The article Law and Borders discusses one of the issues that I wrote about last week in my blog and that the protection of autonomy of entities. In the case of myspace and facebook, the schools were overstepping their bounds in curtailing the kids autonomy. The article talks about the inability of giving the internet a boundary because it lacks a legitimate spatial representation. I find it intriguing that the author mentions that actual spatial and geographic boundaries keepe people separated whereas on the internet this isn't the case. Furthermore, as it would be simple to force websites to adhere to the laws of the land the owner is in, this becomes tricky. If a site is hosting something that is illegal in the place where the site-owner resides, but it is only patroned by people from a place where the content is legal, though it would be seemingly ok to still keep it under the jurisdiction of the geographic location, the ethics of the situation is questioned. Also, what if the main administrator and the owner are not the same person and thus they could be only linked by the internet, who then committed the crime?
I am also extremely intrigued by the idea that customs agents have "generally given up" on policing information "transferred by modem". Even though the sheer impossibility of the task at hand would seem to make any attempts at it failures, it is interesting that the government has more or less washed its hands of the whole matter. Obviously, this is an unwise decision because of both the numerous laws that could be broken by those using the internet and because of the myriad disputes that arise.
The author mentions how legally, a name, in this case a domain name, is a basic building block into creating idenity, however, this idea is both challenged and aided by certain aspects of the internet. It is inarguable that there is certain presence with specific domain names and even certain people on the internet, in some instances there is capital changing hands, however, considering the rapidness which the owner of something such as this can change and the inability of any person on the internet being 100-% sure of the identity of any entity or person they are dealing with, this idea of property becomes malleable.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Legal 491S 1st Post
In doing the reading for this week, the articles pertaining to myspace and facebook were particularly important to me. I have long been interested in the idea of schools status of in loco parentis. This seems to be the basis of the justification of the schools' suspension of students who defame the administrators at schools. However, if the action is done on a computer that is not the property of the school, then regardless of who the person is defaming, the school technically has no power. If an administrator who felt they were hurt by any students' remarks on a site such as myspace, they could take legal action for defamation of character or libel.
However, though I do not support the administration's punishing of students for actions that are NOT school related, I do understand the invasion of privacy that these people feel. However, as students have learned from schools partroling their facebooks, privacy is going by the wayside more and more as the internet becomes a bigger part of daily life. Even on this campus there have been numerous issues where Resident Assitants have lost their jobs due to questionable behavior as posted in pictures on facebook. Theoretically, the school is over-reaching when they discipline these students. In some cases, the pictures supposedly had under-age drinking, however, the liquid in the cups could be anything. Legally, the students could be in trouble for this behavior, however, unless the police are patrolling facebook (as was mentioned in the article), the students behavior is (debatably) unethical.
The point is that there is necessity in creating new ways of dispute resolution and new laws to keep up with the pace of the internet.
However, though I do not support the administration's punishing of students for actions that are NOT school related, I do understand the invasion of privacy that these people feel. However, as students have learned from schools partroling their facebooks, privacy is going by the wayside more and more as the internet becomes a bigger part of daily life. Even on this campus there have been numerous issues where Resident Assitants have lost their jobs due to questionable behavior as posted in pictures on facebook. Theoretically, the school is over-reaching when they discipline these students. In some cases, the pictures supposedly had under-age drinking, however, the liquid in the cups could be anything. Legally, the students could be in trouble for this behavior, however, unless the police are patrolling facebook (as was mentioned in the article), the students behavior is (debatably) unethical.
The point is that there is necessity in creating new ways of dispute resolution and new laws to keep up with the pace of the internet.
Legal 391V 1st Blog Post
Response to the 100 Messages Read:
One of the most interesting things that I found on the message boards was the united feeling that there needs to be a virtual university in Second Life. This is such an interesting concept to me for two reasons. The first is that I am still somewhat skeptical (in a luddite-like fashion) of completely internet courses. I realize this is based on the fact that I am used to tangiblity when it comes to academics. However, I am aware that once something like an SL university comes into being, I would be more comfortable about it, but I find it hard to conceptualize. However, also as my participation in SL until now has been limited, I guess this would be less daunting and more realistic to me once I explore the world more. I am intrigued that there are many educators who are gun-ho about this idea and I cannot wait to see how it pans out.
An issue that I also read about in the interest in dress code. Again, not being accustomed to SL- life, I was intrigued to read about how attached people feel to their avatars and consequently the manner in which they dress them. There was a long thread about how to appropriately dress one's avatar for teaching a class and the concurrent idea of how must one present one's self in the online world. Do educators need to have two avatars , one for fun and one for work? Also, because of the level of connection that many feel between their avatars and their RL selves, is there the possibility that students could create an uncomfortable environment for their professors (i.e. running into one's professor in Amsterdam in SL or just harassing their avatar in ways that are only possible because of the Virtual Worlds).
My interest in the question of sartorial concerns in SL is relation to the RL line between student-teacher relationships. As students are more inclined in RL to utilize the internet as a means communications, it could be surmised that normal barrier between students and teachers might be compromised. Especially considering the means of talking in SL, namely "IM". I do not naively think that the authority figure loses power per se, i merely think that there might be some awkward moments and possible breaches of etiquette.
One of the most interesting things that I found on the message boards was the united feeling that there needs to be a virtual university in Second Life. This is such an interesting concept to me for two reasons. The first is that I am still somewhat skeptical (in a luddite-like fashion) of completely internet courses. I realize this is based on the fact that I am used to tangiblity when it comes to academics. However, I am aware that once something like an SL university comes into being, I would be more comfortable about it, but I find it hard to conceptualize. However, also as my participation in SL until now has been limited, I guess this would be less daunting and more realistic to me once I explore the world more. I am intrigued that there are many educators who are gun-ho about this idea and I cannot wait to see how it pans out.
An issue that I also read about in the interest in dress code. Again, not being accustomed to SL- life, I was intrigued to read about how attached people feel to their avatars and consequently the manner in which they dress them. There was a long thread about how to appropriately dress one's avatar for teaching a class and the concurrent idea of how must one present one's self in the online world. Do educators need to have two avatars , one for fun and one for work? Also, because of the level of connection that many feel between their avatars and their RL selves, is there the possibility that students could create an uncomfortable environment for their professors (i.e. running into one's professor in Amsterdam in SL or just harassing their avatar in ways that are only possible because of the Virtual Worlds).
My interest in the question of sartorial concerns in SL is relation to the RL line between student-teacher relationships. As students are more inclined in RL to utilize the internet as a means communications, it could be surmised that normal barrier between students and teachers might be compromised. Especially considering the means of talking in SL, namely "IM". I do not naively think that the authority figure loses power per se, i merely think that there might be some awkward moments and possible breaches of etiquette.
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