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CHAPTER 9: Legal Aspects of Education allowed administrators to ban the use of cell phones in classrooms, provided evidence was presented concerning the negative effects on discipline or morale.31
Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) An act providing that schools and libraries receive discounts on electronic equipment and media and are required to install a “technology protection measure” preventing minors from using computers to access “visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors.”
Gaining Access to Prohibited Materials Since the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) went into effect in 2001, schools and libraries receiving discounts on electronic equipment and media have been required to install “a technology protection measure” that prevents minors from using computers with Internet capabilities to access “visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors.” After CIPA was challenged in court, the US Supreme Court ruled that the law is a constitutional condition imposed on institutions in exchange for government funding. But the Court also said institutions must adopt a policy for unblocking the Internet for adults, without requiring the user to offer reasons for disabling the filter. However, CIPA requirements sometimes have been interpreted by school officials and the public as virtually prohibiting all access to YouTube and other sites that offer some prohibited material. Thus classroom use of YouTube and similar sites frequently has been viewed as unacceptable. The US Department of Education provides the following guidance to help teachers handle YouTube and other sites while complying with CIPA:32 ●● Accessing YouTube does not necessarily violate CIPA. ●● Websites blocked for students are not always denied to teachers for use in school. ●● “Brute force technologies” that shut down wide swaths of the Web, such as all of YouTube, are not required.
Sexting Brouhahas Sexting frequently is defined as the act of using a smartphone or comparable electronic device to transmit sexually explicit images of oneself to individuals known to or in contact with the sender. A growing number of jurisdictions have been passing laws against sexting, generally raising child pornography charges if the sender or recipient is not yet an adult. Depending on the jurisdiction, sexters or transmitters of the images can be charged with either misdemeanors or felonies and can receive significant fines or jail sentences. In some jurisdictions, sext messages have been circulated very widely and indiscriminately among young people, and sometimes have served to embarrass and/or intimidate subjects of the images and/or others who circulated them. In these situations, police and other government officials have been torn between assertive punishment to inhibit sexting and reluctance to prosecute sexting participants as child pornographers and thereby punish them with a label to follow them the remainder of their lives. Because sext messages can be sent easily to numerous classmates and acquaintances and sometimes can create conflicts as well as damage reputations and social relationships, educators have become increasingly concerned with this type of behavior among their students. Some districts have introduced courses or other learning activities to inform students of the negatives and dangers involved in sexting. In general, school officials concerned with sexting should follow legal principles and guidelines described elsewhere in this chapter with respect to search (for example, of cell phones), discipline, and harassment.33 This chapter’s Technology @ School feature offers more information on legal issues involved with student computer use.
Michael D. Simpson, “No More Classroom Paparazzi,” NEA Today (October 2008); and Daniel Marcus-Toll, “Tinker Gone Viral,” Fordham Law Review (May 2014), available at www .fordhamlawreview.org. 32 Tina Barseghian, “Straight from the DOE,” Mind/Shift (April 26, 2011); and “Children’s Internet Protection Act,” 2014 posting by the Federal Communications Commission, available at www .fcc.gov. 33 Zara Kessler, “First Sex and Then Sexting and Now Sext Education,” Standard Examiner (October 23, 2014), available at www.standard.net; and Hanna Rosin, “Why Kids Text,” Atlantic (November 2014), available at www.theatlanic.com. 31
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