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258
LAW AND ETHICS OF COMMUNICATING IN SOCIAL MEDIA
Rini Fidiyani, Dewi Sulistianingsih, and Pujiono
Faculty of Law of State University Semarang – Indonesia
E-mail: fidiyani.rini@gmail.com
Abstract
Every environment has its own law and ethics as the guidelines how to behave by which the perpet-
rator causes three impacts, such as law, ethic, and social. The methods of the research are quantit-
ative and qualitative research with legal approach as law in action. It is a non-doctrinal empirical
so-cial science. Internet provides a new world, way of thinking, and way to communicate. Thus,
there is Nettiquette, an ethical guideline of how to behave or to communicate among the the
netizens. Mean-while, the teachers’s awareness to properly communicate in one of vocational school
in Purwokerto shows a low level. The bad way in real life communication affects their way in
communicating using social media which then sometimes results in legal matter. Though there has
not been any case re-corded by the court, it is still worrying since teachers should be a role model
for their students. There should be some efforts to make them aware of legal obedience and
communicating ethics in cyberspace for those teachers.
Keywords: netiquette, internet, social media, law and ethics, communication
Abstrak
Setiap lingkungan punya hukum dan etikanya sendiri yang menjadi pedoman bertingkah laku, dimana
pelanggarannya akan menimbulkan tiga akibat sekaligus, yaitu hukum, etika dan social. Penelitian ini
adalah penelitian kuantitatif dan kuantitatif dengan pendekatan terhadap hukum sebagai law in ac-
tion, merupakan studi ilmu sosial yang non-doktrinal dan bersifat empiris. Internet menghadirkan du-
nia, cara berfikir, dan berkomunikasi baru. Netiquette merupakan pedoman etis dalam berperilaku/
berkomunikasi di antara para netizen. Kesadaran untuk berkomunikasi yang baik pada guru “sebuah
sekolah kejuruan” di Purwokerto menunjukkan tingkat yang kurang baik. Kebiasaan buruk dalam ko-
munikasi dunia nyata dibawa ke dunia maya sehingga seringkali menimbulkan persoalan hukum. Meski
belum ada yang sampai ke ranah peradilan, akan tetapi hal ini cukup menghawatirkan mengingat ke-
dudukan mereka sebagai guru yang seharusnya menjadi teladan bagi murid-muridnya. Perlu dilakukan
penyadaran akan kepatuhan terhadap hukum dan etika berkomunikasi di dunia maya bagi bara guru
tersebut.
Kata kunci: netiquette, internet, media social, hukum dan etika, komunikasi.
Introduction
In the last two decades, internet network
infrastructure development (both by govern-
ment and private) followed by the emergence
of communication technology products (in the
form of mobile phones and android) and sup-
porting software which can directly connect to
internet causes significant information or com-
munication traffic development.
1
Katz and Rice
1
Read shortly about the masive development of commu-
nication as the impact of technology information revolu-
tion in Nurudin, “Media Sosial Baru dan Munculnya Revo-
lusi Proses Komunikasi”, Jurnal Komunikator, Vol. 4 No.
2, November 2013, pp. 83-93.
said that the availability of network infrastruc-
ture is one of the prerequisites in internet com-
munication. Other issues related to access is-
sues are society involvement, and social inter-
action and expression.
2
The problem of internet
access is already solved with the rise of internet
providers including built in and android pro-
ducts. However, the real issue lies in other pre-
requisites which are society involvement, and
social interaction and expression.
2
J. Katz and R. Rice, 2004, Social Consequences of Inter-
net Use: Access, Involvement and Interaction, Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Law and Ethics of Communicating in Social Media 259
Society involvement in this issue has not
been much revealed. It could be because their
activity is not published or still minimum al-
though the number of virtual communities is
growing significantly.
3
Society involvement in
matters of internet negative impact needs to be
improved since the impact on how to commu-
nicate through internet is big. Some ways of in-
teracting and expressing themselves need to be
controlled in order to avoid anarchy in cyber-
space.
