Acceptable Use Policies: A Story
The following was distributed on a ListServ as an illustration of why
educators need to establish "acceptable use" policies and monitor their
implementation. The person who distributed this anecdote was careful not
to reveal the involved students' identities, and in presenting it here the
information about the date and location where this occurred have also been
deleted (except obviously in the USA, during the Clinton presidency).
Subject: Re: acceptable use policies.
Hey gang,
Don't take lightly the need to have acceptable use policies and
contracts. This very day a poorly prepared school in my district learned the
hard way (not to mention the student, the son of a close friend of mine):
They had:
1.) Put in a network that had e-mail connectivity to Internet.
2.) Created a lab and staffed it with high school students.
3.) Let kids do e-mail to anyone with inadequate netiquite training.
4.) Did not have acceptable use policies
5.) Did not have contracts signed by parents/students with regard
to acceptable use policies
The bust:
A freshman went to the lab supervised by other high school students. They had
obtained the president's (you know, Bill Clinton...) e-mail address. In fun
they sent a few gag messages. Then in a stroke of brilliance they decided to
tease the president by taunting that the guy who shot from outside the gates
was a fool and that if they (the boys) wanted to "off" the pres, they would use
a bomb.
---> Insert sirens here <---
Evidently the Whitehouse has a vocabulary checker that looks for words like
"bomb" and it found it in the boy's message. It alerted the authorities and
they allerted the bleeding FBI!!! No kidding!!! So, imagine the surprise of
the high school secretary when she answers the phone and they guy on the other
end of the line says: "This is the FBI. Do you have a student attending
school there named "Joe" (name changed to protect the e-flamer)? If so I
need to speak with the Principal immediately."
---> Imagine S H O C K here <---
Well, the kid with the e-mail account got suspended for three days and his
mother assured me that he was in for a shock of his own when she got home...
At any rate: Cover your "#^%$#"!!!
This happened just today! No kidding!
My advice:
1.) Have acceptable use policies and see that parents and students
read and understand and agree to abide by them.
2.) Have parents and students sign a contract stating that they have
read, understand and agree to the acceptable use policies.
3.) Never allow students to free range on the net. Always have a
specific task to do.
4.) Never allow students to access the net at school unsupervised.
(We only have access in our lab so far and this makes it easy.)
(I don't know how we are going to do it when we have nodes all
over the school!!! Any ideas out there?)
5.) Get as many teachers and responsible students involved in
positive uses of the net as possible so that when little "things"
arise you will have a good track record to point to.
6.) Don't wimp out or grow lax on your acceptable use policies!
That's about it.
Surf's up! Visor down, Jack in, Get W I R E D! =8-D
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