Exchange Student Information

We just learned that the photo of Amanda Knox was to be found on the wall of shame in the headquarter of the Italian Forensic Police department only 3 months after she was detained.

At that time the trial had not been started. In fact she was not officially charged with a crime. Still they put the photo up along a number of criminals they had put behind bars.

Where is the principal: "Innocent until proven guilty"?

The short answer is that such a gurantee is non-existing in Italy. We can only urge Danish students no to consider to travel to Italy.

As the concept of mandatory community service is spreading it is clear that young Danes considering foreign countries must think about how they can have their privacy preserved.

Today you have the Internet with websites like Youtube. Only one click can make an embarrassing situation public and once it is on the internet it will be there for the rest of your life.

Dr. Phil had a show about how young students must take action in order to prevent that they end up in a bad situation.

But if you search the web, you can find that even ordinary events can have a lifetime impact if the students don't seek to protect themselves in advance.

One of our researchers found a question about privacy of photos taken during school work:

Privacy on photos - How can I be protected? (Yahoo Answers)

For some it might seem odd, but in Denmark voluntary work is not being seen as a postive thing. Labor Unions like FOA are worried that voluntary work can result in large unemployment when work is being for no money.

However as we wrote in an earlier blog-entry the word "community service" is equal a penal conviction in Denmark.

So a photo of a Danish exchange Student in a orange vest with a text diplaying a message of community service will put a stop to a possible future career.

Our advice is to make sure that no photos are taken of the exchange student while abroad or make sure that community service is voluntary in the specific school distric before the student leaves Denmark.