Sunday, September 27, 2015

Is this going to be “Hey kids! Are you hooked on drugs?” or more like, “Hey kids! Are your parents enemies of the state?”
Andy Metzger and Matt Murphy report:
Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday he is on board with encouraging schools to verbally screen students for substance use, a strategy pushed by Sen. Jennifer Flanagan and part of legislation set for debate next week in the Senate.
[…]
On Friday, the Senate Committee on Ways and Means reported out legislation that would require school districts to verbally screen seventh- and 10th-grade students for signs of addiction and at-risk behavior, while allowing children or their guardians to opt out. Information gleaned from screenings would be protected from subpoena, under the legislation.
Read more on Sentinel & Enterprise
I think this is the bill they’re talking about. See (7) in the formatted document.




The court seems to be saying that all of this happened before a court had determined that it was clearly a violation of the Fourth Amendment. If that is true, then noting can ever be held a violation. The court might want to revisit that one.
Venkat Balasubramani discusses a case involving student privacy where, once again, school officials get a pass for violating student privacy.
[…]
The squad sponsor and a teacher (Hill) was informed that MJ made comments to the captain, and the teacher took the opportunity to educate the entire squad on the perils of social networking, includying “bullying, predatism, inappropriate photos, and other risks.” For good measure, she asked the entire squad to write down their Facebook password and log-in information. [d’oh!]
MJ turned over her password information, and based on the “offensive and threatening language” contained in her messages, Hill suspended MJ from the squad for two weeks. The precise consequences of her suspension and discipline were disputed, but MJ alleged that she was hazed by the team and denied a participation ribbon at a cheer competition, and generally suffered negative consequences on the squad. She was not invited to join the squad the following year. She also alleges that she was bullied following the teacher’s access of her Facebook page and the filing of the lawsuit. She ultimately moved out of the district.
She sued asserting section 1983 claims. The district court denied summary judgment, and the Fifth Circuit reverses, finding that the school officials are entitled to qualified immunity.
Read his analysis of the court opinion on Technology & Marketing Law Blog.
[From the article:
Case citation: Jackson v. Ladner, No. 13-60631 (5th Cir. Sept. 15, 2015) [pdf]




Not as entertaining as a classified briefing, but a couple of quotes that might fall into the “I told you so” category in the future.
Britain Eakin reports:
Ending bulk-data collection will significantly hurt the National Security Agency’s operational capabilities, NSA Director Admiral Michael Rogers told Congress on Thursday, pointing to the rise of cybersecurity threats.
In a rare public session, hours after Pope Francis addressed Congress, Rogers appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee to discuss some of the challenges the agency faces as it transitions to a new data-collection system.
Read more on Courthouse News.
[From the article:
Rogers meanwhile insisted that bulk data collection has intelligence value, citing a report that the National Academy of Sciences released in January, which concluded that no technological replacement for bulk-data collection exists.
… Though Rogers shot down the idea of a cyber-arms-control agreement to deal with cybersecurity threats, he said the country needs some kind of understanding between nation states that currently pose a greater national-security threat than nonstate actors.
Most cybersecurity attacks until now have been theft, Rogers said, but it is possible that attackers will begin to manipulate data, or launch direct attacks against critical infrastructure.
Another major concern for Rogers pertains to how nonstate actors will direct cyberattacks in the future. "What happens when a nonstate actor decides that the web now is a weapon system, not just something to recruit people?" he asked.


(Related) Think this will all stop because of a promise?
Cyber Sleuths Track Hacker to China’s Military
… his activity elsewhere on the Internet links him to a Chinese hacker collective that attacks targets in an area of strategic interest to the U.S., according to the report by cybersecurity concern ThreatConnect and security consulting firm Defense Group Inc.




For my students.
New Features Coming Soon to RefME - A Great Tool for Creating Bibliographies
RefME is a great tool for students to use to save resources that they find during their research processes and then have those resources organized into a bibliography for them. RefME works on iPads, Android devices, and as a Chrome extension. An video overview of the service can be seen here.
Last week RefME announced that some new features will be added to the service on September 30th. Among those new features will be options for citing Tweets, Facebook posts, and YouTube videos. Watch the video embedded below to learn more about the latest version of RefME.




For students and teachers.
Top Tools for Learning 2015
Jane Hart has now published her Top 100 Tools for Learning 2015 list, appropriately using Slideshare, one of my own favourites (these presentations are all uploaded to Slideshare) and I see is number 20 in the list of top tools:


No comments: