Copyright, Fair Use and Online Safety

According to the US Copyright Office, "Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works (Fryer, 2003). With the technology being used today it is very important our students understand the importance of copyright laws and infringement. It is up to us as teachers to properly educate our students and provide proper examples according to the copyright laws. This is a growing concern in schools and college across the country, if we are properly educated in this matter it can help to avoid legal concerns as well as provide original works from our students. It’s a good idea that when questioning oneself if it is plagiarism or not it is better to believe it is and go about the right ways to avoid this situation.

Online safety is often thought of as personal protection online, this means protecting sensible information of yours that may be found online such as your name, email, physical address, bank information, phone number, and any other type of personal information you don’t want floating around in cyber space. Cyber bullying however using the internet as a tool of defamation, this could mean that someone you may or may not know sends or post harmful or unneeded texts or images over a means of digital communication. (National) In today’s society children and adults spend a tremendous amount of time on internet sites such as facebook and myspace often displaying very personal and sensitive information for all to see. This is often a conversation starter among my friends as we see this as a crazy way for people starved for any kind of, positive or negative, attention. This is not a very smart idea as this information is available for everyone in cyberspace. This is also a reason of concern and something that needs to be addressed among young adults across the globe. Children and young adults often post this without knowing its wrong or inappropriate. As adults and teachers we need to inform our students about the dangers of cyber bullying and online safety.

This week’s blog posting is very useful information for teachers and parents alike. The topic of internet safety is often looked over even as the amount of technology we use in daily life increases more and more every day. I was also taken aback about certain copyright laws; I even found that I was in the wrong pertaining to certain habits used for homework and research. The copyright quiz was a great way to show situations that might come into question in a school setting. I made around a 70 on the quiz, going in I honestly expected to ace it. With the advances in technology daily I believe that this week’s activities are very important for us to learn about as teachers so that we may be aware of dangers and laws when in the classroom.

References
Fryer, W. (n.d.). Integrating Technology in the Classroom. Copyright 101 for Educators: Winter 2003. Retrieved July 26, 2010, from www.wtvi.com/TEKS/02_03_articles/copyright.html


National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (n.d.). Safety Tips. NetSmartz. Retrieved