The issue of communicating ethics does
not come to laity only, but also it comes to a
teacher, a profession of sharing knowledge and
intelegence. The use of internet in education
has reached a stage of utilization to seek in-
formation such as teaching materials. Futher-
more, problems arise on how teachers commu-
nicate using internet with colleagues, students,
parents, and other communities.
4
As a role mo-
del, teachers should keep their behaviour in
communicating using internet since they can
misuse it for various purposes or interests. This
article discusses two problems: first, teacher’s
awareness of law and ethics at "a vocational
school in Purwokerto" in the use of social media
to communicate; and second, what legal and
ethical issues arise as a result of the use of so-
cial media and what the solutions are.
Research Method
This research is a quantitative and qual-
itative method with a research on law in action
approach. It is social science which is non doc-
trinal and empirical. Research location is at a
vocational school in Purwokerto (school name
deliberately disguised). Source of data in this
research is human (teacher at school). Data
were obtained through questionnaires which
were statistically obtained and supporting data
were sources include documents, archives, and
3
Read about the development of internet virtual com-
munity in Indonesia in Siti Hidayah, “Antropologi Digital
dan Hiperteks: Sebuah Pembahasan Awal”, Jurnal RA-
NAH, Year II No. 1, April 2012, pp. 2-10.
4
Read about this matter in Yasraf Amir Piliang, “Budaya
Teknologi Indonesia: Kendala dan Peluang Masa Depan”,
Jurnal Sosioteknologi, 28th Edition Year 12th, April 2013,
pp. 247-262.
other objects. The obtained data were analyzed
quantitatively.
Discussion
Legal Basis of Freedom of Opinion and Expres-
sion in Indonesia
The basic rules of freedom of opinion and
expression in Indonesia are contained in the
Constitution, the 1945 Constitution Article 28E
paragraph (2) and paragraph (3), and Article
28F. Article 28E Paragraph (2) explains that
Every person shall have the right to the freedom
to believe his/her faith, and to express his/her
views and thoughts, in accordance with his/her
conscience, while paragraph (3) regulates the
right and freedom of association, assembly, and
expression opinions. Article 28F mandates the
state to guarantee the right to communicate
and to obtain information for the purpose of the
development of his/ her self and social environ-
ment, and shall have the right to seek, obtain,
possess, store, process and convey information
by employing all available types of channels.
The basic provisions of this Constitution are fur-
ther elaborated in Article 14 paragraph (1) and
paragraph (2) of Law Number 39 Year 1999 on
Human Rights.
There are some other laws that regulate
about freedom of opinion and expression such
Law Number 40 Year 1999 of Press (Law in
Press), Law Number 14 Year 2008 of Disclosure
of Public Information (KIP), and Law Number 11
Year 2008 of Electronic Information and Trans-
action (ITE Law) and Law Number 19 Year 2016
of Change of ITE Law. Law in Press more em-
phasizes the freedom that is given to press or
reporter in covering, processing or reporting the
information. They are also free from being cen-
sored, banned or broadcasting banned. KIP Law
regulates the freedom to get information about
public information and to limit the type of pub-
lic information that can be accessed with basis
of “decency and public interest”. ITE Law regu-
lates technical aspects of the utilization of Elec-
tronic Information and Transaction using inter-
net, meanwhile those which related to freedom
of expression tends to create a threat for wrong
utilization of electronic channel.
260 Jurnal Dinamika Hukum
Vol. 17 No. 3, September 2017
Freedom of opinion and expression are
not absolute, even though those are one of the
rights that cannot be lessen in every condition
and cannot prosecuted on the basis of retroact-
tive law (Article 28I section (1) 1945 Constitu-
tion jo Article 4 Law Number 39 Year 1999).
This is an irony since the restriction is actually
the reduction of rights that is regulated in pre-
vious article about freedom. In other words,
freedom of opinion and expression are not non
derogable rights but derogable rights.
