Unit 1.3. Respect: Law

1.3. What is Digital Law?

Digital Law: electronic responsibility for actions and deeds

"Digital law deals with the ethics of technology within a society. Unethical use manifests itself in form of theft and/or crime. Ethical use manifests itself in the form of abiding by the laws of society. Users need to understand that stealing or causing damage to other people’s work, identity, or property online is a crime. There are certain rules of society that users need to be aware in an ethical society. These laws apply to anyone who works or plays online. Hacking into others information, downloading illegal music, plagiarizing, creating destructive worms, viruses or creating Trojan Horses, sending spam, or stealing anyone’s identify or property is unethical."

Lesson Topics

Each numbered section in the right column begins a 20-minute lesson with the following topics:

1.3.a. Copyright & Fair Use

1.3.b. Creative Commons

1.3.c. Public Domain

1.3.d. Downloading and Piracy

1.3.e. Virus/Spyware/Phishing/Malware

Lesson Format

Facilitator lesson script

1. Video: View the video or Web page

2. Essential question: The student facilitator poses the question or issue you are to consider

3. Think / Ink: Individually think about your personal reaction to the video and write your response to the essential question on your Journal page. 5 minutes.

4. Discuss: Participate in a class discussion comparing your response to that of other students. 5-10 minutes.

5. Conclusion: The facilitator can summarize and present a possible consensus to the question, or decide to disagree. 2 minutes. Collect student Journals.

Lessons

1.3.a. Copyright Made Simple

Video: View "Taking the Mystery out of Copyright" to see if this is a simple way to understand copyright.

Essential questions: Is your work as a student copyrighted, such as the last research report you wrote? Do you own your work and ideas? Do you need to file a legal document with the government to have something copyrighted? What impact does this have on whether you let another student copy your work?

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.a. Copyright and Theft

Video: View this YouTube video, "Copyright Perspectives: No, You Stole It."

Essential question: Finders keepers? If you find a picture or video online for your research report, can you just take it and use it? What should you do to avoid stealing?

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.a Copyright on Campus video

Video: View this YouTube video on "Copyright on Campus."

Essential question: Who is more guilty of trying to use materials without regard to copyright, younger students or older students? Why?

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.a. Copyright and Fair Use

Video: View this YouTube video on "Copyright Basics."

Essential question: Copyright is a law that protects the originators and owners of ideas, information, and images. What confuses you about copyright? When does Fair Use apply? Why isn't Fair Use stealing?

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.b. Creative Commons

Video: View this YouTube video,"What is Creative Commons? Wanna Work Together RG Remix."

Essential question: Have you ever heard of Creative Commons? How is it different from Copyright? (Hint: Does CC ease Copyright restrictions?) What types of media would it be easier to share using Creative Commons?

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.b. Creative Commons

Video: Watch this YouTube video on "Creative Commons License and how it helps us share digital content"

Essential question: I bet you have created a PowerPoint for an assignment and put in a lot of great pictures. Did you take those pictures, or did you get them from someone else? Can you explain the different types of credit for the way you choose to use a picture?

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.c. Using Public Domain Images

Video: View this YouTube video, "How to find Public Domain pictures on Google Image Search." Your teacher may want to show you the PowerPoint about how to locate Public Domain images and paste them into a document.

Essential question: How many times have you taken pictures from Google Images or anywhere on the Internet---without giving credit? Did you understand it's against copyright and it's STEALING to use images without credit, and sometimes without permission. What did you learn from this video about how to fix this HUGE problem?

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.c. Public Domain

Video: View this YouTube video, "Public Domain Introduction."

Essential question: This video introducing you to what is Public Domain is the first in a series of 12 videos. Write down three things you learned about this very serious topic and share them with the class. How will this change your online behavior?

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.d. Downloading

Video: View the first 2-3 minutes of this YouTube video, "Student fined $675,000 for sharing 30 songs."

Essential question: What is your reaction to the video? Is downloading always illegal, or sometimes is it okay to do? Is it different from shoplifting? Explain.

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.d. Downloading is piracy

Video: View this YouTube video "Piracy, It's a Crime."

Essential question: The video clearly compares downloading to stealing. What have you have downloaded and what were the circumstances? Were you stealing?

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.d. Online Piracy

Video: View the YouTube, "O nline Piracy... It's Different."

Essential question: Why does the bear who is downloading think it's okay? Do you agree? Who suffers with online piracy? Is it just the owners of the original material, or is it all of us? Why?

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.d. Piracy and Censorship

Video: View this YouTube video, "Internet Censorship Is the Wrong Answer to Online Piracy."

Essential question: Piracy is a worldwide problem. Do you agree or disagree that laws to prevent piracy are a form of censorship that violate your rights? As time permits, you can read this article, "Why we need a law against online piracy."

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.e. Viruses

Video: View this YouTube Go!Animate video, "How to Prevent Computer Viruses."

Essential question: Purposely creating and spreading computer viruses is inappropriate behavior, or even criminal. What do you think motivates people to create computer viruses?

Think/Ink and Discuss

1.3.e. Phishing

Video: Watch this YouTube video, "Phishing Scams in Plain English."

Essential Question: When someone asks, "Did you catch a big one," it might be a crook who is after YOU! Why do you think this type of online stealing is called phishing?

Think/Ink and Discuss