CYBER LAW

A Unit for High School Business Law

by Kay Groves

FOUNDATIONS

  Literacy

Symbols: In the practice of criminal prosecution, symbols most frequently used are made up of numeric-alpha characters that represent a legal authority, such as [ENCODE] 18 USC §1030(a)(5). Students’ can immediately identify this as federal statute Title 18, Section 1030, then determine the code-to-act translation [DECODE] “Accessing Protected Computer to Obtain Information with Intent to Defraud”.

Discourse: Students will view numerous forms of cyber law discourse, such as: Legal pleadings (indictment); forms requiring execution (search warrant);

Law pertaining to civil rights (Wire Tap Act), (electronic warning banners);

Law pertaining to statutory authority (U.S. Criminal Code).

Cognitive Process:  Students will break down the elements of a crime and infer much information by distinction, such as:

 A computer used as a tool vs. a computer used as a weapon;

Computer facilitated crimes vs. computer specific crimes;

Computer forensics vs.  digital evidence

The individual role of a prosecutor, examiner and investigator, and the collaborative union.

Problem-Solving

The ever increasing world of information technologies has opened the door to antisocial and criminal behavior in ways that would never have previously been possible, and consequences in which have serious economic costs as well as serious costs in human security.

Studies have shown that juveniles and young adults have an ethical deficit when it comes to computer crimes. One study indicated 34% of university undergraduates admitted to illegally pirating copyrighted software, and 16% admitted to gaining illegal access to a computer system to browse or exchange information. A recent poll of 47,235 elementary and middle school students conducted by Scholastic, Inc. revealed 48% of juveniles do not consider hacking to be a crime. Further study indicated such ethical deficit increased the probability of on-line criminal activity for those not inclined to commit crimes such as robbery or burglary.

Anchored Instruction: One method of helping students steer clear of pressures and harm from unlawful use of computers is learning about it and understanding the embodiment of the problem, conditions, and issues. High School students need a broader view as to the working mechanics of the cyber law system from a criminalistic stand point-- from the inside looking out to  level their perspectives and comprehend the punishment fitting the crime.

Authentic Problem: *Why is cybercrime such  a problem, and what are the problems?

Society-- Identify theft, Internet fraud

Business/Organizations--  Intellectual property crimes, Computer intrusion

Persons-- Cyberbullying, Cyberstalking

*What types of cybercrime are there? *When will an investigation occur?  *How is evidence found on technology? *What makes a case hard to prosecute?

         A culminating solution to the problem will be (1) compiling a cyber law portfolio from research and discovery efforts, (2) using a variety of applications to produce final-work products, as well as (3) designing a database for problem solving. Students will be further challenged by a project that requires (4) collaborating as Cyber Crime Task Force and (5) developing a case file from a given crime/sting operation scenario, then (6) delivering a debriefing presentation.   

Strategies:  Problem-solving strategies include information-extending processes (inductive thinking), information-rearranging processes (deductive thinking), and metacognition. They will be strengthened through modeling, discussion, and practice as students research topics, analyze information, and critique source material. 

Knowledge

Disciplinary Structure: U.S. Department of Justice- Criminal Division- Cyber Section: *High Tech Crimes, *Computer Crime & Intellectual Property.

(1) Investigations-- FBI- Cyber Crime Task Force- state/local law enforcement, private agencies.

(2) Evidence-- High Technology Unit: computer forensics, digital evidence.

(3) Prosecution-- High Technology Crime: computer-specific, computer-facilitated crimes.

Disciplinary Processes: Develop, enforce, and supervise the application of federal criminal laws; Pursue computer and IP criminals; Combat cybercrime; Formulate and implement criminal enforcement policy; Approve or monitor electronic surveillance; Advise and direct on matters of law, legislation, and jurisdiction.

(1) Detecting, preventing, and investigating.

(2) Processing, identifying, preserving, extracting.

(3) Researching, contemplating, strategizing, litigating.

Disciplinary Discourse: Narrative forms of discourse-- press releases, crime stories, pod/web casts, investigative and evidence reports, terminology.

