United+States

The [|Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998] was a good start in monitoring what differnet sites and organization could do on the internet with respect to youth and protecting them from online crime. But as time has passed the internet has evolved. Now anyone can change or publish on the web. There is now a need to educate and police everyone online. How else can we hold members of society accountable for mis-use of online tools.

June 6th, 2007 - White House passes [|'Cyber Stalking Bill'] This is an interesting bill that now makes convicted sex offenders reveal all of their email addresses so that networking sites such as myspace and facebook can ban offenders. It is a step in the right direction for ensuring online safety. But more needs to be done legislatively.

This is discussed further in this Feb 21, 2007 report [| States seek laws to curb online bullying]. ""The kids are forcing our hands to do something legislatively," said Rhode Island state Sen. John Tassoni, who introduced a bill to study cyberbullying and hopes to pass a cyberbullying law by late 2007." This will be interesting to keep an eye, over the coming years I think we will see Cyber Legislation as a growing hot button issue. The story goes on to note "In Arkansas, the state Senate this month passed a [|bill] calling on school districts to set up policies to address cyberbullying only after it was amended to settle concerns about students' free-speech rights." We need to focus on developing a Saskatchewan equivalent of this bill.

This story provides an interesting point for discussion. [|Interesting story on cell phone confiscation in NY] Can schools really confiscate everyone's cell phone and iPods. I think this is perhaps a story where there was very poor implementation of policy that lead to abuse of these devices. I believe that with proper procedures and guidelines in place instances such as these can be avoided. Cases such as this put a negative spin on technology in schools when really, students need to be taught how to use these tools properly.

Here are some interesting stories. = = = = [|Student's MySpace Rant Is Protected Speech, Says Court] April 11, 2007 Attorney David Hudson provides further support for implementation of educational programs and policies now. He notes "I think that the Internet is really just like everything else; there's both positive and negative speech," Hudson said. "The danger for students is, if they put stuff on the Internet, there's a record of it, and they can be denied jobs," Hudson said, noting that he's heard of some college admission boards that have looked into social networking sites as they made admission decisions. "I think as we get more press and more lawsuits, there will likely be more education on these issues," he added. I don't think we should be waiting for more incidents, or press or lawsuits. We must move forward in ensuring current education on these topics.

Here is an example of what youth can do when they utilize social networking for good causes. [|Teens Raise $300,000 for Darfur Through Web 'Fiends']June 8, 2007

More good.... [|Expanding networks] - Online communities present opportunities for voluntary groups to engage with new audiences and to build powerful new networks, writes Megan Griffith, Monday March 26, 2007[| SocietyGuardian.co.uk]

Technology Policy And Legal issues: Canadian focused. Scott Mcleod does a good job of summarizing internet legal issues in U.S schools here https://breeze5.umn.edu/cyberbullying

He puts forth 3 key principals

1. Schools have an affirmative obligation to protect student and/or staff from threatening, abusive, harassing or bullying conduct. 2. The default rule is that student speech in schools is protected 3. Schools may disipline students for out of school conduct that substantially interfere with the normal operations of the school.

When he looks at what happens when incident occurs off school grounds, Scott Mcleod refers to //Lander v. Seaver// (1859) "where the defendant teacher whipped the plaintiff student with a small rawhide for having ridiculed him in the presence of the teacher and some fellow pupils in front of the teacher's home after school hours and after the student had returned home from school, the court, although reversing a judgment for the teacher on other grounds in an action for assault and battery, stated that the teacher had the right to punish the pupil for his misconduct"

So how does this relate 148 years later? Well students are now continually blasting teachers and each other through online tools such as blogs and youtube. And although we can no longer whip students, Mcleod shows that teachers and schools still have the right to punish the student for misconduct that occurs off school grounds.