The limit is regulated in Article 28J 1945
Constitution paragraph (2) 1945 jo Law Article
70 and Article 73 Law Number 39 Year 1999. A
state argues that the restriction is done to en-
sure recognition and respect toward rights and
freedom of others and also to fulfill fair de-
mands according to consideration of morale, re-
ligion value, security and public order in a de-
mocratic society. Similar restriction can be
found in other law with focusing on the informa-
tion that is delivered along with addition in vio-
lation of decency, humiliation, or defamation.
International approval in freedom of opin-
ion and expression is also can be found in Art-
icle 19 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The article determines that every people has
right to give opinion and to express. It includes
to hold firmly the thought without any inter-
vention and to find, accept or deliver the in-
formation and idea through any kind of media
without any borderline. The same provision also
can be found in Article 19 paragraph (2) ICCPR,
Article 10 Europe Convention for Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom, Art-
icle 13 paragraph (1) American Human Rights
Convention, Article 9 African Charter about Hu-
man Rights and Civil Rights, and Article 23
ASEAN Human Rights Declaration.
The international approval is also fol-
lowed by the unity restriction for the grants of
the freedom. Article 19 paragraph (3) ICCPR de-
termines that implementation of paragraph (2)
creates the particular obligation and responsib-
ility, so certain restrictions are imposed in ac-
cordance with law and as long as needed to:
respect rights or other’s reputation; protect na-
tional security or public order or public morale.
Similar provision also can be found in Article 29
paragraph (2) Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, Article 4 paragraph (1) ICCPR (special
for state of emergency), Article 20 paragraph
(1) ICCPR (prohibition of propaganda), Article
20 paragraph (2) (special for prohibition of Era-
dication of Ethnic and Racial Discrimination),
Article 10 paragraph (2) Europe Convention
about Protection of Human Rights and Funda-
mental Freedom, Article 13 paragraph (2) Ame-
rican Convention about Human Rights and other
articles from similar conventions.
The freedom of opinion and expression
(communication) from a state are strong funda-
mentals for everybody to give their opinion and
express it without any doubt. The existence of
internet is actually expanding the chance for
every people to communicate with whomever
and whenever since internet makes that hap-
pen. However, the freedom that is given by a
state, the facility from internet are sometimes
followed by bad behavior from its user. Many
times were found the use of words, picture,
quote or other sign languages or communication
that show negative behavior. Started from ligh-
test opinion and expression up to those which
can be categorized as hate thought.
The word “hate speech” often translated
as “ujaran kebencian”. There are two term
which commonly uses in international law of hu-
man rights “incitement” and “hate speech”.
The United Nation Human rights committee of-
ten uses the term incitement. Practically, there
are some differences between expert and state
law system, where one of them emphasize on
the word and the other see the impact on hu-
manity and human existence, or evenmore by
looking at the impact for others who called for
hate speech.
5
5 International rule which is re-
lated to this hate speech, emphasizes that all of
5
M. Choirul Anam and Muhammad Hafiz, “Surat Edaran
kapolri tentang Penanganan Ujarn Kebencian (Hate
Speech) dalam Kerangka Hak Asasi Manusia”, Jurnal Ke-
amanan Nasional, Vol. 1 No. 3, 2015, p. 345. Look at
this discussion and next paragraphs in Agus Raharjo,
“Legal Protection for Victims of Religious of Offences on
the Internet”, Proceedings of International Conference
on Victimology and Victims Assistance in Indonesia, Fac-
ulty of Law Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, Purwokerto,
20-22 September 2016, pp. 34-41.
Law and Ethics of Communicating in Social Media 261
the action that consists of hate speech about
nation, race or religion and it is a incitement to
do discrimantion, hostility or violence must be
prohibited by law (Article 20 Paragraph (2)
ICCPR). This article obligates the country to
prohibit all form of hate speech in domestic
law, including the incitement to do discrimina-
tion which does not affect the violence of na-
tion, race or religion.
