ATTORNEY TELLS SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS TO USE EVERY INTERNET PRECAUTION TO HEAD OFF LIABILITY

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ANAHEIM, CA-To head off potential liability, schools should train not only
students and staff, but parents as well, on acceptable uses of the Internet,
an attorney advises delegates at the National School Boards Association
convention. While even the most sophisticated software won't block students
from violating copyright restrictions in cyberspace or wandering into illicit
sites, training and formal contracts reinforce school policy, David Watkins
of Jackson, Mississippi, told school board members this week for their annual
conference.

Requiring students to take classes and sign contracts "at least makes the
children go through a thought process on the ethics of using the Internet,"
Watkins told the National School Boards Association. "You've got to take
every precautionary measure you can." He pointed to the example of the Los
Angeles public schools, which require students to take classes on what's
permissible via school computers before they are given a password.

Watkins, who represents about two-thirds of Mississippi's school districts,
said schools should consider extending the training to parents as well, or at
least making them sign consent forms, so they know what the school expects of
their children. With the emerging nature of the Internet, "it's frontier land
out there," he said. "It creates enormous potential liability for a school
board."

"This is serious stuff," Watkins said. Spend the money necessary to send your
staff to get the needed training." Even if students don't intend to violate
copyright laws in gathering information for classroom assignments, the school
could be held liable, Watkins warned.

COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS

Federal law call for penalties of up to $200 per violation for unintentional
copyright violations, and Watkins said schools could easily be required to
pay those fines for students who break the law using school computers.

A coalition of software publishers and educators last year devised nonbinding
guidelines for downloading copyrighted material from the Internet, but most
education groups balked at the limitations.

Another unsettled area of Internet law is the 1996 Communications Decency Act
(CDA), which makes it a crime punishable by up to two years in jail to
deliberately provide indecent material on the Internet to youths under age
18.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a challenge to the law last month
and is expected to rule on the CDA's constitutionality by July. A special
three-judge panel last year voided the law as unconstitutionally vague,
saying it prohibits speech that is protected by the First Amendment.

Advocates of the CDA say "content providers" can avoid liability by making
good-faith efforts to screen smut, but some educators and attorneys still
fear school officials could be held liable.

NOTHING IS FAIL-SAFE

Even Wendy Simpson, president of SafeSurf, a software screening company,
acknowledged that changes in Internet technology are easily outsmarting the
filtering devices available. She said at best, software will screen out
hard-core pornography reliably. "Filtering software is temporary fix,"
Simpson said.

Still, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union urged NSBA members
to allow students virtually limitless use of school computers. "If you want
your kids to be critical thinkers, you can't have them living in a cocoon,"
said Ann Brick of the ACLU of Northern California.

She said schools should consider operating two separate computer systems-one
for students whose parents want limited access, and the other for parents who
will allow their children to view all available information on the network.
Otherwise, Brick said, "limiting it for some students is not fair for the
vast majority."

Watkins didn't argue her point about benefits to teens but said schools
should not be the ones to risk liability for it.

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