Official sues students over MySpace page

[pinerow]

SAN ANTONIO - A high school assistant principal is suing two students and their parents, alleging the teens set up a Web page on MySpace.com in her name and posted obscene comments and pictures.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060922/ap_on_re_us/myspace_principal;_ylt=AmURk.OwNwc7y_0j34errXCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OTB1amhuBHNlYwNtdHM-

[Lerkfish]

1. well, considering her reaction, I can see why they felt they would do it.

These things can be handled effectively with discretion and a bit of humor.
The fact that she went so far as to sue and charge them with a felony, IMHO points to the reason she was being harassed in the first place.

[ThomCat]

2. She definitely sounds like a real winner.

:sarcasm:

[Lerkfish]

5. here's how *I* would have handled it, in her place...

make an announcement over the intercom, something to the effect of:

"well, SOME PEOPLE seem to have been having a bit of fun pretending to be me on a certain website.
(chuckle) well, at least if it was ME, I'd not have misspelled any cuss words! Cuss words were the first things
I learned how to spell! And if someone wants to pretend to be me, I'll be happy to take on some assistants
to follow me around and see what my responsibilities are.

and maybe I can teach them how to cuss better.

in all seriousness, I'll give those students one week to find a way to take down that site.
That is all."

[Hoping4Change]

8. I think you're wrong to attack the victim. This is identity theft

plain and simple. I think the law should come down hard on anyone who appropriates someone else's identity and the parents should be sued to the rafters.

[Lerkfish]

11. then we disagree. I see it instead as a stupid school prank that should be

punished, but my point was that it could have been handled and defused without involving the courts.

[Hoping4Change]

14. A stupid school prank would be to set off a stink bomb,

The internet is not a toy, serious harm can be done by so-called pranks. I think it appropriate for the law to be involved to make clear to people that misusing the net has serious consequences.

[Lerkfish]

16. as I said, we disagree.

but I appreciate your point of view.
I just view it from this angle: if she was having trouble with the student body, which I am assuming here, this does not help her in that endeavor.
Like I said in another post, it could have been defused with discretion and maturity.

now, contrast this to a case of rape in a local school here, where three boys forced a girl to have oral sex with them, and the principal did NOT inform police nor tell the parents of the victims what happened and tried to keep them from telling the police or the press.

that's the other end of the extreme. I agree, in that case, police should have been involved because a harmful crime had been committed.

I do not consider putting up a website worthy of involving the courts, and I further think that the website is probably indicative of her standing in the school, which this does nothing to ameliorate.

[Hoping4Change]

20. Yes we do disagree but I would like to put forward another point.

The very fact that the teacher is unpopular makes it imperative that it be brought to court. I suppose I equate this to the Muslim response to the Pope. Muslims don't like what he said so their going to riot, post death notices, etc. Now more than ever rational discourse asserted as the way to resolve difference, not pranks.

[Lerkfish]

21. I think that's the EXACT reason it should not be brought to court.

not because that excuses the behaviour to keep it out the courts, but rather that it retroactively seems to JUSTIFY the behaviour to take it to court.

and it will only make her job that much harder, when it could have been defused so easily.

:shrug: I don't know if you've ever dealt with teenagers and the group dynamics of them, but just because you're RIGHT about something doesn't make your actions PRUDENT. Justice is not punishment, justice is knowing when to punish.

[JoFerret]

40. Don't make assumptions

about her professional abilities rot about the students. The whole range is possible - including that she is a hard working humane and effective administartor and these students upset because of a reprimand concerning their bullying and intimidation of others.
Also - don't assume this is a harmless prank. Until it has been done to you - you cannot know what it feels like nor the impact it can have nor the range of appropriate responses.

[greccogirl]

32. A simple school prank?

It is slander and probably libel, and she has every right to sue. Teens have got to realize they cannot do anything that they wish, and there are consequences.

