Notes that state legislatures across the country are lowering the ages at which the names of those arrested for, charged with, or found guilty of a crime may be made public. Describes how one newspaper staff in an Iowa high school decided to publish the names of students arrested at a large beer party. (SR)

Examines Internet security risks and how users can protect themselves. Discusses inadvertent bugs in software; programming problems with Common Gateway Interface (CGI); viruses; tracking of Web users; and preventing access to selected Web pages and filtering software. A glossary of Internet security-related terms is included. (AEF)

Examines the established data protection policy in the United Kingdom, to provide some context and background against which to judge existing and evolving U.S. policies. The Data Protection Act of 1984, the Council of Europe Convention on Data Protection, and the European Union Data Protection Directive are discussed. Online sources of further…

Describes a complex court case involving a Massachusetts elementary teacher whose contract was not renewed because she was cohabiting with a suspected (but eventually exonerated) child abuser. School officials should resist the knee-jerk reaction to terminate a teacher's contract on the grounds of narrow, homogeneous community values regarding…

These six articles related to government information policies in New Zealand cover topics including policy reform, legislation, the office of privacy commissioner, organizing statistics, the restructuring of the National Archives of New Zealand, and the policy role of the national library. (BEW)

Presents issues and questions involved in online privacy from the information professional's perspective. Topics include consumer concerns; query confidentiality; securing computers from intrusion; electronic mail; search engines; patents and intellectual property searches; government's role; Internet service providers; database mining; user…

Accused persons defending charges of sexual assault and related offenses sometimes seek to review confidential records, such as student records, pertaining to the complainant or witnesses. In 1997, the Canadian Parliament amended the criminal code to create a new procedure for such situations; its constitutionality was upheld in 1999. Details of…

Explains why campus security officials consider locker rooms and restrooms the bane of their jobs, and offers a formula for protecting property and privacy at the same time: first secure the entire building, then zero in on specifics. Describes various security options for these campus areas. (EV)

In 2001, the Supreme Court upheld equal access for student religious groups meeting at school facilities, declared graduation prayer unlawful, agreed to resolve a peer-grading dispute, may consider constitutionality of a Cleveland educational voucher program, and upheld authors in a database copyright lawsuit. (MLH)

The present article explores ethical issues that emerge in qualitative research conducted by applied psychologists. The utility and relevance of the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (American Psychological Association, 2002) for qualitative research are examined. The importance of psychology's fiduciary relationship with…

After being accused of sexually harassing a student, a high school math teacher in New York was suspended with pay pending an impartial hearing. The district allowed the teacher to return to his classroom to collect his personal effects, which he had kept in boxes, desk drawers, and three filing cabinets, one of which was locked. He did not…

Drawing on relevant literature and a study carried out by the author and colleagues, this article reviews the evidence about children's expressed views on methods used by adults to obtain children's views. It identifies key considerations deployed by children to account for those preferences. Children are normally passive with respect to method…

This dissertation problematizes the "state dossier system" (SDS): the production and accumulation of personal information on citizen subjects exceeding the reasonable bounds of risk management. SDS--comprising interconnecting subsystems of records and identification--damage individual autonomy and self-determination, impacting not only…

The mass media are at odds with the public on issues concerning privacy, i.e., issues concerning whether private information about a person should be printed in a newspaper or magazine. In a 1982 survey, one journalist/respondent said his or her newspaper "almost always" favored the public's right to know over a person's right to…

This report explains how to use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy Act of 1974. It reflects all changes to the laws made since 1977: major amendments to the Freedom of Information Act passed in 1974 and 1986; a major addition to the Privacy Act of 1974 was enacted in 1988; and minor amendments to the Privacy Act were made in…