Miscellanea

A student posts images of nude men and women as part of an art class. Internet search engines automatically catalog the textual descriptions which leads many Internet surfers to find the images. Some members of the local community, some alums from out of state, some potential donors to the college all lodge complaints.

A staff member posts an ad in the web-based version of Newscope classifieds to sell a used car.
A student organization creates a web page to sell candy as a fund-raiser for a local charity.
A student creates a web page to sell images of the College, including those for which the College claims copyright.
A faculty member advertises his house for sale by putting several images of his house on the departmental web server.
A staff member puts several web pages on their site selling cosmetic products, then uses the URL in her print advertising.
A local commercial establishment requests a link be put on the Kenyon web site pointing to their establishment, one of four or five competing firms in the town.

A student creates a web page that suggests the visitor mail bomb another student (send them thousands of useless messages to impede their use of e-mail). The web page tells them how to send a letter bomb and lets them download the needed software.

During the development of a web page, someone creates a link to a "dummy" application for admissions form, but through a search engine, several prospective students find this link and fill out the form, with their credit card numbers, thinking they have applied for admissions. No one sees the entry until late April.

A student print publication is also hosted on the campus web server. The publication is run on a separate budget from the college, and sells advertising space to commercial firms. Advertisers expect the ads to be presented in the web edition of the publication, but then the college, a non-profit, charitable organization, is web hosting commercial ads. Are taxes due on this unrelated business activity? Is this a violation of 501(c)(3) status?

Web Scenarios, by Scott E. Siddall. Copyright 2000 Scott E. Siddall. All rights reserved.