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Students can use this site to learn about sympathy chain letters, urban legends and myths and viruses that are transmitted as email attachments. Generally, these messages are only an annoyance, but internet hoaxes have already cost victims property, reputation, and even endangered their lives.

These aren't sites about hoaxes. These are sites that are, themselves, hoaxes.

A defense attorney for the Missouri woman charged in a MySpace hoax that allegedly led to a 13-year-old girl's suicide argued Monday in court papers that prosecutors are bending a cyber crime statute to prosecute his client.

Prompted by outrage over a Missouri teen's suicide after an internet hoax, United States Rep. Kenny Hulshof on May 22 introduced a bill that would impose federal criminal penalties for cyber bullying. "The Megan Meier Act would give prosecutors the tools to protect kids from the most egregious of online predatory attacks," Hulshof said in a statement. Hulshof's bill would allow federal prosecutors to go after online messages meant "to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause emotional distress" to others. Those convicted under the measure would face a fine or up to two years in jail.

These photos would be great exhibits for a classroom discussion on authenticating resources and not believing everything you see.

26 page guide for Educators on Safety, Security and Ethics produced for K-12 students and teachers by the IIIA/James Madison University in cooperation with the Office of Ed Tech for the State of Virginia. Covers digital communication topics like ethics, digital footprint, flaming, spyware, viruses, hoaxes, spoofing & phishing, spam, identity theft, privacy, cyberpredators, social networking, gaming, and bullying via cell phone.

Learn how to stay out of trouble online by learning about copyright rules, fair use, scams, hoaxes, and flaming. This Nortel LearniT video series offers help on online ethics issues. The site is translated into half-dozen languages, including Spanish.

Nortel LearniT is an initiative of Nortel Community Relations to prepare teachers, students, and learners of all ages to develop 21st century skills that will provide a basis for their ongoing engagement in learning and personal achievement. Their lesson plans and guides include several lessons on cybersafety, covering topics like spam, hoaxes, cyberbullying, online predation and analyzing web sites to determine validity. The site is translated into multiple languages, including Spanish.

The author illustrates how he went about authenticating whether a Twitter plea for help (buried under rubble in Chile) was for real or a hoax. Great teachable moment not to believe everything you read. This story could be used to launch a classroom discussion.

Student government members at BTHS received an email saying a construction accident caused school to be closed the following day. From there, the message spread rapidly across social networks. Problem was there had been no accident, and the email, while appearing to come from an official school address, was a gag, which the student newspaper subsequently reported later that evening. "This looked believable, but it could not be corroborated from an official source," says Kevin Jarrett. That's critical, he says, and goes to the cornerstone of any lesson on Internet safety for students-make sure to know where information is coming from by developing a healthy skepticism. But administrators also need to learn how easily these kinds of pranks can be generated."

One of the most comprehensive web sites on the Internet related to Urban Myths and Legends. Whenever I get something even remotely suspicious via email, I always come here first!