Legal Issues Involving Computers and the Internet

The widespread and still growing emphasis on using computers in the classroom means that it is likely that you, as a teacher, will have a question about legal issues involving your students' technology use. One resource available right now is the Missouri School Board Association's legal issues site.

Go to the URL http://www.msbanet.org/legal/internetissues.htm. As you will see, there are fourteen headings dealing with topics such as "curricular publications," "student activities," and "employee discipline." Much of the material involves and reflects this chapter's discussion of themes such as free expression and academic freedom, negligence and liability, student and teacher privacy rights, and search of students. Considerable information and analysis are provided regarding important legal cases and background. Thus a careful reading of this Internet site not only will help prepare you for using technology as a teacher, but also will provide an excellent review and extension of material in this chapter.

You will also see why we say that legal issues involving computers and the Internet will be with us for a long time to come. For example, the authors ask, "Can a district legally discipline a student for using the district's technology to distribute via e-mail an underground newspaper that is critical of the school principal to his or her classmates?" The authors explain why "it depends." They also ask whether a district can legally post names and pictures of students on its Web site without first obtaining parental consent, and explain why the answer is "maybe."

This could be a site you will be checking again and again for current information. Since some of this information may be specific to Missouri, you may also want to look for similar sites that relate to your location.



Other web sites where you might find information on legal issues related to technology include:

Copyright Site
This site tells you all you ever wanted know about copyright laws. You can find out if you're infringing them by taking "the fair use test."

Internet Do's and Don'ts
This web site from the U.S. Department of Justice is designed to help children learn to use the Internet safely and legally.

Legal Analysis of K-12 Acceptable Use Policies
The author cautions that this analysis will not apply to every district, but it can give you some general guidelines.

FilteringInfo
This organization provides updates on legislation regarding filtering software and other ways to block students' access to parts of the Internet.