Meet Emma! Emma is a college student. Emma keeps herself very busy. She goes to school, plays on the campus band team, and has a part-time job.

 

Tonight Emma’s boss has asked her to work a little later, and she does not get home until 11 p.m. She realizes that she has a paper due the following morning for her English class. She sits down at her computer and thinks about the time she will need to put into getting a good grade on the paper. She goes to the Internet to do some research and finds the exact information that she needs. All she has to do is copy and paste the information.

 

Inappropriate. Emma decides to copy the information from the website and quickly finish the paper. She hands in the paper to her English teacher the next day. The teacher reminds the class that she is using the site TurnItIn.com to check papers for plagiarism. Because Emma copied the information word for word, she is sure she will be caught.

 

Appropriate. Emma decides to work on the paper and cite the source from the website. Because the assignment was rather lengthy, she talks to the teacher before class to explain her situation. The teacher gives Emma an extra day to finish her paper.

 

What could make a difference?

Teachers must carefully explain to students that, although the Internet is a good source of information, the material should not be taken from it without citing the source. Students need to know that some websites are not as credible as others, and need to be careful of the information they find. Students should look at several sources to confirm the information they find.

 

Web Resources for Digital Law

The Free Expression Policy Project—Media Literacy: An Alternative to Censorship: www.fepproject.org/policyreports/medialiteracy.html

 

Law Research—Internet Law: www.lawresearch.com/practice/ctwww.htm

 

Ethics in Computing—Technology and Ethics: http://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/basics/

 

United States Department of Justice—Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section: www.cybercrime.gov EX