Students use of social networking tools: legal risks and other implications

Social networking sites, including MySpace and Facebook, and other media rich websites which provide social networking functions such as Bebo, Flickr and YouTube, offer new and varied ways to communicate and network. Most provide a forum for users to create an online profile and to construct and display an online network of contacts (‘friends’) as well as to display media which demonstrates their likes, dislikes and preferences. The exploration of identity is a characteristic of childhood and especially teenage years however the use of social networking sites adds a complex layer of communication, practices and consequences. While several valuable projects have tackled the issue of cyberbullying surrounding the use of social network sites, little research has been performed in Australia on the broader legal issues such as privacy, intellectual property, copyright and disclosure. This paper describes some of these serious and frequently misunderstood legal risks and outlines the current large scale research project aimed at identifying student practices as well as the perceptions of their teachers and parents. This paper will provide a valuable resource for teachers and administrators who are trying to understand the broader legal implications of personal and educational use of social networking sites.

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