[sandnsea]

28. Spoofing is legal

If the page was clearly a spoof, then there's no case here. It would be no different then if they'd created some sort of poster that poked fun at her. I'd be inclined to bet she's got no case, especially if it's based on being "libeled" as a lesbian. :eyes:

[rinsd]

31. These things can be handled effectively

This happened to a teacher friend of mine.

Some students upset with the grade they were given set up a myspace page pretending to be him in which they tried to pick up girls at the school and made blog entries about drug use. They attempted to become "friends" with most of the school spreading the page far and wide.

Another of his students told him about it and he was horrified.

Shit like that can destroy a reputation and that particular bullshit can be a career killer.

[notadmblnd]

3. what is she sueing them for...

their lunch money?:crazy:

[Skink]

4. Invasion of privacy.

something for their permanent record.

[Lerkfish]

7. funny thing: I got to see my "permanent record" after graduation

and all it had were my grades.
Which seemed to fly in the face of all the times the principal told me things were ending up in my permanent record.

[TommyO]

15. Upon graduation they were shipped to the FBI

so they could being your permanent record there.

[Lerkfish]

17. LOL! I doubt it. That was in 1977.

but who knows?

[notadmblnd]

10. I meant, what does she expect to get from them

I know she is going after them for invasion of privacy. It just boggles my mind because minors don't usually have any assets, so that is why I asked.

[Lerkfish]

12. she intends to bankrupt the parents.

as if the parents were aware of what they were they doing.

[MadHound]

37. The parents should indeed be held responsible

First of all if they're not monitoring what's going on with their kid and the computer, they're not being very effective parents. If they've brought up their kids to think it's "just a prank" to put up a page on the internet that at the very least is offensive and embarassing to the principle, and at the worst a career ruiner, then they've been irresbonsible parents. I would have never dreamed of doing such a thing with any teacher or principle or teacher. TP a house, sure, but to committ an act of ID theft and put up a web page, no, I don't think so.

Frankly I hope the principle gets a hefty sum, or better yet, put up pictures of the kids and their families on MySpace permenently stating that the kids were out of control brats bred and brought up by irresponsible parents. Frankly I think a bit of public shaming like that would probably be more effective than money any day, for all parties involved.

[Sinti]

6. OMG! They said she was queer. How will she ever overcome that!

OTOH, people should not do this kind of thing, those kids are going to have to pay the penalty for stupid.

[DaveJ]

9. Seems petty to me...

She got the page pulled from MySpace and now it says she is suing for "emotional distress, mental anguish, lost wages and court costs." Where are the actual damages?

[slackmaster]

30. I'd probably go the "revenge" route if someone did that to me

And I am VERY good at that.

[yasmina27]

13. I'm a techno-idiot, so forgive me if I'm wrong

but I've read that anything with your name that has ever been published on the web is visible. I've also read that many potential employers will "google" or otherwise search your name on the internet to see what comes up. My understanding is that even if Myspace pulled the post, somewhere it is cached. I remember reading this in terms of some of the stupid stuff teens post there without considering their future.

That's why alot of people will search the 'net for their name - see what comes up.

Maybe she is concerned about future impact on her career?

[Lerkfish]

18. A valid concern, but myspace removed the site immediately

:shrug:

[Truthiness Inspector]

23. It had been up for a month

before the teacher learned about it, according to the article.

[Lerkfish]

24. how long was it up after she found out about it?

[Truthiness Inspector]

26. I think it was pulled shortly thereafter?

After having been up for a month, and possibly already cached.

[Truthiness Inspector]

19. I think you are right

It may well be in existence forever now, causing hassles and embarrassment for that long too.

[Lerkfish]

22. and sueing in open courts and making all the papers avoids that...how?

[Truthiness Inspector]

25. Righting a wrong I suppose

and in the process it is established that she did not create this page herself and that the info it contains is false.

If she didn't hold them accountable, she might be concerned that people would always wonder if she was lying about not creating the page herself.

