Anna is a politically-active middle school teacher. She recently attended a rally in her city in support of progressive causes, including transgender rights. At the rally, a small group of counter-protesters had gathered in opposition, and people were chanting to express hate for the LGBT community. Anna was shocked to see that one of the counter-protesters was a fellow teacher from her school, Claire, who Anna didn’t know well but immediately recognized. Anna decided not to confront Claire but instead snapped a picture of the counter-protestors, including Claire, and posted her photo on social media so that it was visible to her family and friends, including some other teachers at the school. The next day, Anna felt uncomfortable. Several other teachers she was connected with on social media had commented on the photo: some were shocked Claire was in attendance, but others criticized Anna for posting the photo in the first place. Anna wondered whether sharing the photo was the right thing to do and feared that word would get back to Claire.
Should Anna have posted the photo online? What should she do now?
Would your decision be different if the circumstances had been any of the following?
What if Anna had seen one of her students among the counter-protestors instead?
What if the counter-protestors had been advocating for a different cause, such as gun rights?
Do people have a right to expect that their actions, even in public, should not be shared by others on social media without their consent?
This dilemma is based on a case from the Educating for Digital Dilemmas Project at Project Zero and is integrated into Common Sense Education’s Digital Citizenship Curriculum. We thank Carrie James and Emily Weinstein for allowing its use here.