Understanding the Legal Implications of Online Activities: A Classroom Guide, Study notes of Property Law

Download Understanding the Legal Implications of Online Activities: A Classroom Guide and more Study notes Property Law in PDF only on Docsity! “The Internet and the Law” 1. Goals a. To demonstrate to students the power, benefits and dangers of their activities online b. For students to understand that their actions online are not anonymous, and they should know that anything they put out can be traced back to them c. To know that what they put out there about themselves may follow them around online forever and they may have no legal recourse d. For students to learn that they shouldn’t do anything online that they wouldn’t do in real life 2. Objectives a. Knowledge: as a result of this class, students will be better able to i. Be responsible Internet citizens ii. Understand that real-world laws apply to the Internet, especially harassment and bullying laws b. Skill: as a result of this class, students will be better able to i. Control how they act online, how they interact with others and how the portray themselves ii. Create and argument and defend it in a small and large group setting via the case study c. Attitude: as a result of this class, students will be better able to feel i. There are some limits to what goes on online, and they have some protection if they are a victim of bullying ii. That there are dangers on the Internet, and that they should be cautious about more than sex offenders 3. CLASSROOM METHODS a. Disclaimer about today’s lesson. Let the students know that we are not talking about physical dangers, like sex predators etc., because they are all much less likely to run into a sexual predator as they are to get involved in other dangers online. Provide the standard advice to never meet with someone you meet with online, and keep parents in the loop about if strangers do try to contact the students. If students have concerns about this, they can talk to the teacher after class or follow up via email. b. Icebreaker: i. Note: this is a good gauge of what the students actually do online and the answers can help tailor the rest of the lesson to the Docsity.com websites that they primarily use – which will differ by age, region and when taught ii. Ask the lass (call on random students to answer): So in college and law school we often hear from our teachers that we use the Internet in a whole different way than they do. They may email, while we instant message. They read the newspaper, and we blog. So we want to find out what you all do online. (pick and choose from the following questions) 1. When did you first go online? 2. Who has Internet access at home? 3. Who has their own computer, or a computer in their room, that no one else access? 4. Who has ever chatted with someone you don’t know in real life? 5. Who has posted something anonymously online? 6. Who has said something online that you wouldn’t say to someone in person? Was it good, bad? 7. Who has a Facebook profile? 8. Myspace? 9. Are there any other social networking sites you use? 10. Do you connect in peer groups? 11. Do you have an avatar or participate in a MMORPG? 12. What else do you do online? 13. Do you spend more time online, or talking to friends? Watching TV? c. Announce we are going to do some case studies to see some examples of legal issues and the Internet. We will first break into small groups, then come back as a class to discuss. d. Lesson: Current Event Small Group Discussions i. Break students up into groups of no more than four. Tell each group to nominate one person who will report back to the class the basic facts of their “current event” sheet. The other students are on call for the discussion questions, meaning they should all be able to answer the questions in front of the class after small group discussions. ii. [If doing a mock trial later in the quarter, tell the class the following] We are using this as trial prep. You are going to have to answer the question and then defend what you say. iii. 15 minutes of small group discussion, circulate and listen into groups, warn students when they have 2 minutes left. iv. Bring back to larger group discussion (20 minutes) v. Start with a group and ask the reporter to tell the class what the case/news article was about, then go through the attached discussion questions. If using the attached case studies, see Docsity.com Even legal activity posted online can result in later damage, like being denied a degree. A reminder as students go into college that campus police also look at Facebook and MySpace for underage activity and this kind of evidence can be used against you. Case Study 6: Online hate crimes This should lead to a discussion about the limits of what a school has jurisdiction over. Here students were punished for merely looking at a website, which gets close to or may be a first amendment violation if this is a public school. Case Study 7: Beussink v. Woodland This case is meant to again look at the limits of what students do online at home and the rights of the school as constrained by the First Amendment. This case differs from some of the others because the court held that school officials may not punish a student for the content of his or her personal homepage unless it creates a substantial disruption at school. If the class has studied the First Amendment, this case should be looked at in light of earlier decisions like Tinker and Hazelwood. Case Study 8: Sex offenders and MySpace This cause is good for leading to a policy discussion about whom is