6
National law about restriction of freedom
of opinion and expression in public (is not only
limited on hate speech), stated in Article 310
Paragraph (1), Paragraph (2); and Article 311
Paragraph (1) KUHP. This article is more indi-
vidual because it is addresed to individual at-
tack such as prestige, dignity, or self-esteem of
the person who is being attacked. This specific
rule related to internet use for crime stated in
Article 28 Paragraph (2) Law Number 11 Year
2008 of electronic information and transaction.
This article stipulate that everyone who inten-
tionally does not have rights to spread informa-
tion causing hatred or hostility within particic-
ular individu/ group about ethnicity, religion,
race and intergroup (SARA). The criminal provi-
sion of this article is written on Article 45 Para-
graph (2), which stipulates that everyone who
fulfills element of Article 28 Paragraph (1) 0r
Paragraph (2) will be imprisoned at most 6 (six)
years or fines at most Rp1.000.000.000,00 (one
billion rupiah).
Implementation of rights which its free-
dom is guaranteed by the state should encour-
age people to obey the prohibitation or restric-
tion rule. It means this rights is absolute, so the
use must look at the applicable rule. The im-
pact of this ignorance is the issue proceeded in
law and the punishment is heavy. “Your mouth
your tiger” now change into your finger your
hell, so we have to be carefull on our finger in
internet communication especially for the key-
board.
Social Media Use in “A Vacational School in
Purwokerto” and The Implication for Freedom
of Opini and Expression
6
M. Choirul Anam and Muhammad Hafiz, ibid.
Our position in understanding information
technology is actually on two different sides. It
is the position of careful (dystopian people) or
optimistic in technology development (neo-fu-
turis people).
7
Perhaps, the position likes tech-
norealist people who become the mediator de-
bate of two previous people. Yet, we are not al-
ways in technorealist position, in some condi-
tions we can turn into dystopian or neo-futurist.
It what makes our self-control in using the in-
ternet is important so we will not fall into the
bigger hole of destruction.
The Internet users have freedom to inter-
act with anyone; thus, they also act, say, or
write anything about their interlocutors or any-
one that they think those people need to be
commented. Anonymity enables everyone to do
anything toward anyone. Anonymous identity
causes fake identity spread around. Neverthe-
less, in cyberspace, there is an ethic which is
called as Nettiquete, a set of ethic when some-
one communicates with others via internet. This
matter needs to be paid attention by netizens in
order to make communication run smoothly.
Social media which exist as the ouptput
of internet development becomes the mainstay
for many people to have communication with
others. Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Skype,
and Instagram are some kinds of social media
that have so many users. Social media refers to
practical activity and behavior in communities
which assemble to share information, knowled-
ge, and opinion through chatting media. Gene-
rally, social media application can be categori-
zed into forum and message boards, review site,
opinion, blogging and microblogging, bookmark-
ing, and sharing media.
8
7
Anthony G. Wilhelm, 2003, Democracy in Digital Age,
Challenges in Political Life in Cyberspace, translated by
N. Veraningtyas menjadi Demokrasi Di Era Digital, Tan-
tangan Kehidupan Politik di Ruang Cyber, Yogyakarta:
Pustaka Pelajar–CCSS, pp. 5-6; Agus Raharjo, 2016,
Anar-ki di Cyberspace, Bagian Pertama: Filosofi dan
Regulasi Cyberspace, Yogyakarta: Genta Publishing, p.
17; Khanisa, “Dilema Kebebasan Dunia Maya: Kajian dari
Sudut Pandang Negara”, Widyariset, Vol. 16 No. 1, April
2013, pp. 23-30.
8
R. Thackeray, Et.Al., “Use of Social Media in Health Pro-
motion: Purposes, Key Performance Indicators, and Eva-
luation Metrics”, Health Promot Pract., Vol. 13 No. 2,
March 2012, pp. 159-164.
