Internet use
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Last updated 09-Jul-2009
Internet use
There are several issues for schools and teachers in relation to offensive material over the Internet. Schools and teachers have a dual responsibility to protect students from such material, and to ensure that neither principals, teachers nor students may be liable for transmitting offensive material.
It might be contended that a school's duty of care towards its students requires it to protect students from access to obscene, pornographic or otherwise offensive material. It would be prudent for schools to ensure that obscene or otherwise offensive material is not distributed between students. As educational institutions provide computers for the use of students, the educational institution must ensure that the computers are safe for students to use.
If a child were to suffer a psychological illness after accidentally accessing obscene or pornographic material on the Internet, then it might be argued that the principal and possibly the responsible teacher could be liable in negligence.
There are three ways in which educational institutions may protect against students accessing obscene material:
- using a service provider which offers a blocking device to filter out obscene and unsuitable material;
- ensuring that students are adequately supervised while using the Internet; and
- instructing students that the Internet is only to be used for authorised purposes and that it must not be used to access offensive material. If possible, students should be required to sign an agreement that they will only use the Internet for authorised purposes.
Western Australia has laws which make it an offence specifically to use the Internet to publish or transmit certain sorts of unsuitable material, such as pornography and depictions of drug misuse, to minors. Such conduct may also be an offence under more general laws of other States and Territories.
It is also a criminal offence under some State and Territory laws to 'possess' or 'knowingly possess' child pornography.
DET Central Filtering Service
The Department of Education and Training provides a level of content filtering with its basic black list service. This is a list of banned sites that have been identified as unsuitable for the education market.
There is provision for a request for other sites to be added to the list or for a blocked site to be reviewed and reconsidered. This is done by contacting Curriculum Materials Information Services (CMIS) by emailing your request to: CSCInbox.CSC.CO@det.wa.edu.au
More information is available on the CMIS Evaluation website in Managing Student Safety Online
