Example Scratch and Formal Outlines

Seite 1

Example Scratch Outine:

Subject: The use of data found on social networking sitesTopic: The right to privacy and obtaining and using data from Facebook

Question: Is the right to privacy violated when social networking sites such as Facebook are used by law enforcement agencies to gather evidence?

Possible main idea: Law enforcement agencies that use social networking sites to pursue cyberbullies and Internet predators might be violating a citizen's right to privacy.

Points:

Information stored on home computers and private servers may be protected by privacy law.

Information stored on external servers such as Facebook may not be considered private.

Social networking sites such as Facebook have guidelines and privacy policies.

Evidence from updates, tweets, IP addresses, uploaded photographs, and Web sites that track relationships is currently being used by law enforcement agencies.

Law enforcement agencies that engage in analytical or undercover operations using social networking sites and similar media avoid violations of privacy when pursuing crimes against sexual predators and cyberbullies.

Possible directions: Ways law enforcement can use social networking sites; visibility of sites' privacy policies; ethics of using false identities online; ways to prevent youth from sharing too much online; legal risks for minors?

Example Formal Outline:

Thesis: Law enforcement agencies that use social networking sites to pursue cyberbullies and Internet predators might be violating a citizen's right to privacy.

Facebook has historically cooperated with law enforcement agencies by providing user-generated information that has been used in criminal investigations.

Personal profiles have provided contact and employment information.

Status updates and blog entries have provided insight into an individual's whereabouts and activities.

Photographs have been used to establish location information, personal relationships, and even character.

The use of dated photographs to establish or refute alibis

Joshua Lipton drunk driving case

Messaging and status updates can be linked to a device and the time and place it was used.

Rodney Bradford's avoidance of robbery charges because he updated his status from his father's computer at the time of the crime

How Jonathan G. Parker checked his Facebook status at the scene of the crime