262 Jurnal Dinamika Hukum
Vol. 17 No. 3, September 2017
Media literacy at least has two basic com-
ponents: knowledge and skill. Rosenbaum men-
tions that knowledge and skill are related to the
relationship between public, producer, and
media;
9
meanwhile Martens (2010) categorizes
knowledge and skill of media literacy into four
aspects: media industry, media message, media
public, and media effects. Both of them agree
that there are several basic elements in media
literacy, such as: Media are constructed; Each
person can perceive the same message in
different way; and There are influences of me-
dia toward public.
10
Boyd and Ellison see the
uniqueness of social media not because social
media enable people to interact with strangers,
but it is because the ability of social media to
make someone able to show his or her social re-
lation.
11
Nevertheless, it must be wary that the
use of social media can decrease the quality le-
vel of someone’s relationship in the real world
and it can create problem in daily life.
12
The study on cyberculture allows some-
one have various identities. Identity can find
and become multi-identities. Cyberspace en-
ables its users use identity that they want, and
people can celebrate their freedom in anonym-
ous world. Cyberspace becomes self-laboratory
which characterizes postmodern life, self
becomes self-fashion and self-create.
13
Another
study mentions that there are two impacts of
9
J.E. Rosenbaum, J.W.J. Beentjes and R.P. Konig, “Map-
ping Media Literacy: Key Concepts and Future Direc-
tions”, Communication Yearbook, Vol. 32, 2008, pp.
313-353.
10
Hans Marten, “Evaluating Media Literacy Education:
Concepts, Theories and Future Direction”, Journal of
Media Literacy Education, Vol. 2 No. 1, 2010, pp. 1-22.
11
D.M. Boyd and N. Ellison, “Social Network Sites: Defini-
tion, History, and Scholarship”, Journal of Computer-
Mediated Communication, Vol. 13 No. 1, 2007, pp. 1-11.
12
K. Young, “Online Social Networking: An Australian Per-
spective”, The International Journal of Emerging Tech-
nologies and Society, Vol. 1 No. 7, p 39-57, 2009; R.A.
Davis, G.L. Flett and A Besser, “Validation of a New
Scale for Measuring Problematic Internet Use: Implica-
tion for Pre-Employment Screening”, Cyberpsychology &
Behavior, Vol. 5 No. 4, 2002, pp. 342-343.
13
Sherry Turkle, 1997, Life on the Screen: Identity in the
Age of the Internet, Touchstone Books, Related to this
identity matter, read Wolly Baktiono, “Dunia Cyber-
space Baudrillardian “The Matrix”, Jurnal Ilmiah SCRIP-
TURA, Vol. 2 No. 1, January 2008, pp. 8-17; Maria Nala
Damayanti and Elisabeth Christine Yuwono, “Avatar,
Identitas dalam Cyberspace”, Jurnal Desain Komunikasi
Visual Nirmana, Vol. 15, No. 1, January 2013, pp. 13-18.
social media use for netizens namely preventive
behavior and braggadocian behavior. Preventive
behavior is described as live your live as if your
mother is watching. People which include this
category are those who always be careful in
posting their status, uploading picture or writ-
ing, or sending news. They always think about
what they share through social media since they
are aware that all people around the world pay
attention to them. Braggadocian behavior co-
mes from the word “braggart” which means
liar. People who include this category often
update their status by informing that they do
something cool with narcissistic style in certain
place that they think it is good to be known by
others.
14
Those two studies, theoretically, is back-
lashing because the first one makes it possible
to communicate with lies such as by using an-
onymity. However, the second one teaches or
shows honesty about who you are through post-
ings on social media. Someone can be category-
ized as the first one and others belong to the
second category. Nonetheless, this will ruin
self-image as an ambiguous person or one with
double personality and this is often found in the
era of digital information like today.
