A guide to netiquette, copyright & fair use, plagiarism, internet and computer safety By Briana Horton

Do  Identify yourself  Include a subject line  Respect other’s privacy  Acknowledge messages promptly  Copy with caution  Be concise  Use appropriate language, emotions and intensifiers Don’t  Use sarcasm  Use spam or junk mail  Forward other’s personal s without permission  Use rude language  Avoid “screaming” (sentences typed in all caps)

COPYRIGHT  The exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (as a literary, musical, or artistic work)  Copyright laws protect the creators of any kind of work from someone copying it or using it with out permission or paying for it FAIR USE  Fair use allows certain materials to be used for educational purposes ( teaching, research) and criticism  You do not have to pay or ask permission to use materials under certain conditions  Fair use guidelines for media:  Books - 10% or up to 1000 words  Music and Videos – up to 10%  Poetry – up to 250 words  Photographs – entire works can be used if 5 images or less; 10 – 15% of images from larger works

 Plagiarism is to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own without crediting the source  To avoid plagiarism, document all sources using Footnotes, Endnotes, or Parenthetical References. Also, write a Bibliography, References, or Works Cited page to credit all sources used.  Technology can now check for plagiarism. There are websites teachers can use like turnitin.com and safeassign.com that will check for and prevent plagiarism.

Identity theft  occurs when someone uses your personally identifying information, like your name, Social Security number, or credit card number, without your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes.  Before you share personal information on the internet, make sure you have a secure connection. A secure website has a lock icon in the address bar and a URL that begins with “https.”  Use a computer with updated antivirus and firewall protection.  Don’t send personal or financial through an unsecured wireless connection in a public place. Reputation management  Once you put information on the net it’s there forever. Anyone can copy/forward/link/retrieve all your information so be careful what you post. Passwords  Never share your password with anyone, not even a relative or colleague. If another person has your password, they can, for all computer purposes, be you.  Use strong passwords that include a combination of numbers, upper and lowercase letters and other characters.

Cyberbullying  "Cyberbullying" is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones.  Children have killed each other and committed suicide after having been involved in a cyberbullying incident.  Educating kids about the consequences (losing their ISP or IM accounts) helps. Teaching them to respect others and to take a stand against bullying of all kinds helps too.  For more information on cyberbullying visit Cyberstalking  Is the use of the Internet, , or other electronic communications devices to stalk another person. It includes harassing or threatening behavior that an individual engages in repeatedly, such as following a person, appearing at a person's home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing a person's property. While some conduct involving annoying or menacing behavior might fall short of illegal stalking, such behavior may be a prelude to stalking and violence and should be treated seriously.

Viruses  are software programs capable of reproducing itself and can cause great harm to files or other programs  Install anti-virus and anti- spyware programs  Avoid suspicious websites or s Worms  are reproducing programs that run independently and travel across network connections. The main difference between viruses and worms is the method in which they reproduce and spread.  A virus is dependent upon a host file or boot sector, and the transfer of files between machines to spread, while a worm can run completely independently and spread itself through network connections.

Trojan horses  are common but dangerous programs that hide within other seemingly harmless programs. Once they're installed, the program will infect other files throughout your system and potentially wreak havoc on your computer. They can even send important information from your computer over the internet. Phishing  is a technique used to gain personal information for purposes of identity theft, using fraudulent messages that appear to come from legitimate businesses. These authentic- looking messages are designed to fool recipients into divulging personal data such as account numbers and passwords, credit card numbers and Social Security numbers