Expository forms of discourse-- U.S. Criminal Code, Sentencing Guidelines, Rules of Evidence, Rules of Criminal Procedure, and Legislative Enactments. 

Information

Searching for information-- is a given in the legal field. Information is most often obtained from an agency’s databases or reliable sources, as opposed to www searching.

Sorting and judging information-- is an innate practice in the legal profession, as statutory authority and case law give precedence to a case, therefore information must be sorted and judged accordingly.

Creating and communicating ideas and concepts-- is imperative for attorneys. Their case is presented to a judge or jury through court proceedings and litigation, i.e.: oral argument, motions, briefs, as well as citations and testimony.

Community 

This unit of study will challenge students when becoming members of a Cyber Crime Task Force in order to contemplate the prosecutorial standing of a cybercrime case.  By working collaborately, the Cyber Crime Task Force will analyze and debate the strengths and weaknesses of the case in order to determine the criminal charges applicable to the law.

 Since each Cyber Crime Task Force team develops a debriefing presentation for peer review depicting the manner, means, mode and motive of a special operations investigation for professional development training, the kinship, place and mind defines the classroom as a community of learners.   Each student will have independent responsibilities as a prosecutor, criminal investigator, and evidence examiner, as well as the Cyber Crime Task Force members to rely on through the consideration processes.

 Other areas of community development this unit will foster is the desire to create a community in which individuals want one another to succeed and motivate each other in order to accomplish shared goals.  Also, one in which develops confidence in individual and team ability to solve problems, including the he ability to reflect and contemplate possible defense arguments and strategies.

ACTIVITIES

Authentic Activities:

A.1: Study the structure and hierarchy of cyber crimes and the Criminal Code.

A2: Explore the collaborative and separate role of a prosecutor, investigator, and examiner.

A3: Compile a portfolio of research and investigation efforts and activities.

A4: Develop a case file from a crime scenario/sting operation.

A5: Produce materials for the case file to be used in a debriefing presentation.

A6: Create a debriefing presentation for peer review and defense argument.

Background Building Activities:

B1: Organize cyber/computer crimes into categories & classifications.

B2: Scrutinize three cybercrime legislative acts and applicability to the person/event.

B3: Probe into the special operation combating cybercrime.

B4: Dissect a DOJ press release to identify the elements of crime.

B5: Evaluate five detection tools used by investigators, and five kinds of crimeware used by cyber criminals, including the criminal profile often associated with the method.

B6: Develop an elaborate crime story from a federal computer offense(s) to be shared with peers for the “fastest criminal code determinator” competition, using student’s robustly designed databases.

Constructing Activities:

C1: Student’s will create a 20 record - 8 field criminal code database, then consolidated into one 80 record team database to use throughout the unit for problem-solving and work production.

C2: Partners will brainstorm to prepare an elaborate crime story from a federal offense(s) to exchange with other class partners in determining the criminal code of the crime(s)

C3: Students: will utilize the information in their portfolio and multi-media for the following production of work:

1. Three database queries and report;

2. Summary of a legislative enactment;

3. Graphical chart from detection tools, crimeware, and profile data;

4. Organized outline of crime element breakdown from press release

5. Partners: Brochure/newsletter on “Special Operations” combating cybercrime.

C4: Teams will be given a crime/sting operation scenario, open a case file, and commence collaborations.

C5: Teams will decide who is assigned to each of the four components required in the case file: prosecution, investigation, evidence, and communications coordinator.

C6: Teams will coordinate work products and create a debriefing presentation. 

Sharing Activities:

S1: Students will submit their portfolio of research efforts and five work products.

S2: Teams will upload their debriefing presentation to the profile web site.

S3: Students will give an oral synopsis of their case file component.

S4: Teams will present their scenario findings in a debriefing presentation.

S5: Teams will partake in peer review, Q&A, and defense argument.

S6: Teams will display a database report of the criminal code applicable to the offense(s) charged in their scenario.

CONTENTS

TEK- Chapter 120- Business Education §120.45- Business Law:

(3) The student explains ethical concepts of integrity and confidentiality as related to the business environment.

