Moral and Legal Issues

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Moral issues surrounding technology use have much to do with how our students interact and engage with the technologies around them.  Take for instance, social networking sites (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc) that can bring about concerns from parents and teachers of ruined reputations, hurt feelings, lost friends, and time wasted online.  Inappropriate use of these sites can morally harm a person.  Use of these technologies may also lead to a very common phrase heard today, cyberbullying.   Cyberbullying is the intentional act of posting harmful images or words in order to hurt someone else.  A moral issue that many children, teens and adults deal with today.  This is why schools are working toward instilling “acceptable use policies” that review the terms for acceptable use on the internet and what proper moral behavior includes.  Some schools have even adopted a technology curriculum that focus on netiquette.  Netiquette is simply etiquette on the Internet.  Just as we once were taught how to properly converse and collaborate with one another face to face, we now must educate our youth on how to do the same online.  All of this connects with the bigger picture of how do we keep ourselves private in a world where everyone seems to be opening up about themselves to strangers. To be blunt, The Internet is not a place for people to be left alone and therefore we cannot expect complete privacy.  We can however, moderate and control what is said or posted about us if we are vigilant.

For myself, I limit my use of social networking sites and what I post on them or who I allow to see them. These simple steps can do much for one's privacy in the end. I also tend to use my Twitter account as more of a networking tool rather than for personal use. My students are too "young" to have social media accounts but of course many of them still do. When we have discussions in class pertaining to "stranger danger" as we must do every year, I also use this as a time to talk about "stranger danger" on the internet and ways to protect yourselves. We also look at ways in which comments can hurt others because text can be interrupted in many ways. Common Sense Media is a great resource to help fuel these discussions and offers valuable resources.

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Legal issues surrounding technology on the other hand have to deal with how we use the information we get from the Internet.  For instance, copyright laws protect original works by people from being stolen or what we refer to as “plagiarism”.  Plagiarism has all to often been occurring due to the ease of access students have to the information around them.  Many students unfortunately do not know what they are doing is in fact plagiarism and by teaching our students how to properly cite or give credit to their sources, we are helping them to become better digital age citizens.  Fair Use and Creative Commons are doctrines found under the Copyright Law that allow educators and students to use information if it is not for commercial use in ways that will not result in prosecution.  According to Stephanie Raccine of Off the Page Creations, here is what one cannot do under the Fair Use doctrine:

• Copy pictures to use on your brochure or website that you found on the internet (even if you put up the copyright line of who holds the copyright, this is considered infringement)
• Purchase a license to use a photo on your brochure, then continue to use it on your website, flyers, and postcards unless it is stated in the license
• Copy text out of a book or off from a website and use it verbatim
• Put music on your website without permission
• Post an article without permission, even if it's about you
• Use an image by linking to it rather than copying it (This is still copyright infringement)

Farnese, R. (2012 April 13). Legal, ethical and social issues in technology.  Slideshare.  Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/rachelfarnese/legal-ethical-and-social-issues-in-technology

Raccine, S. (n.d.). Legal issues and the internet.  Off the Page Creations, LLC.  Retrieved from http://www.offthepagecreations.com/legal_issues_internet.php