Based on the research conducted in voca-
tional school in Purwokerto with 29 respondents
of teachers, the following is the result. First,
the knowledge about social media is obtained
through colleagues (48,3%), others learn it by
themselves (34,5%) and family and friends
(17,2%). Second, period of time in the term of
how long they have been using social media,
most of the respodents answer with 4 (four)
years with 72,4%, 24,1% of respondents answer
with 3 years and only some of them have been
using social media for over than 10 (ten) years
with 3,5%. Third, the purpose of using social
media for the respondents is to look for educa-
tional data (17,2%), entertainment (13,8%), de-
mand for lifestyle (13,8%) and the rest is com-
bination of the reasons with the addition as so-
cial platform. Fourth, the social media mostly
14
Erik Qualman, 2010, Socialnomics, How Social Media
Transforms The Way We Live and Do Business, Burling-
ton: Awareness.
Law and Ethics of Communicating in Social Media 263
used by the respondents are Whatsapp (WA)
with 82,8% and the rest are Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and others. Fifth, the function of so-
cial media according to the respondents is to
help communicate (96,6%) and as an existence
of activity symbol (3,4%). Sixth, their respond
toward sensitive postings is waiting for the right
time to respond (56,2%) and the rest is instantly
replying, postponing and choosing to respond
only positive postings and ignoring. Seventh, the
respondents who always check on the valid-ity
of the data when they want to post or share so-
mething to the media is 51,7%, those who some-
times check it are 37,9% and the rest never
check and only adjust to what they need.
Eighth, most of the respondents have already
aware of crime in social media including cyber-
crime (82,8%), meanwhile the form or technical
aspects of the crime that they know are false
accusation/provocation, hoax and falsification
of data with 93,1%. Ninth, the effort to deter or
overcome crime through social media, accord-
ing to the respondents, is handing it over to the
government and self-control with 62,1%, 34,5%
of respondents only answer with self-control
and hand over to the government with 3,4%.
Based on the data from the questionnai-
re, we can fathom that teachers have already
been using social media for a while. They also
are also aware of the importance of communi-
cating by using social media, either for work or
only to communicate with their colleagues
outside of work. Thoughtful action toward res-
ponding to post or share information can be
seen from the number of respondents who an-
swer them with carefulness and check the vali-
dity of that information. Their awareness of law
can also be understood through the knowledge
that they know regarding to the forms of crime
and how to handle them.
Those data are only from the surface be-
cause in reality, the social media is often mis-
used to attack other’s right and status. Based
on the result of interview with the informants,
the following are the explanation. There are
several groups in social media that is often used
to communicate, namely, facebook with two
groups. The first group is school group (consist
of teachers, board members and students) and
teachers group (contains teachers only). In
WhatsApp, there also two groups, namely
groups of teacher and informal group (consist of
teachers who are disappointed with school
policy). Based on 37 teachers, there are some
of them who play role as provocator and spread
hate or hoax.
There is several expressions appeared in
postings of group, such as: first, cursing like
using the name of animal namely, squirrel-ass-
hole, rascal, using the name of bodies to em-
phasize, namely, “your eyes!” and excessive ex-
calamation mark;
15
second, provocation by
spreading hate, especially to someone who are
trusted by member of boards to occupy certain
position; third, false accusation, to school offi-
cials by providing false facts because they dis-
agree with schools policy; fourth, satire, in the
form of postings or status and comment to so-
cial media associated with work or personal.
The behavior of some teachers which are
less ethical in using social media causes work
relations and performance to be disrupted. It is
what actually the perpetrator wants and aims.
Dissatisfaction over: leadership policies, em-
ployment relationships, and honorariums rece-
ived; to be the cause of that improper attitu-
de. This actually indicates the ability of the
perpetrator to adapt to the work environment,
field of work, and behave at a particular time
and place.
