Legal and safe surfing

Copyright

The internet can sometimes seem like an unlimited source of free material to download and share at will.  It can appear ludicrous to jump through hoops and ask for permission or pay to utilize something that is there ready to go now for free.  We are after all a ‘want it now’ society and in the digital world the culture is too often ‘take it’.

While many people do upload material to the internet for public use, that material is still under standard copywright law and subject to the wishes of the owner.  Given the global connectivity of the internet the person who uploads is not necessarily even the one who owns the material.  

For teachers and students it is therefore best practice  to ensure the permission of the owner of any multi-media material you wish to use.  This can be a blurred field e.g. videos that are uploaded to youtube are expressly done so to share however linking to these video may still infringe copyright . Youtube discusses copywright here.

Whenever using material that isn't your own the source must also be clearly referenced.   

Education Queensland provides advice for teachers on copyright risk management here.

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Safety

While writing a blog or creating a video in class or from the apparent safety of a home computer may seem realtively harmless, once it is uploaded to the world anyone can view it and in most cases interact with the creator.  It is therefore important for student safety that no personal details or photos are released to the world without parental permission. In the same way teachers and students should not share details and photos of other people without consent.  

Precautions also need to be taken to ensure students are not exposed to inappropriate material on the internet or put in any physical danger by communicating via the internet.

Netalert provides a guide for teachers to managing a safe internet environment for students.  

An effective method of managing internet safety is to work with students to create a behavioural guidance list.  Here is an example:

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