Case studies 
Each case study will include issues/questions to address. The cases are intended to take a comprehensive look at the current event topics as related to business and society. Students should explore the issue using the text as well as personal, intellectual, academic references and/or experiences, thus applying their knowledge to these cases. Where sources are used, proper notation must be included. All case studies should be double-spaced and at least 600 words in length. Cases must be submitted to the course Turnitin.

1.	Should government weigh in and control what is posted to the internet for the sake of public good, or does an individual’s right to free speech trump government intervention?
2.	what is your responsibility as an individual when viewing a webcast? If you witness a suicide or read of someone talking about suicide, should you do something? If so, what should you try to do?
DisCUSSion Case:   Teen Suicide Viewed Online
In November 2008. a l9-YEAR-old community college student li\ing in Pembroke Pines, florida. committed suicide In taking a lethal drug oxerdose in Ironl of a live webcam. Some computer viewers urged him on by tcxiing messages that encouraged the teen lo swallow the antidepressaitl pills that cvcnlualK killed him. Others used the message board lo try to talk him out ot committing suicide. Online communities "are like the crowd outside the building with the guy on the ledge." said a university professor who studies the effects of technology on society. "Sometimes there is someone who gets involved and tries to talk him down. Often the croud chants, 'lump, jump.' They can enable suicide or help prevent it.' Some viewers did contact the police but only alter the teen had lapsed into unconsciousness, so the emergency crew arrived at the student's home too late lo save him. 1 heir arrival was also captured on the live webcam, as hundreds of people continued to watch the tragedy play out. In the chat room, users typed acronyms for''oh my (iod" and "laughing out loud" before the police covered the webcam, ending the show. I he student, who suffered from bipolar disorder, had announced his plans to kill him-sell on a bodybuilder's Web site, but many viewers did not lake his threats seriously since he had threatened suicide on the site before. During the past year, the student had posted more than 2.300 messages to the bodybuilder's \Vch site and wrote thai online forums 'i.ul "become like a family to me." "I know it is kind |ol] sad" that he chose to talk about his troubles online because he did not want to talk about them lo anyone in per-ihe student wrote. His real family was appalled bv the reaction of others to the broadcast suicide. "As a human being, you don't watch someone in trouble and sit hack .mil nisi watch." said the teen's father. "Some kind of regulation is necessary."
unfortunately,this was not the first time someone had used the web in this way. in 2003,an arizona man overdose on drugs while writing about his actions in a chat room. In Britain a year earlier, a man hung himself white chatting online and webcasting the scene. In both cases, cither users encouraged the individuals with (heir online messages
Message hoards and blog sites are generally unmonilored, one of the attractions to using this site for many young people. Some sile providers do attempt to superv ise w hat is posted, however. After the Florida teen's suicide, BodyBuilding.com and Justin.i\ removed much of the evidence of the suicide and main users' reactions to it because they were deemed distasteful or provided information that would enable someone else 10 recreate the suicide.
Most Internet service providers, such as Facebook and MySpace. have taken action--to try to monitor the activity on their sites after strong public outcry to a specific incident. Much of this effort has targeted instances of piracy or nudity. One child protection group, WiredSafcty.org, scans Web sites for inappropriate content and notifies the Web site hosts, but the organization admits that surveillance is challenging. "The only thing you get from the combination of Web cams and young people are problems." said the organizations executive director It is extremely difficult to monitor unexpected video-casting of suicides.
Despite some efforts to restrain Web content, new Web sites pop up thai appear to be without any controls. .Stiekam.com buill its following by going where other sites feared into the realm of unfillered live broadcasts from Web cameras. Basically Stickam offers a free service for anyone to post anything they wish: all you need is "an Internet connection and a browser with the most recent version (if Macromedia Flash Player installed." The 35-etnployee staff of Stickam reportedly does not monitor any of the content. "Letting people do whatever they want is one way for these sues to differentiate themselves," said Josh Bernoff. a Forrester Research analyst. "It is a race to the bottom."
So, what is the answer? Does the type of action showing a teen committing suicide become part of our technology-based culture, or should there be controls'.' Who should be responsible, and what should be controlled'.' These questions have plagued individuals and organi/ations involved with the Internet for decades and have become more complex and serious as lechnology has developed and become more pervasive in our societv.
Since its inception in 2005. YouTubc has banned nudity and taken down copyrighted material when right h.-'ldc" file specific complaints. Under additional pressure from copyright holders. YouTube pu> :c > 10-minuie limit on all clips. But new start-up sites are under pressure to compete \ :h the larger sites and typically do not screen or restrict content. Dailymotion users p icd ">.000 new videos a day to the emerging site, which had more than 1.3 million v -iiors m one month, an increase of 100 percent from six months earlier. Dailymotion, shich is based in Paris, had entire episodes of television shows and recording of mu.- w ithoul copyright permission or payment of copyright fees. Yet, even this focus on .>pvrighted material begs the question: Should Web sites seek to control the webcastn of suicides?
The police in Broward < .mty, Florida, where the teen who committed suicide lived, promised to launch an .'•.•,-ugation to determine if any criminal wrongdoing was corn-milled. "II someboif. ihreateiis suicide or attempts suicide, it's never a joke," said the Broward ( ouniv etuel medical examiner "It always requires attention. It's basically a cry lor help."