More recently, a parent called my office. She was very upset. Her son, an elementary student in Florida, wanted to take part in a class contest to build the best autobiographical web site, but she wouldn't permit him to post his e-mail address at the site. Since the teacher required the inclusion of the e-mail address so people could contact the child directly, her son wasn't allowed to compete in the contest. The school had sent home a permission slip that informed the parents that their children would be designing a web site, but didn't mention the fact that their e-mail address would be used on the site. The mother, concerned about her son's & his classmates' safety, had contacted the teacher & the principal but had gotten little help. When I called the principal, I didn't receive a very warm reception either. (Okay, I'm a lawyer, & I doubt any principal would welcome a call from a lawyer late on a Friday afternoon.)

But although his cool reception didn't bother me, his response to my telling him about the potential risks did. He asked me if I could give him proof that a child had been molested by someone who found them at a school web site I asked him if he was willing to allow one of his students to be the first. The conversation went downhill from there, but he agreed to check into it. The last thing we need is to aggravate a school principal on a Friday afternoon. (They are the only ones scarier than a raging bull when provoked-at least that's how I remember the principal when I was in school.) But it's important that teachers & principals be sensitized to the risks of disclosing personal-contact information about children at a school web site We're all in this together. And we all have the same priority-our children.

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