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School Official Sues Over MySpace Page
SoCal writes, "How much legal liability do parents have for what their kids do online? A lawsuit filed in Texas by a high-school assistant principal may give some answers. Some students she had disciplined set up a fake MySpace page in her name depicting her as a lesbian (which she happens not to be). In its coverage, Ars Technica notes that 'What sets this case apart from many other lawsuits filed over the content of blogs is that it doesn't target only the teenagers who created the site. It also argues that the parents were guilty of negligence by failing to supervise their children, and that they bear some of the responsibility for the defaming site.'" The article links the Media Law Resource Center's resource tracking more than 50 cases now in the courts nationwide, in which bloggers have been sued for libel and related claims.
I recently learned that something very like this was happening at the school district where I work. Several teachers learned that someone had assumed their identities on MySpace and were posting defamatory remarks. My suggestion was to have the district's lawyer informally contact MySpace asking that the sites be taken down, and follow up with a C&D letter a week letter if they didn't comply.
No word concerning a lawsuit against the student(s) responsible.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
If you're children are 12+, supposedly know right from wrong, but still think posting defamatory material about someone is "right", then you should seriously question your parenting skills and, if you ask me, should thusly be held liable for your childrens' actions.
Until they reach the age of 18, (or whatever age the courts decide is adult,) their actions should be as good as your actions.
-dave
http://millionnumbers.com/ - own the number of your dreams
And who cares about MySpace anyhow?
Actually, employers have started checking out prospective job candidates via MySpace, Google and other online resources to see if there is anything that may stand out as a conflict with the company. Read about it here.Now, sexual orientation used a reason not to hire someone would be considered as discriminatory however if other information was posted such as someone bragging about the $3000 they stole from X company while they weren't looking could cost someone a potential job.
So, obviously someone does care about MySpace.
According to the complaint, the local police have reportedly obtained information from MySpace that confirms the computers used to make/access the MySpace page are located at the homes of the two students named in the complaint.
The original complaint is here: http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/Draker%20Orig inal%20petition.doc. However, the student's statement (referenced in the complaint as exhibit 1) is not included in this copy.
Seriously, McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore is a very big and very, very expensive firm. I doubt they're taking this suit on a contingent fee unless the kids come from some major legal money. Maybe the plaintiff just has mid five figures to burn through in a few months and wants to make a point (but I doubt that). So who's paying the legal fees right now? I'm thinking of a group that's mostly likely: white, christian and has a general intolerance for anyone or thing different (like the CCA or the FRC). Sorry, but it is Texas and this is America.
Answer this and we'll understand more about the goal of the suit.
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity but they've always worked for me" - HST
At no time is she in any danger by this myspace page, and any judge will recognize that. It's all completely harmless. At no time is she at risk for a financial loss by the page, and she won't be in the future. Nobody can prove any harm was done whatsoever.
What makes you think this? Did her husband leave her because of this page? Do you know? Did her boyfriend break up with her? Did her mother cry after reading it? Employers have been known to check myspace before hiring people. Did a school pass on offering her a job as principal there because they did not want to deal with the controversy surrounding hiring a lesbian? Again, do you know, or are you just assuming?
I would pull my kids out of the school immediately (whether they have anything to do with this or not), and/or go to the superintendant and complain.
Great way to teach them to take responsibility for their actions. They broke the law. If you, as a parent, failed to teach them ethics, such as the ethics about lying, maybe you should be held legally responsible for any damage that causes to society until they are old enough to make their own decisions. For that matter do you even know if the parents were approached before the lawsuit? Supposedly these kids had caused problems before. Maybe legal action was the only way she felt the kids would actually be taught a lesson given the lack of response from the parents. You don't know. I don't know. Maybe then, you should stop making assertions until you do know.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outing_(Seinfeld_ episode)
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
The only ones being sued are the kids and their parents (as far as the article says). The expected "sue anyone within 10 feet of anyone who has anything to do with this" reaction is notably absent.
Information wants to be free.
Entertainment wants to be paid.
You just want to be cheap.
But you don't have the right to pretend to be someone else.
That IS NOT covered by free speech.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
And they are absolutely subject to libel laws just like anyone else who knowingly publishes falsehoods without clearly noting it as parody in some fashion.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
GreyPoopon
--
Why is it I can write insightful comments but can't come up with a clever signature?
I agree and I'll refer you to another similar response I made: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=200459&cid=164 13689
Simply put, you're right, but it's still within the parents' duties to teach extremes of right and wrong (nothing is ever black and white.) Where public defamation lies in that spectrum could also, of course, be debated.
-dave
http://millionnumbers.com/ - own the number of your dreams
Seems like all school administrators these days are requiring the LAW to teach students.
This is because the parents have made it this way. You wouldn't believe how much the hands of administrators and teachers are tied when it comes to disciplining a student in a public school. I wouldn't last a day without a lawsuit.
Case in point. My wife is an elementary school teacher. She had to take "restraint training" and I asked her what that was. It's training to "restrain" an unruly and potentially violent student. But here's the thing, she's not allowed to touch the student! The student can physically assualt her and the other children in the classroom, but she can't grab him by the wrist. Remember the saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"? Well, the students are the only ones allowed to have sticks and stones. Administrators and teachers can't even use words.
