Cross-Cultural Collisions in Cyberspace: Case Studies of International Legal Issues for Educators Working in Globally Networked Learning Environments

Abstract

This article explores some of the legal and law-related challenges educators face in designing, implementing, and sustaining globally networked learning environments (GNLEs) in the context of conflicting international laws on intellectual property and censorship/free speech. By discussing cases and areas involving such legal issues, the article makes visible some of the issues educators may want to consider as they design courses and curricula. First, using the Pakistani–US case of Axact v. Student Network Resources, the author examines issues of authorship and the related issues of copyright law and plagiarism. The author then addresses questions, moral rights, and authorship using the French case of Turner v. Huston. Next, the author explores issues of free speech/censorship and defamation as they have arisen globally in the blogosphere. The author describes several specific instances where such issues have resulted in legal consequences for the digital writer involved. The author then develops a possible solution to some of these legal issues arising in GNLEs by way of the idea of ‘the commons’. In this area of the discussion, the author also examines Creative Commons licensing as well as problems with protecting the appropriation and exploitation of traditional knowledge, and the politics of defining ‘the commons’. The author draws on discussions around the global repatriation debate to inform her exploration in this section. Finally, the article concludes with some recommendations, taking into account the legal and law-related issues of copyright, plagiarism, censorship, defamation, and defining ‘the commons’ as these issues arise in GNLEs.