We live in a digital age in which the wealth of a library can be attained with a browser, and criminal evidence can be obtained with technology nearly every random pedestrian is bound to have immediate access to. However, this same new world allows scandal, rumors, and deception to spread even faster than ever before, infecting several continents at once with the simple click of a button.

As Ben Parker would say, “With great power comes great responsibility,” so for those interested in a discussion of moral code of conduct for online publishing in this digital age, you may wish to sign up for the Cal Poly-hosted Jim Hayes Journalism Ethics Symposium: Advancing Integrity in Journalism and Communication from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday, Oct. 10, at the Chumash Auditorium on campus. The forum will discuss challenges to ethical communication today and how one can best attempt to stick to one’s ethics when publishing information despite them.

The keynote address for this forum will be delivered by Karen Miller Pensiero, newsroom standards editor of The Wall Street Journal. Pensiero teaches journalism standards and ethics at the paper’s headquarters in New York as well as its bureaus across the globe. The symposium is to be moderated by Kevin Riggs, senior vice president of Randle Communications and former KCRA-TV reporter and anchor. Speakers at the event include David Kerley, ABC news correspondent; Peter King, media director for the University of California’s Office of the President; Patrick Lin, director of the Ethics and Emerging Sciences Group and associate professor of philosophy at Cal Poly; Robert Logan, senior staff member of the U.S. National Library of Medicine in Washington, D.C.; and Judy Muller, professor of communication and journalism at the University of Southern California and former ABC news reporter and NPR commentator. You can sign up for the event at bit.ly/1q3upLu (please note, that bit.ly addresses are case sensitive). Individual tickets for the symposium are $70 and, in addition to the main event, include breakfast, lunch, parking, and a copy of the symposium summary report. The symposium is hosted by Cal Poly’s Journalism Department and members of the Journalism Advisory Board.

Whether or not you attend, just remember, abuse of power often leads to civil disobedience and biting satire, so you best be careful with what the decade has dealt you.

Has Chris White-Sanborn lied to you? I mean, in this room. Really, now … send your collegiate news to [email protected].