Posted on 03/13/2012 5:03:05 AM PDT by tobyhill
A 12-year-old Minnesota girl was reduced to tears while school officials and a police officer rummaged through her private Facebook postings after forcing her to surrender her password, an ACLU lawsuit alleges.
The claims are the latest in a string of tales showing that even password-protected, private online activities might not be safe from curious government agencies and schools. (See last week’s story)
The girl, whose identity is withheld in the lawsuit, came home "crying, depressed, angry, scared and embarrassed" after she was intimidated into divulging her login information by a school counselor and a deputy sheriff, who arrived in uniform, armed with a Taser, the lawsuit alleges.
(Excerpt) Read more at redtape.msnbc.msn.com ...
I guess I need to let my daughters know to not give the jackbooted thugs thier FB passwords.
They just need to call Dad. I will be there to protect them.
Yes, what of it?
The question then is...
“How do you get it back?”
“I’ll take, Defund the Department of Education, for $800, Alex.”
hehe
Tasers kill people. It is deadly force. I respond to deadly force with appropriate measures.
As far as paddling goes, my attitude was this when I was in "publik skul" and it's one I still share 15-20 years later. I'm not bending over for anyone, especially a flippin' bureaucrat. If you are going to whack me, we're going to handle this like men. I may win, I may lose, but they're going to earn it. Now they didn't have that policy so it wasn't an issue.
I was in the office a few times and had my share of trouble there and sometimes at home depending on whose fault it was. I don't regret it, and a big part of the reason I'm a republican today is because of bureaucrats like the type seen at public schools and their Bill Clinton type of overlords. They are democrats. I didn't respect authority. I respect it even less today with tyrants like Obama and Holder (and Reno and Clinton before that).
Just as children need limits (and 12 year olds don't belong on facebook) and good guidance from parents, so do bureaucrats, especially school officials. They need limits to their power from parents as well.
“I think you’d find most people on this site would support that...particularly those with kids.”
Yes Yes! Most conservatives agree, the schools should be able to punish children for things they do and say **while at home**, in the evening. And also,,, America is at it’s best when the government tells us how to communicate, and forbids some methods./ They know best/
You know what makes me wonder the most about incidents like this...
How many occurances like this happen and we DON’T hear about it...
Roving Federal school lunch inspectors, taking away a home prepared meal, and force feeding impressionable children that will think their parents are not taking care of them...
Police officers conducting abuses of power in un-warranted searchs of private citizens information...Under the guise I bet of “probable cause” and “officer safety” etc etc etc...
I bet there has got to be people out there who have fought this kind of nonsense and won the battle, but we never hear much about that, if at all...
Does this state have a citizens arrest provision in the law??? I can see a few school officials and a police officer having to answer to those charges of child endangerment, abuse of power, and anything else that can be levied against them...Turn the tables, don’t work a deal, put their feet to the fire, let them have the taste of criminal placed upon them and see what that does to their future...
Seems like a reasonable outcome to me...I bet there has got to be a judge and other police officers in that state that would love to be on the side of right in this case...
Don’t accept an apology, or any other legal monitary settlement to make this “go away”...Heads need to roll on this one...Thats how you start getting ahead of this nonsense...
I’m surprised that the kid and parents have not been contacted at all about turning the tables on this crap...
There is no legitimate rationale for schools accessing a students personal accounts, be they social networking, email, or banking.
Any school system worth its salt knows how to block social networking sites within their network if they are a concern to them.
I, too, have seen the decline in respect towards school officials and teachers. They have fallen into distrust, deservedly so, and it’s too bad.
The teachers I had 45 years ago could be trusted. My folks trusted them completely. I remember them fondly.
I don’t know how they get the trust back that once was theirs.
It’s a shame.
Damn shame that. Damn shame.
Mine were taken by a bunch of people in traditional East Asian dress out in the desert one day. They threatened my life with a suicide bombing If I reported it and knowing that the government says terrorists are dangerous, I never did as I fear for my life and the life of my family.
I am so sorry for your lose. Hopefully you and your family can recover from your harrowing adventure.
“I think you are out of your mind, conservatives do not want to use government to ban things, that lib talk. Conservatives believe in being responsible for themselves and their family. They prefer that have government out of their life. I have kids and I have no need to ban facebook.”
I guess that’s where we differ, which is fine. I simply don’t see ANY GOOD for little kids coming from Facebook. I think kids should be learning to read and learning math. Since kids have a limited amount of time (particularly with all the ‘projects’ the schools now assign), that means you simply see Facebook in a different priority than myself...and that’s fine - as long as your kids don’t go crying to my kids to feed them.
We still haven’t gotten over it. We live in constant fear that someone will return to extract their vengeance. Yup constant fear I tell you. For our very lives!
It’s real hair trigger nerves I tell you. And FEAR!!! Lots and lots of FEAR! FOR OUR LIVES!!!
...The horror...
“Yes Yes! Most conservatives agree, the schools should be able to punish children for things they do and say **while at home**, in the evening.”
I’m not sure who you’re referring to - I only stated that most parents would probably prefer that Internet Porn, Social Media Sites, and Facebook were simply not around their small kids.
...but then some parents favor legalization of drugs - so maybe I’m old fashioned.
My kids are all self sufficient and feel like me that government is not the answer. Enjoy your love of government.
I understand the fear, government will do that to you.
“My kids are all self sufficient and feel like me that government is not the answer. Enjoy your love of government.”
I find it confusing that you state that I think government is the answer and that I LOVE government. I ONLY state that government schools do not answer to parents and that parents are absolute IDIOTS if they think differently.
the school should have the right to monitor it (especially considering that the parent is already stupid enough to put the kid in public school, in the first place.
Sounds like you want government involved to me. The schools (government) has no rights, only power. Unfortunately you want them to have more power.
“Sounds like you want government involved to me. The schools (government) has no rights, only power. Unfortunately you want them to have more power. “
Whoops, that may have been my lame attempt to hit people across the face with a 2x4 regarding what danger they put their kids in, when sending them off in that nice yellow bus. My contempt level is so high that I have sometimes don’t even realize what I’m writing.
Well if what I quoted is what you said but not what you meant, then maybe you can be forgiven.
To answer the headline question: It depends.
There is a well tested standard for free speech in schools in regards to interfering with the ‘educational process’ - if a case is made that someone’s Facebook activity rose to that level - a Judge might be right in such an order.
In this particular case, the school is in the wrong - the student was not given any opportunity to have a parent or legal advisor present when questioned by school officials and the Law. That is CLEARLY wrong.
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