie-nawet-ze-w-grze-pokonala-czlow-
ieka.html, [accessed: 06.01.2022].
170 Dawid Czerw
Will we securely dispose of company information as part of our professional ac-
tivities?
In view of the above, insuciently or inadequately developed ethical values
and information competences of Internet users will lead, among other things, to ad-
dictions, a range of psychological and social eects, cyber-bullying, to a loss or with-
drawal of one’s own privacy and even to a decrease in respect for one’s own privacy in
relation to others, and, when faced with too much information, may lead to informa-
tion overload, which will distort the information evaluation system.21
It is impossible not to draw attention to threats involving information security of
private and state organisations and state security. The available forms of education
and the applicable legal regulations treat very openly, for example, the obligations of22
Administrators to appoint functional people responsible for supervising, monitoring
and advising on the management of the information security system, i.e. Data Protec-
tion Ocers.
They are appointed pursuant to Article 37 of the RODO, on the basis of their pro-
fessional qualications and, in particular, their expertise in data protection law and
practice and their ability to full the tasks incumbent upon them.23
This seems to be an insucient regulation, which is devoid of standards support-
ing the decision to appoint a Data Protection Ocer after prior verication and con-
rmation of relevant qualications (e.g. obtained through formal education24) and ex-
perience within the dened specicity of the organisation. The lack of such regulation
in practice translates into the appointment of people to the position of Data Protection
Ocer who often have completed short preparatory courses lasting a few hours in
preparation for this function. In most cases, the only criterion that inuences the selec-
tion of a candidate, especially in the public sector, is the lowest price, which obviously
translates into the quality of the service provided. Thus, nances are prio ritised over
real benets and acting in accordance with the law, or simply over the responsible
disposal of other people’s personal data.
This aspect requires, above all, an understanding of the correlation between -
nancial issues and the losses caused by negligence in this area. It is also important to
change the attitude of entity managers and company boards to the issue of information
protection and the application of legislation. Their lack of awareness in this regard
very often results in them equating and making the Data Protection Ocer responsi-
ble for fully relieving the management of their tasks and dealing with the unprepared
area comprehensively, preferably without interfering in the day-to-day operation of
the entity.
Ultimately, the road we are heading down, which is devoid of elementary assump-
tions for education and the formation of an information culture, instead of creating
attitudes of an informed consumer of information, active, selective, critical and ready
21 Babik, W., W natłoku informacji i związanym z tym przeciążeniu informacyjnym, Kraków 2010.
22 Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, op. cit.,
art. 4 (7).
23 Ibidem, art. 37.
24 On the Integrated Qualication System Act of 22 December 2015, op. cit.
171Smart Society, Education. New Forms of „Information Society” Education...
for the daily technological development of the surrounding world, will lead to infor-
mation illiteracy and the “dumbing down” of society.
Videos and pictures, memes and emoticons are ubiquitous. The image has be-
come a source of information and a vehicle for emotions, a medium that shapes our
perception of the world. We read less and less, and if we do, we prefer to listen to
an audiobook instead of a traditional book. In addition, however, we prefer to re-
lax with a phone in our hand, scrolling for hours on a smartphone or tablet screen.
A society that does not see the real world, only the digital.
Any form of public transport is a case in point; on buses most passengers use their
smartphones or tablets. The same happens among pedestrians and, horror of horrors,
among car drivers in trac jams. They derive satisfaction and fullment from win-
ning the games oered by the online world, to which young people devote a signi-
cant proportion of their time.
Conclusions
Noticing the deepening knowledge decit in relation to the increasing scale of
the use of new technologies, social deviations and relativism in the eld of informa-
tion security management, I believe that the current “trends” and attitudes to the es-
sence of the discussed area, if deprived of some kind of sobriety, in the long run will
lead to many pathologies, psychological problems and destruction of social relations.
It will also lead to a lot of negligence, backlogs and absurd solutions in the eld of
information security management and problems in the application of legal regulations
in organisations obliged to do so.
How can this be prevented? We absolutely need an appropriate supplement to
the core curriculum and a thorough remodelling of the educational assumptions.
These should include an outline of the protection of society’s privacy and its potential
dangers, criminal liability for the use of high-tech devices, anonymity on the web,
the impact of social media on disruptions in social interaction (electronic aggression,
pathostreaming, manipulation, hejt, etc.) and many others.
The education of society in this regard should be based on lifelong learning.
According to this concept, the initial years of primary education should be regarded
as one of the rst links in a demanding educational process that will prepare the indi-
vidual for further educational activity.
A systems approach could dramatically change this state of aairs and could
be implemented on the basis of the following exemplary pillars, which represent
the direction of the core issues:
Pillar I – Right to privacy
Pillar II – Right to the protection of personal data
Pillar III – Cyber security
Pillar IV – Public information
To do this you need sta with both knowledge and experience. Admittedly,
172 Dawid Czerw
this knowledge can be gained in-house, based on private experience and indeed this is
the case, but it is not sucient. However, our goal, as an information-conscious soci-
ety striving for constant evolution, should be to further educate the current workforce
and to build the future workforce on the basis of an educational programme developed
through a public discussion in which the relevant scientic communities and state or-
ganisations would be involved and, by extension, the creation of new institutionalised
forms of education for children, young people and adults.
We are talking here about starting work on integrating the subject into formal edu-
cation because it is not being addressed to a sucient extent. This reveals a number of
neglected issues, if only due to the fact that the information civilisation is a civilisa-
tion of rapid changes, and this implies the necessity to react eciently to new condi-
tions, for example work focusing on legal standards covering articial intelligence,
the Internet of Things and virtual reality. In a perspective of years, this would allow
building an information society aware of both opportunities and threats and deliber-
ately aspiring to be the 5.0 society.
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173Smart Society, Education. New Forms of „Information Society” Education...
Legal acts
On the Integrated Qualication System Act of 22 December 2015, Dz. U. (Journal of Laws) 2020,
item 226, as amended.
On provision of electronic services Act of 18 July 2002, Dz. U. (Journal of Laws) 2020, item
344, as amended.
Labor Code Act of 26 Juni 1974, Dz. U. (Journal of Laws) 2020, item 1320, 2021, 1162, as
amended.
Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, on the
protection of natural persons in relation to the processing of personal data and on the free
ow of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC.
Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 14 February 2017, on the basis of the pro-
gram of preschool education and the program basis of general education for elementary
school, including for students with intellectual disabilities of a moderate or severe, general
education for secondary school, general education general education for a special school
for special preparation for work and general education for a post-secondary school post-
secondary school Dz. U. (Journal of Laws) 2017, item 356.
Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 3 April 2019, on framework educational
plans for public schools, Dz. U. (Journal of Laws) 2019, item 639.
