Copyrights and Keeping it Legal
Karon Tarver

One of the best sites that I have used is not new to the Internet. Jamie McKenzie, well known author and technology advocate published a set of guidelines, including other Internet links at his authoritative site www.fromnowon.org also known as www.fno.org.

Mr. McKenzie's June of 1996on-online magazine examines the issue of surfing for photographs, poetry, district files, etc. One item in particular that is addressed is "web-whacking." WebWacker is a software program that allows an Internet surfer to copy and store active webpages. Users of this program primarily use this type of file to share Internet information without having to access the Internet. Mr. McKenzie advises that while this may be advantageous, the user should not collect this information with explicit permission of the web-page owner.

This site also discusses the issue of responsibility and the school district. Currently, most schools designate either a technology director or librarians to help ensure that teachers and staff are mindful of intellectual property issues.

The entire FNO site is a tremendous resource for most technology issues as they relate to education. The page cited in for copyrights entitled Keeping it Legal: Questions Arising out of Web Site Management is particularly informative and should be added to everyone's favorites as a substantial resource.