Summarizes legal issues that pertain to the uses of information technology on campuses. Highlights privacy, freedom of expression, and intellectual property rights. Argues that understanding these legal and ethical issues is necessary in developing an appropriate campus policy. Provides guidance for developing a campus technology policy. (RJM)

Discusses issues related to off-campus, harmful student speech on the Internet, exploring the characteristics of this harmful speech and reviewing recent court cases in which schools have perceived such speech to be harmful or defamatory. Discusses prevention strategies in the context of the social and behavioral factors involved in offensive…

Assesses the impact of technology on privacy. Discusses electronic monitoring of people in the workplace; interception and reading of e-mail messages; merging of databases which contain personal information; rise in the number of hackers; and the development of software that makes the decoding of digital information virtually impossible. Presents…

Notes that students' legitimate expectations of privacy and school officials' need to maintain school discipline and safety often collide. Outlines guidelines for searching in the following instances: student lockers; drug dogs; student trips; strip searches; and urinalysis. Suggests that training for all administrators, faculty, and staff in the…

Presents statements made to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights by representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the library community concerning the surveillance of library users' reading habits as a national security measure. An FBI study on the extent of Soviet intelligence service's utilization of…

Describes how communications and information technologies are being used to increase the reach and influence of bureaucratic surveillance, creating an increasing inequality between those who provide and those who gather personal information. Argues that the current legal system is hopelessly inadequate to the challenge of controlling the…

Disagrees with Professor Donal M. Sacken's contention in Spring 1988 "Journal of Law and Education" that "Eckman" decision resulted in loss of school district autonomy. Agrees with jury that school board's dismissal of unmarried teacher, who became pregnant as a result of rape and chose to bear the child and raise him, was…

A survey of 222 obstetrics patients assisted by medical clerkship students from the University of Vermont and 78 who refused student participation found privacy the primary motivation for refusal and a desire to contribute to students' education a primary reason for accepting student participation. Patients frequently erroneously anticipated the…

Discusses computer ethics and the use of computer networks. Topics addressed include computer hackers; software piracy; computer viruses and worms; intentional and unintentional abuse; intellectual property rights versus freedom of thought; the role of information in a democratic society; individual privacy; legislation; social attitudes; and the…

Addresses issues of electronic publishing from an archival perspective, including authentication, mutability, reformatting, preservation, editorial and administrative policies, costs, the role of librarians and archivists, technical procedures, access and the rights of privacy and freedom of information, and standards. (AEF)

In June 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Vernonia (Oregon) School District's right to conduct random drug tests of its student athletes. The court balanced a seventh grader's privacy interest with the state's interest in curbing drug abuse among student athletes. Before adopting drug-testing policies, school boards should assess the local…

Discusses guidelines adopted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that pertain to privacy protection and the transborder flows of personal data. Discussion covers principles of fair information practice on the national and international levels, approaches to implementing the guidelines, and common public and private…

Contends that a constitutionally grounded fundamental right of privacy protecting parental choice of home education is built on a reasonable construction of existing Supreme Court case law and a reassessment of state interests vis-a-vis the parental right of privacy. (147 references) (MLF)

Examines the National Collegiate Athletic Association's drug testing program of student-athletes and relevant legal decisions. Concludes that each individual urinalysis search, not based on suspicion, is a violation of the student-athlete's privacy and is an unreasonable search in violation of the Fourth Amendment. (100 references) (MLF)

Addresses questions of intellectual property rights when faculty, staff, or students at higher education institutions place material on the Internet, noting that educational institutions frequently lack the necessary permission or own rights for such online usage. Suggests that institutions audit materials before putting them online and develop…