Information for Online Safety Legal Issues
August, 2011 - The FCC has issued an order that, among other things, implements the Children's Internet Protection Act's not so new language about schools educating students regarding appropriate behavior in online chat and social networking sits and about cyberbullying. While there are many small decisions within this order, the one that stands out is that the Commission is leaving it to districts to determine how to "educate" their students on appropriate online behavior. Detailed information is available: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cipa.html. The order also contains other revisions to and codifications of existing rules. For instance, it indicates that Facebook and MySpace need not be blocked as neither site is per se harmful to minors. The full order can be found here: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-11-125A1.doc
In October, 2008, Congress passed the Broadband Data Improvement Act. Part of which is focused on protecting students in the 21st Century. This act includes a section that declares that the issue of Internet safety includes issues regarding the use of the Internet in a manner that promotes safe online activity for children, protects children from cybercrimes, including crimes by online predators, and helps parents shield their children from material that is inappropriate for minors. Read more about it: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-1492
Under the Children's Internet Protection Act, the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration was required to conduct a study of the current approaches used by schools to protect children online. The Consortium for School Networking was among the organizations that submitted comments for NTIA to review. The final report includes a recommendation for modifying the language of the Children's Internet Protection Act. The report is available at www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/ntiageneral/cipa2003/CIPAreport_08142003.htm.
The Schools and Libraries Division's latest information on the requirements that E-rate recipients must meet to comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act can be reviewed under "Children's Internet Protection Act" at www.sl.universalservice.org/reference/.
The U.S. Education Department's guidance to the states on compliance with the Children's Internet Protection Act is available in the document found at www.ed.gov/programs/edtech/guidance.doc.
The Commission on Online Child Protection (the COPA Commission) has compiled a variety of research papers that analyze both the extent of the online safety threat and the pros and cons of using various filters. These papers are available at www.copacommission.org/papers/.