user rights

In the digital world there are evolving rights that seem to be coming for people.  In the past it seemed that people didn't have rights with social media.  In a school setting, I see so much cyberbullying.  It is such a sad reality of the digital world.  But it seems unless it is a threat or directly affecting the welfare of the student by harassment that the user has no rights.  In turn, the responsibility of the user should be to have respect to other users as if the other users were directly in the same room and not in the cyber world.  Etiquette in the real world should transcend to the cyber world.  But, that rarely exists it seems.

Bryna: I agree heartily that standards of etiquette in real space should extend to our interactions in cyberspace. As I used to say about hate speech when my children were little, if small children can learn not to call another child a "poo-poo head," certainly they can learn not to use slurs. I think that if students can learn not to call one another names and intimidate one another in real space, they can learn not to do so online. Sadly, I think that the relative or assumed anonymity of the cyber realm sometimes leads people to do things they would not do in front of real-space witnesses. Perhaps growing awareness that cyberspace is not as private as many have assumed will chill this trend. But I still like to think that we all can learn to do and not do things because our codes are the right and kind principles to follow and not so that we can stay out of trouble.