LOL...OMG part 2

Having read through chapter eight of LOL...OMG!, I have begun to notice a recurring pattern of celebrity and student "accidents" in which people put things online that they come to realize are insulting and end of paying a steep price for them. Specifically, I was really moved by the piece on the two students from Rutgers who Rutgers who video taped their gay roommate, causing him to later take his own life. I remember reading about this tragedy in the news and being dumbfounded by it. I remember college as a time of acceptance, in which we all began to see the world for what it was and learned to accept everyone regardless of their personal preferences. To me, the idea of someone purposefully videotaping a roommate in order to expose their private life and embarrass them seemed cruel and ludicrous. I am astounded that people still act in this way in modern society; unfortunately, these two students never really thought through what they were doing. They didn't consider how it would make Tyler (the student who late killed himself) feel. They were doing it for attention and laughs, and the outcome was horrific all around.

I was actually considering how to broach this subject with my students (the idea that what they put online can not only hurt their reputations but can also cause irreperable harm) when a real event took place in my school. The week before February vacation, apparently a student in Bacon had created a profile named "Mr. White" and he had been friending students and making very inappropriate comments. It got to the point that the vice-principal had to address students to assure them that the police were looking into it- many students told me that they had deleted their accounts out of fear of Mr. White being a sexual predator. Friday of that week, our school resource officer held an assembly and shared with the students that it was an ex-Bacon student who was attempting to stir up controversy. The amount of fear this small event caused really drove home for my students the seriousness of the internet, even when concerning a prank. The ex-student was arrested, and the school tech-policy has now been tightened to include school consequences AS WELL as police action for anyone considering doing a copycat prank. The discussions that came from this scenario, however, were extremely important. Students were able to see firsthand the outcome of misusing the internet and the dialogue really and truly focused on why we use the internet the way we do and how we can fix it.

As a homework assignment in response to this event (and in considering the technology standard 4, which promotes ethical use of technology) I asked students to write about the following prompt:
How was the "Mr. White" event a misuse of technology? What impact did it have on the students of Bacon Academy? For you, does this event highlight the need for a code of ethics related to technology use here at Bacon?

I have started to receive responses for this (it is due Thurdsay and Friday) depending on which day I have the students) and we will be discussing the responses afterwards.