Technology and Legal Issues
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Online Lesson Contents |
Introduction |
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Technology brings a host of legal issues to schools. Questions about appropriate use of the Internet, software copyright compliance, and fair use of electronic resources are starting points for consideration. Some of these issues can be dealt with using existing school procedures. Others require that school boards set new policies which direct technological activities along safe and ethical paths. This online module is meant to be a starting point for thinking about legal issues and technology. Schools should consult their legal counsel as they plan and develop policies in response to ideas raised here. | |
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Goals |
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Assignments |
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Read materials in this online lesson and follow links to other World Wide Web sites. Go to the threaded discussion forum titled, "Online Lesson 4- Technology and Legal Issues," and respond to either of the following questions: A student known as a skinhead published a web page off of the school web site which contains links to racist and anti-semitic sites. You are the principal. What action do you take? You're the technology committee chair of an elementary school. You're aware that at least 50% of the software at your site is "softloaded" (pirated). What actions will you advocate?
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Go to Part 2- Software Licensing
...educational institutions are not exempt from
copyright laws.
Part 2: Software
Licensing A study conducted by the Software Publishers Association reported
that of the 574 million new software applications installed globally
during 1997, 228 million applications or four in every ten were "pirated."
Pirating refers to the unauthorized use of software. Types of software
piracy include: Schools sometimes feel that they are exempt from software copyright
laws. According to the Software Publishers Association, "...educational
institutions are not exempt from copyright laws. To the contrary because
of their unique position of influence schools must remain committed
to upholding the copyright laws. Just as it would be wrong to buy
one textbook and photocopy it for use by other students, it is wrong
for a school to duplicate software (or to allow its faculty or students
to do so) without authority from the publisher." Studying issues related to software ownership in schools further,
peruse the frequently asked questions at the following web address: The penalties for software piracy are quite severe. If sued for civil
copyright infringement, the penalty is up to $100,000 per title infringed.
Schools are required to provide positive proof that all software have
been purchased to demonstrate copyright compliance. The best documentation
includes: purchase orders, invoices, product specific licenses, and
canceled checks. Normally, original media such as CD-ROMs, diskettes,
and manuals are not acceptable documentation of ownership. Stories about schools being prosecuted for software piracy are beginning
to emerge. The Los Angeles Times reported in July 1998, that: "For years, Microsoft Corp. and other industry giants have
tried to persuade public schools that computers belong in classrooms
alongside textbooks and teachers. Now the same firms are targeting the Los Angeles Unified School
District in a different way, seeking $300,000 over allegations that
teachers and other employees have illegally copied software programs."
Read the full text of this story and what publishers intend to do
with proceeds from fines at the Los Angeles Times website: L.A.
Schools in Software Piracy Bind. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) of the United States encourages
schools to steer clear of software piracy. They have developed free
teaching materials for students ages 10 and up addressing values,
ethics and citizenship while promoting "safe and sane software
use." The BSA curriculum material called, Reboot
Your Attitude, has relevance to science, language arts, social
studies and math classes according to the authors. What Schools Should Do... Keeping schools on the right course with software licensing is an
on-going effort. The most helpful advice can be distilled into three
points:
Anti
Piracy Frequently Asked Questions
The Software and Information Industry Association
http://www.siia.net/piracy/faq.asp
Go to Part 3- Internet Acceptable Policies
Part 3: Internet
Acceptable Use Policies & CIPA
The Internet has become a common educational resource in schools
across the country. Teachers and students are generally accessing
resources from the World Wide Web and communicating via electronic
mail. Most of these schools have adopted "Acceptable Use Policies"(AUPs)
defining student and staff use of the Internet. Such policies are
intended to: 1) define Internet services; 2) guide educational activities;
3) inform parents/guardians about Internet access; and 4) direct supervision
of a district/school’s Internet access. As new services from the Internet evolve and use of the Internet
increases it is wise for districts to review their Acceptable Use
Policies. This section summarizes the important parts of a district’s
Internet Acceptable Use Policy. Excerpts from an analysis by Nancy
Willard titled, A Legal and Educational Analysis of K-12 Internet
Acceptable Use Policies follow.
Limited Educational Purpose Student Safety and District Liability Disciplinary Process Search and Seizure First Amendment Issues Congress studied the Internet duirng the late 90s. Based on concerns
from constitutents, they passed the Children's Internet Protection
Act (CIPA) in December 2000. This bill required development of Internet
Safety Plans in all schools and libraries that received Federal funding.
A CIPA plan needs to address the following areas: Everyone is not in agreement about the value of CIPA. The American
Library Association feels that CIPA is unconstitutional. An excerpt
from the ALA website shares some of their perspective: The ALA believes strongly that CIPA is unconstitutional. The filtering
mandate imposed by Congress is unworkable in the context of a public
institution because it restricts access to constitutionally protected
speech on the users served by libraries. No filtering or blocking
technology exists that blocks access only to speech that is obscene,
child pornography or harmful to minors. And no filtering technology
protects children from all objectionable materials. Read more about
the American Library Association's perspective at their CIPA website.
Students do not give up their rights to free speech through a district’s
computer system.
K-12 educational uses of the Internet have boundaries. Reasonable
policies limit system use to educational and career or professional-development
activities and limited high-quality self discovery. This section
also provides a Definition of Non-Educational Activities including-
commercial use (offering or providing products or services -and-
use of the system to purchase products) political lobbying (engaging
in fundraising activities and support for specific measures/candidates)
The greatest concern in the area of student safety is a district’s
"duty of care toward its students." Districts must insure that students
are not able to come into contact with a person who could physically
harm them through an Internet connection. Reasonable precautions
include personal safety requirements for students and the provision
of personal safety information to parents. Districts can potentially
be held responsible for losses sustained by users as a result of
a system failure. This could include loss of data and/or interruption
of services. A disclaimer should provide notice of this potential
and disclaim a district from responsibility. Users should be encouraged
to make a personal back-up of materials contained on district systems.
Districts should be concerned about the potential that a user will
violate restrictions against purchasing products or services through
its system. District should include a disclaimer for any financial
obligations arising from unauthorized use of the system for the
purchase of products or services. Potential liability can also be
found if a user causes harm to another person or organization through
the district system. Districts should include a provision in their
policy that will indemnify them against inappropriate actions by
system users.
This section deals with student related issues. The district’s
collective bargaining agreement and state law will generally govern
employee disciplinary procedures. Due process needs to be a part
of any disciplinary action. Students need to be notified about violations
and be able to respond to allegations. AUPs should be explicit in
making students aware that Internet policies are part of a school’s
general rules and regulations for student behavior. Violations should
be handled in accord with these rules including contacting law enforcement
officials when there is suspicion of illegal activity. An AUP should
provide clear information about what actions will be considered
inappropriate. Courts have upheld as sufficiently clear such terms
as: "willful disobedience," intentional disruption," and "vulgarity"
in a school setting. Districts might want to question whether such
terms as "objectionable," "inappropriate," "inaccurate," "sexually-oriented,"
and "offensive" provide a sufficient level of clarity for students
to be able to guide their actions.
Privacy issues present themselves in relation to electronic files
stored on district computer equipment for both students and employees.
Students should be told that a very close analogy can be made between
lockers and personal electronic files. Routine maintenance and monitoring
of district systems may lead to discovery that a user has violated
the law or a district rule. Reasonable suspicion can also lead to
individualized searches of electronic files. The rights to investigate
an employee’s electronic files are less clear. In O’Connor
v. Ortega, 480 U.S. 709 (1987) , the Supreme Court held that employees
did have constitutionally protected privacy interests in the work
environment but that the reasonableness of the employee’s expectation
of privacy must be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Students do not give up their rights to free speech through a district’s
computer system. Student writing posted publicly on district servers
can be edited by district officials if the electronic media is
seen as a limited forum established for specific educational purposes.
In cases where students are allowed to indiscriminately use a system
similar to a general Internet newsgroup forum, a school’s authority
in editing and controlling student submissions may be seen as an
abridgment of the First Amendment. In other cases, educationally
based restrictions on free speech that are appropriate for a district
to impose, in order of severity, are:
Go to Part 4- Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials
Part 4: Fair
Use of Copyrighted Materials
Original creators of text, graphics, video, and music
have rights associated with their creations even if they do not have
a formal copyright notice.
According to Nancy Willard, "Copyright laws are based on an underlying
social value: People should have the right to compensation for their
creative work because compensating people encourages more creative
works and our society is benefited by these works. A creative work
(text, music, picture, etc.) is automatically protected by copyright
from the moment it is created. No copyright notice or registration
is required. "Public domain" is the status of a work that is not protected
by copyright because the creator has clearly and specifically relinquished
all copyright rights or the copyright has expired. Since a notice
is not required, merely publishing a work without a notice is not
a relinquishment of copyright rights." Willard goes on to say that, "The "fair use doctrine" provides a
limited basis by which people can use a copyrighted work without getting
permission from the creator. The essence of the fair use doctrine
is that a person is not using the work in such a manner that is, or
has, the potential of, diverting income from the creator. One of the
rationales for the fair use doctrine is the immediacy of the need
for the use of the material and the difficulty in contacting the owner
of the copyright for permission." In a publication titled, From
Now On, Jamie McKenzie offers a group of scenerios that provide
insight into fair use doctrines: A student finds some great surfing shots at a resort page and downloads
them to incorporate into a multimedia presentation she is developing
for her English class. Is this legal under the "Fair Use" provisions
of the copyright law? Impressed by the report, the teacher nominates
the production for publishing on the high school's web site. May
the surfing pictures be incorporated? Under what conditions? Case
2: Animal Pictures Students use animal pictures from a CD of clip art which has been
purchased by the school to create a virtual museum which will be
available on the school's web site. Is that legal? Copyright & Fair Use Resources Classroom
Copyright Chart The Copyright
& Fair Use Web Site Citing
Internet Resources
Copy machines, video cassette recorders, scanners, and the World Wide
Web have brought many conveniences to schools. Staff members and students
are able to copy, duplicate, and distribute media in a variety of
different formats. Legal questions surface when the rights of authors,
artists, and musicians are abridged in these activities. Original
creators of text, graphics, video, and music have rights associated
with their creations even if they do not have a formal copyright notice
affixed to their work. This section provides insight into fair use
of copyrighted materials.Case
1: Surfing Photographs
http://fromnowon.org/jun96/legal.html#Copyright
http://fromnowon.org/jun96/legal.html#Clip Art
What are our rights and responsibilites with regard to copyright?
Take a look at the this helpful chart developed by Hall Davidson,
an education specialist from KOCE television and Orange County Schools,
to get some answers.
This site is unique because it assembles for the first time in one
location a wide range of materials related to this controversial
and hotly-debated issue: the use of copyrighted material by individuals,
libraries and educational institutions.
Check out Sonoma State University's Schultz Information Center to
get Internet style guides.