The best that can be hoped for is that the parents will take care of the situation, that's it. You can't punish a student anymore. You can't expel them. Parent's will sue, district's will give in. Basically, the unruly kids with poor parents have won. They can do whatever they want without any recourse. Which is why I hope this lawsuit succeeds. It's about time that the parents and courts agreed that sometimes kids need to be disciplined.
-dave
/., where "Apple and Google provide Iran with nukes" will be refuted with "But Microsoft is a convicted monopolist"
My parents raised me right, but as a kid I still did some bad things
I dont see why they should be held liable for my actions when they took every reasonable step to make sure I had a good set of morals in place and that I was responsivle. I acted out sometime, Kids will be kids, boys will be boys. It's not their fault.
Except that now you're trying to say the parent's aren't responsible for the children's actions.
The point here is that its the responsibility of both. Its just like when you're under 18 and you get a speeding ticket (we'll continue to use Texas as the example). Atleast in Harris County a parent, or legal gaurdion, is required to attend the hearing with you, its a matter of punishment to both the child and the parent. The child is embarassed and (hopefully) is required to pay the offense, and the parent is punished enough that they continue to drive the message home at home.
I haven't yet had a chance to read the article, or understand the details, but I'm guessing that the parents are indeed responsible of (at the least) neglect in the fact that they aren't policing the child's activities on the net. And if you are about to tell me that its an invasion of privacy, then you are far to liberal for me.
think before you write, it'll save me moderator points.
More importantly, it is covered by tort law - libel, to be specific.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
Dude, relax. It's a joke from an episode of Seinfeld.
Comment of the year
If indeed there was defamatory content on the page, I think this case is a slam dunk. Parents are civilly liable for the actions of their minor children; there are probably thousands of cases on this. The "should the parents have been spying on them? huh?" argument is basically worthless. The answer is, "Whether the parents spy on the kids or not is up to them, but if the kids screw up, the parents are on the hook."
Having been on the receiving end of similar incidents involving students at my school (I teach Algebra in a Jr. High), I have found MySpace to be very quick to delete profiles that are fraudulent or defamatory when they are notified. They are even quicker when you say that the students involved are likely to be under that magic COPA age of 13. Being a US company, they take the federal online statutes quite seriously. Had the pages in question been truly harmful, I would have taken further action of finding out which students were involved, contacting their parents, and pursuing further avenues as needed. There have been other students in my district that have been suspended, transferred, or outright expelled for things they have posted on MySpace. Hazing, bullying, and libel can very much extend into the digital realm and have repercussions in the offline world. Young and old need to be aware of that and treat it the same as they would someone making harassing phone calls, passing out flyers in a neighborhood, or taking out an ad in a newspaper.
I'm glad MySpace is not getting sued in this one. I didn't RTFA, but I have to wonder if the Vice Principal tried to resolve this with the parents before escalating it to a civil case. It is quite possible that she did and got a response along the lines of, "kids will be kids," or worse yet, "it couldn't be my child, you have no proof, I'm not going to do anything, I'm not listening, la-la-la-la-la-la-la."
Ok, enough rambling. Time to sleep.
Mess not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
In earlier days, if students started passing around notes about this teacher, the teacher wouldn't receive obscene phone calls as a direct result. FTA: a few were individuals Ms. Draker did not recognize, that lived near Clark High School, and had made suggestive, lewd and obscene comments based on the content of the webpage.
Passing around notes about a teacher leads to a bunch of kids laughing and goofing around, pretty easy for a teacher to get over that. Posting a fake profile leads to local perverts contacting and maybe stalking the teacher, that's quite a different situation.
After 3 days without programming, life becomes meaningless
- The Tao of Programming
Three words: in loco parentis.
We don't know if the school talked to the students or parents. If anyone refused to take the page down. If the students were threatend with expulsion, if a lawyer was brought in and told the school district could not do that. We don't know all of what was published on the page. Her address? That she has rape fantasies and wants a stranger to come over to her house? Also, with the way things are archvied on line. She could go and apply for a job as a principle someplace, and the school board there could go read "her blog" on how she gets off on abusing children.
We just know the end result. Yes, Johnny, it is libel to create a web page about your vice principle and say things about her and her reputation that are not true, and make it look like she wrote it herself. That both the student and their parents can be held responsible for the students actions. Oh yes, and the page will have to be taken down as well.
vi +
Sure, get the site taken down, and punish the perpetrator. But if you don't know who did it, the last thing that you want to do is stand in front of a group of rebelious teens and make idle threats.
It's not an idle threat. If you file a lawsuit (against John Doe, for libel) you can subpoena MySpace to find out the IP addresses and timestamps for the people responsible, then subpoena the ISP for their billing records. If the kids did it from home, you've got them. Even if they did it from a public library, they usually keep records of who uses what when. The same might be true of the school's computer lab. If the kids had a laptop and used an open wifi hotspot, well, then you might not be able to track them down, but that's not particularly likely.
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;