1 St Amendment & Privacy How the Internet Affects These Rights

Facebook IRS – checking Fb for those who claim a deduction for work-related travel Employers starting to require those to un- friend others who used to work with them Employers basing part of their hiring decisions on what they find on applicants’ Fb pages Teachers not allowed to have students as friends on their Fb page

Facebook S. Fla. teenager suing high school principal NJ 1 st grade teacher fired for comments on Fb NC 8 th grade teacher reassigned to office position over comments on Fb Brooklyn 5 th grade teacher suspended for comments on Fb > Which result(s) from above do you agree with?????

1 st Amendment Adopted 1791 as part of our Bill of Rights Protection of speech & ideas Covers: – Stories, poems, articles, or other written work – Art & pictures – Song lyrics, music – Software – Play or movie scripts – Other expressions of ideas & opinions

1 st Amendment Does that mean everything is protected?????

Cyberbullying Another social networking related incident – the Megan Meier case “Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act” was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in April 2009 Some argued that it would take away free speech rights that are guaranteed under the 1 st Amendment > Do you agree??

Child Pornography & Sexting Several cases regarding an issue (i.e. pornography) that is not a new issue, but is occurring in a new context via technology that didn’t exist back when the laws that have been in effect were written. – 6 teenagers in high school in PA – 18 year old in Ohio, resulted in a suicide – Fla. 18 year old now on the list of registered sex offenders – 59 year old Assistant Principal

Privacy What is personal privacy? What privacy rights can we expect?

Surveillance What is acceptable and what is not acceptable? Who gets to make the distinction? A few examples: – Surveillance cameras at work places – Surveillance cameras at other public places – Government surveillance (watch the “Spy Factory”) – RFID, aka “spy chips” – Google Street View

Data Mining Good or bad?? Government acquiring information from Web searches under the guise of national security and “fighting the war on terror” … but, re-identification is easy The “USA Patriot Act” - erodes our 4 th Amendment rights AND our 1 st Amendment rights??