The Moss-Free Stone

Techcrunch has the story of a Wisconsin teacher arrested last week for posting anonymous comments on a political blog that may be construed as threatening (a court will have to decide). The teacher, who made admiring references to the Columbine shooters and implied that more such actions were needed, undoubtedly either assumed that keeping his comments anonymous would shield him from any negative consequences, or that no such consequences were likely to begin with. Unfortunately for this particular educator, however, he failed to realize that the blog on which his comments were posted had recorded his computer’s IP address, and this address was used to track him down.

This is a great “teachable moment” for educators and students. While the Internet offers a great deal of freedom of expression and anonymity, personal responsibility is still mandatory. What is posted on a blog, wiki, social network, or other website is a very public, and very accessible record that can become evidence if the creator steps too far out of bounds.