Victims of the improper behavior are offi-
cials, former officials and teachers at the
school. If the teacher is the victim, the taken
action is to report it to the school official, vir-
tually block the perpetrator's account from their
social media and physically keep a distance with
15
The use of these words belongs to cyberbullying. Read
about cyberbullying in M. Campbell, “Cyberbullying: An
Old Problem in a New Guise?”, Australian Journal of
Guidance and Counseling, Vol. 15 No. 1, 2005, pp. 68-
76; S. Hindujaa and J. Patchinb, “Cyberbullying: An
Exploratory Analysis of Factors Related to Offending and
Vic-timization”, Deviant Behavior, Vol. 29 No. 2, 2008,
pp. 129-156; E.M. Kraft and J. Wang, “Effectiveness of
Cyber Bullying Prevention Strategies: A Study of Stu-
dents Perspective”, International Journal of Cyber Cri-
minology, Vol. 3 No. 2, 2009 pp. 513-535; Rulli Nasrul-
lah, “Pe-rundungan Siber (CyberBullying) di Status Face-
book Divisi Humas Mabes Polri”, Jurnal Sosioteknologi,
Vol. 14 No. 1, April 2015, pp. 1-11.
264 Jurnal Dinamika Hukum
Vol. 17 No. 3, September 2017
the perpetrator. Many teachers are actually
worried or potentially victimized, so they just
peeked postings in social media without com-
menting, being alert and keeping physically dis-
tant. There are also victims who respond virtu-
ally as well, replying to comments.
The school step in dealing with the pro-
blem is by settling in a kinship, clarifying, whet-
her done by authorized school officials or invol-
ving the foundation. In any clarification, the of-
fender will always circumvent even blame on
the claimant's side. These are the characteris-
tics of irresponsible person. There is no nature
of chivalry, losers, and cowards. Warning has
been done orally as a form of disciplinary action
against employees who violate ethics. However,
this step does not mean anything, because slan-
derous, cursing, sarcasm or other hate speech
persists.
The school has not yet decided to bring
this issue to the realm of the law. Although ba-
sed on evidence and witness, it has fallen into
the category of criminal offenses. The articles
that may be used are Article 27 paragraph (3) of
the ITE Law (if related to defamation) or Article
28 paragraph (2) of the ITE Law (if related to
hate speech), and the general article on defa-
mation and defamation on Article 310 paragraph
(1), paragraph (2); and Article 311 paragraph (1)
of the Criminal Code. The steps taken by the
school is understandable, considering that if
this goes to the realm of law, will cause a com-
motion that will affect the performance of
teachers in teaching, school image and the de-
clining number of students. Many are taken into
consideration before bringing this matter to the
judiciary, and a step to it is the final step if the
offender is no longer able to be coached.
The perpetrators, in the study of cyber-
culture included in the category of braggado-
cian behavior, braggart or liar, dishonest and
the desire for action is considered cool. This
kind of behavior actually shows who he really is,
even in real life they may act the other way
around. This is evident from the denial that is
done when clarified on their posts in social me-
dia. The self is shown as if it is clean, flawless,
honest, brave, and holy. Despite not using an-
onymity to cover his identity, however-in Sherry
Turkel's view-what they do is actually a lie as
well. If between what they post is then denied
in reality (clarification), they actually have a
psychiatric disorder.
16
Conclusion
Freedom of opinion and expression is
guaranteed by the constitution and legislation,
but there is often an expression of excessive
freedom. In general, the legal and ethical awa-
reness of teachers from a "vocational school" in
Purwokerto is good, as indicated by statistical
data on the purpose and function of social me-
dia use which is for educational purposes. Ho-
wever, there are some teachers who make so-
cial media as a means to wreak dissatisfaction
with the policy of school leadership, work atmo-
sphere or honorarium by doing unlawful actions
(curse, provocation, satire, or hate speech) to
school leaders and fellow teachers. The act of
denial is done when clarified for their actions.
It shows a cowardly attitude and unwillingness
to be responsible. The use of judicial channels
is the last step if the concerned can no longer
be done coaching.
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