Just guessing of course, as all we can do is speculate.

[Lerkfish]

27. that's a more valid point than I had heard previously.

the previous argument was for punishing the kids, which I felt was counterproductive both for the kids and her job.
but this argument has some validity. good point.

[Trillo]

29. I'd have a lot more sympathy for the assistant principal

if she'd make sure that her students knew how to legally make fun of her, such as writing thier criticism in a way that makes clear its satirical nature.

It's actions such as this, forcing MySpace to remove a students speech, while in the same general timespan, teaching that one has freedom of speech, coupled without teaching how to use public speech to 'dissent successfully' to 'effect change' against one's own leaders, that makes school such a tyranny for so many kids, such as it was for myself.

Perhaps all the people who were taught to shut up and take it in K-12 school is one of the more generalized reasons we have some people who support a Bush in office, and further that there seems to be so much 'acceptance' of his faulty leadership.

[Hoping4Change]

34. First I want to say that your point about teaching kids how to

"dissent successfully" is right on the mark. However this incident is not about free speech it is about identity theft which is why I feel the teacher is justified to bring it to court.

[Trillo]

35. Keyword I used "legally"

My guess is the student's parents will lose a lot of money, unless the kid, by some miracle, has truth on his/her side.

It seems there's a point of irony in this: government 'forces' parents to send their children to school, then the government allows parents to be sued for what is known to be natural behavior of children in rebelling against 'that particular' oppressor.

I'd also have a lot more sympathy for the assistant principal if she had only sued the person who actually 'stole her identity' (if the news reports are factually correct).

[Hoping4Change]

36. I think the internet poses particular problems that parents in the

past didn't have to worry about. In the past kids didn't have access to the internet and post content that could seriously harm reputations. I think parents have to be alot more involved in what their kids are doing on-line. And the best way to encourage this is to make parents aware that they are liable to lawsuits.

Look at the number of kids that are lured by child predators. No amount of media coverage about these hazards seems to sink into consciousness to many parents to carefully audit their kids online. Few parents would give underage kids keys to the family car but these parents have no qualms about their kid's online activity.

[Susang]

33. Here's a far more detailed article

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA092206.01B.MySpaceLawsuit.2f28841.html

Personally, I think criminal felony charges are ludicrous in this case. She deals with teenagers and doesn't monitor MySpace & the internet for her own name? Even my 66 year old mother Googles her name just to see what pops up and she doesn't work with angry internet-savvy teens. The page was taken down, the kids were suspended, why drag the courts into it and ask for damages if her goal is "primarily accountability"?

I've had horrible lies posted about me on a specific, easily identifiable website. My name and picture were used. Besides learning how difficult it is to bring any kind of legal suit or charges against that kind of thing, I also discovered how ridiculous it is to make yourself crazy over something like obviously outrageous lies about yourself on the internet. Basically, you only inspire people to think of new and more inspired ways to defame you. Ignoring provocateurs like that makes them nuts, laughing at their attempts to hurt you is the only way to disarm their attacks.

[aaronbees]

38. Why can't they suspend the students and be done with it?

I think some punishment is in order, to be sure, but taking this case to court like this just adds to the publicity and attention swirling around the issue. Is it really necessary to seek financial damages for a month-long joke? Jesus, talk about clogging up the courts! And lets face it -- I imagine a lot of students who saw it thought it was a satirical joke ... wouldn't you? And the attorney is wrong about not knowing how many people viewed the page; there's a count for profile views. I have a hard time believing the assistant pricipal was "devastated" ... angry, annoyed, ticked off, yes ... but devastated with "mental anguish"? This should've been dealt with as an in-house discipline problem.

[Occulus]

39. Has anyone actually seen a copy of the page?

Without an exact description or a copy of the page in question, I can't decide whether this is really a legitimate claim or not. Unless a MySpace archive or something barfs up the page, I don't think anyone can honestly say this isn't Much Ado About Nothing.