You mean postings to MySpace aren't private? Who knew?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Randall <rvh40 () insightbb com>
Date: March 28, 2006 12:27:37 PM EST
To: Dave <dave () farber net>, Dewayne Hendricks  
<dewayne () warpspeed com>, Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Subject: You mean postings to MySpace aren't private? Who knew?

http://htdaw.blogsource.com/post.mhtml?post_id=292871

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 at 12:25 PM EST
Elementary Students Suspended For MySpace Postings


(STNG) OAK LAWN, Ill. Two students were suspended at an Oak Lawn
elementary school last week after the principal discovered questionable
postings on a popular Web site, parents said. The MySpace postings
allegedly contained foul language, a digitally altered photo of George
Bush sticking up his middle finger, pop-ups of women in bikinis and
disparaging references to St. Louis De Montfort School and its staff,
parents said.

Administrators asked the eighth-grade class to delete their MySpace
accounts and threatened to cancel graduation or confirmation ceremonies
if they did not, parents said. A boy and girl who allegedly used vulgar
words were suspended for four days, parents said. They return to school
today.

Parents, who asked that their names not be used, did not necessarily
approve of the MySpace postings. But they questioned how Principal Holly
Gross accessed their children's pages and whether it was proper for
children to be punished because the pages were not created while the
children were at school. "She has no right to spy on our children in our
own homes," one parent said.

Gross said parents portrayed the situation incorrectly but declined to
clarify any misstatements in order to protect the privacy of students
and parents. "We continue to act in the best interest of our students in
respect to all areas," she said.

MySpace is a popular online hangout spot that lets users create their
own Web pages and connect it to their friends and friends' friends. They
can leave messages on each other's pages, publish a blog or post
photographs and video clips.

Wired magazine ran a 2,500-word article last month tracking what they
called the "great MySpace crackdown of '06." Across the country — and
the south suburbs are no exception — educators are disciplining kids for
their Web postings and sending letters home to parents warning them of
the dangers of using MySpace unsupervised. Many schools are using
filters to block the site.

Andrew High School athletes were suspended in February after school
officials saw photos of them drinking on an online album that is similar
to MySpace. Drinking was against the athletic code signed by the girls.
Similar punishments have made headlines for Chicago, New Jersey,
Tennessee and Nebraska schools.

Generally, public schools cannot punish students for activities outside
of the school day that are not related to school, said Chicago ACLU
spokesman Ed Yohnka. Satire and criticism are protected, as is sexual
speech minus references to school, he said. Private schools, however,
are not bound by the First Amendment right to free speech, he said.



--
"The people who still support George Bush are the same people who
believe Adam and Eve rode to church on the backs of dinosaurs". -  SNL




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