| Abstract: | Abstract This article discusses issues related to off-campus, harmful student speech on the Internet. The article explores the characteristics of this harmful speech, including (a) the speech originates off-campus. It has been created and disseminated without the use of school computers or Internet capabilities; (b) the speech has a school nexus. The speech relates to the district, the school, board members, administrators, teachers, or other students; (c) the speech is defamatory, constitutes bullying, harassment, or discrimination, discloses personal information, or contains offensive, vulgar, or derogatory comments; (d) the speech may occur in a variety of Internet locations. It may appear on a student-created Website, material posted to a Web log (“blogs”), or may be disseminated via some form of Internet communication, including e-mail, bulletin boards, chat, instant messaging and the like; and (e) the creator and disseminator of such speech is or appears to be a student. |