liable when things go wrong online. Students have strong opinions about whether websites should be held responsible via lawsuits, and the class will likely be divided leading to good discussion. This is also a good time to touch on the fact that there are dangers online and remind the students again to not talk with strangers online. Docsity.com The Internet and the Law Case Study 1: Racist Facebook Group 1. Please take a few minutes to read the attached article 2. When your group is finished, please pick a reporter to summarize the basic facts (what happened) in your article to present to the class 3. Discuss the following questions as a group. Everyone must be prepared to answer the questions during the class discussion write down your group’s answers to the following questions to discuss with the class Questions about the article 1. What happened here? 2. Who was responsible for removing the site from Facebook? 3. Do you think the kids involved should have been disciplined? a. If YES, then why weren’t they? b. If NO, do you think this would interfere with the learning environment? Think of one argument for, and one argument against. 4. Should schools be able to control Facebook groups that are associated with the school (for example, should I be able to create a “Garfield” page and put whatever I want up making it look like a school sponsored page)? 5. How would you feel if your students made a group like this here? Even though it is online and was made off campus, do you think it could disrupt the school day? Docsity.com The Internet and the Law Case Study 2: Facebook Terms of Service 1. Please take a few minutes to skim the attached terms of service. You do not need to read the whole document! Read the headings, do they make sense? 2. Select one group member to summarize the document. The other group members should be prepared to answer the following questions for the group during a group discussion. 3. Discuss! Group Questions 1. What is this document? What does it do? Who does it apply to? (Hint: Think way back to before break when we covered contracts) 2. On the first page, read the “Eligibility” section. Do you know people who use the site that are ineligible? Why do you think Facebook limits who can use the site? How do you think they enforce this? 3. Go to page six, at the bottom and read the first paragraph of the “Disclaimers” section. What does this paragraph mean? What does it mean for you as a user of the site 4. Go to the last page, read “Indemnification”: What the heck is this! What to you think it means? Why is it here? 5. Why do you think Facebook has a document like this? What is its purpose? Docsity.com The Internet and the Law Case Study 5: Student Teacher 1. Please take a few minutes to read the attached news story 2. When your group is finished, please pick a reporter to tell the class about your story. 3. Discuss the questions below, everyone should be prepared to answer the questions during the class discussion. Group Questions 1. What happened? Why is Stacy suing her school? 2. What was Stacy doing in the photo? How old was she at the time? 3. Who do you think should “win”? Should Stacy be able to get her teacher’s credentials? 4. What if she had a certificate, and her employer saw this photo of her legally drinking, should the employer be able to fire her based on a photo on her personal website? 5. Where do you think the line should be for being punished for photos that appear online? Docsity.com The Internet and the Law Case Study 6: Online hate crimes 1. Please take a few minutes to read the attached news story 2. When your group is finished, please pick a reporter to tell the class about your story. 3. Discuss the questions below, everyone should be prepared to answer the questions during the class discussion. Group Questions: 1. What happened? Why were 20 students suspended from school? Did they post anything? 2. Did this happen at school or at home? 3. Why did the school intervene? How was the school involved? 4. Do you think the school did the right thing? Should it intervene when students harass others online? a. Does it matter to you whether the online postings were a crime? b. Should anyone ever be punished simply for reading something posted online by others? c. If yes, what are the limits? Should a school be able to punish a student for writing about the dislike of a student? Teacher? d. If no, what about when the harassment online disrupts the classroom? Docsity.com The Internet and the Law Case Study 7: Beussink v. Woodland 1. Please take a few minutes to read the attached newspaper article 2. When your group is finished, please pick a reporter to tell the class the basic facts of the case. 3. Discuss the questions below, everyone should be prepared to answer the questions during the class discussion. Group Questions: 1. Here, the student created the web site on his personal computer from home. Do you think the result would have been the same if he created the web site on a school computer? 2. At what point do you think the school should be able to step in and control what students put on the Internet? What is a “substantial disruption”? Be prepared to define the term and answer questions as to why you picked that as your standard? 3. What if the student published this in a newspaper and handed it out at school, do you think that would be allowed? 4. Do you agree with the decision? What if the student made a web site that was about another student? Do you think there should be a difference if the student is commenting on the administration versus another student? Docsity.com