Minnesota girl alleges school privacy invasion

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A Minnesota middle school student, with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union, is suing her school district over a search of her Facebook and e-mail accounts by school employees.

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[redrumloa]

Topper

 

[the_leander]

The 12-year-old sixth grade student, identified in court documents only as R.S., was on two occasions punished for statements she made on her Facebook account, and was also pressured to divulge her password to school officials, the complaint states.

....

"R.S. was intimidated, frightened, humiliated and sobbing while she was detained in the small school room" as she watched a counselor, a deputy, and another school employee pore over her private communications.

The lawsuit claims that her First Amendment rights were violated by employees at Minnewaska Area Middle School, in west-central Minnesota, as well as her Fourth Amendment rights regarding unreasonable search and seizure.

In the UK, they would be facing a few years in prison for those two acts under the computer misuse act and probably a few more for breaches of the human rights act.

That said, she got off lightly compared to another young lady:

 

[faethor]

I hope she wins. The school does not control speech, especially outside it's doors. In the past schools have taken actions on students that wrote letters to Editors in the local newspapers. (Not just MN but other states too.) The school districts were found in violation of first ammendment rights of the students. I suspect Facebook will be the same sort of thing. Communicating on the public stage is not something the School District can exempt students from doing.

And certainly we want our students exercising their freedoms of speech. Especially in cases where they feel wronged or feel the school is taking illegal actions.