Read each of the scenarios below, and rate the seriousness of each one from 1 to 5, where:

1 = Totally acceptable and appropriate   

2 = Possibly wrong, but no action needs to be taken

3 = Wrong, and school authorities or Internet service providers should take action

4 = Wrong, and civil action could be taken by the target or the target’s parents

5 = Wrong, and criminal charges should be pressed

For any scenario you rate as a 3, 4 or 5, think about who is responsible, who should take action and what action should be taken.

             1.A student posts a negative review of a concert given by another student’s band. The review focuses on the band members’ skill as musicians and the quality of their music.

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2

3

4

5

 2. A student posts a story making fun of a teacher, suggesting that he is unqualified to teach. The teacher’s name is not used, but he is clearly recognizable to anyone who knows him.

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5

3.    A student uploads to YouTube a video of his band performing a song that makes fun of teachers. No specific teacher is named or is identifiable from the song.

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5

4.    A student writes a letter to the school administration stating that a teacher has used improper discipline in class.

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5

5.    A student finds that photos of her, which were taken by her (now ex) boyfriend have been uploaded to his Facebook page. Then they were copied and reproduced in many more places, including photo-sharing sites. Her ex-boyfriend says that he is not responsible for what was done with the photos after he uploaded them.

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5

6.    A teacher asks students in her class to help write holiday greetings in a variety of languages for the school’s Web site. Without the teacher’s knowledge, one of the students’ contributions is a false and insulting statement against another teacher. 

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5

7.    During an instant messaging session with several participants, a student accuses her boyfriend of cheating on her.

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5

8.    A student creates a Web site in which she criticizes school policies and suggests that several teachers, whom she names, are overly strict in their discipline.

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5

9.    A student creates a Facebook group in which he states that one of his teachers is a space alien who is scheming to abduct students and take them to her home planet.

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5

10.  A teacher discovers that students are being pressured by a popular student to remove an unpopular student from their Facebook “friends” lists.

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5