(E) Research the ethical implications of legislation resulting from the use of current technology and develop procedural guidelines for implementing appropriate legislation.

(6) The student researches the impact of the legal system on business

 (I) Identify federal and state legislation pertaining to computer crime, fraud, and abuse.

(J) Identify federal and state trademark and copyright laws pertaining to hardware and software. 

 

(brain storming)

SUMMARY

 Thought Process:

 

1. I first consider the business subjects and technology applications that are current options: 

Business Subjects:  Finance, Law/Ethics, Management/Administration; Economics/Civics,

Entrepreneurship/Career.

Applications:  Microsoft Office, Desktop Publishing, Digital Graphic Design, Multimedia (a variety)

 

2.  I consider the areas of interest of the students. I have found that a list of areas of interest that reads

    something like: Going to College; Opening a Bank Account, etc. can restrict brainstorming.

 

3. Using a different approach, I think about the topics I’ve heard or overheard students talk about, 

    then determine what business subject it would apply to:

    Getting a DUI;   Moving out;  Smoking pot on campus;  Editing the profile of a academic

    institute on wiki to say they only admit homosexuals;  Creating false Facebook of a student

 

4.  Another element I consider is what unit of study would be original to the department and students. 

 

Design Plan:

 

Grade Level-  High School               Discipline-  Business & IT

 

Subject area-  Law/Ethics                            Unit of study--  Cyber Law

 

Goal:  To introduce students to the criminal consequences of computer crimes.

 

Estimated time:  1 week?

 

Activities: 

§         Provide a situational scenario of a teenager in the midst of a cyber crime; OR maybe

have teams write their own elaborate scenario to be exchanged between teams

§         Have teams investigate the type of cyber crime it is based on the elements of the crime

§         Report or present findings to the class.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2 

A Learning Design

 

Top 10 Principles of the Efficiency Model

 

1.      Encoding and organizing nodes. 2. Measurable intended outcome. 3. Nine events of instruction. 4. Predefined objectives. 5. Cognitive systems and levels. 6. Active experimentation and discovery. 7. Integrated learning systems. 8. Products of traditional instruction. 9. Connecting fields, idea, and concepts. 10. Emerging learning networks.

 

Top 10 Challenges to the Efficiency Model

 

1.      Isolated learning. 2. Student/subject disassociation. 3. Defined terminal behavior. 4. Diagnostic-prescriptive teaching. 5. Content-facts-concept limitations. 6. Small unit measure/evaluation. 7. Transferable skills questionable. * Master time intervals. 9. Irrelevant learning schema. 10 Testing- reinforcing difficulty.

 

Step One: Define a Learning Goal

 

Upon completion of the “Investments” assignment in Personal Finance, students will be  familiar with:

*Investment vocabulary Types of personal investments *Concepts and strategies for investing

 

Step Two:  State Objectives

 

1.      Given the term, students will define the two rules of investment in one sentence. 2. Given the resources to utilize, students will determine the current cost and market value of their chosen stock to be recorded in a tracking chart.   3. Given a description of the five most common personal investments, students will identify the investment type from a word bank of 10 types.

 

Step Three:  Sequence Instruction

 

*Rule of Investment  *Prudent Investment Rule  *Individual Retirement Account  *Annuities  *Real Estate

*Bonds  *Stocks  *Stock Market  *Stock market report 

 

Step Four: Determine Learning Success

 

A three  question test will be assessment for business content.  A performance assessment will take place at a later date from student’s stock tracking report.  This will entails computer skill development criteria in Excel using the chart feature and advance formatting tools.  Computer skills are measure by the ability to control the software evident by the work product resulting from the application lesson.  Visual demonstration (projector), teacher assistance, and peer learning are a few ways computer skills are reinforced.

 

A Reflection and Critique of the Design

 

The business subject content “Investments” lend itself to:  #2 student/subject disassociation; and #3 irrelevant learning schemas.   The first two or three years of teaching this was a week long unit, and then reduced to a 1 day lesson (90 min. block) due to the complexity of the subject and engaging students.