Social Networking Websites
MySpace is a social networking website that has become the rage among young adults, especially teens. This week the number of MySpace "pages" will reach 100,000,000.
First, some background. The following is taken directly from the website MySpace.com:
MySpace is an online community that lets you meet your friends' friends.
Create a private community on MySpace and you can share photos, journals and interests with your growing network of mutual friends!
MySpace is for everyone:
- Friends who want to talk Online
- Single people who want to meet other Singles
- Matchmakers who want to connect their friends with other friends
- Families who want to keep in touch--map your Family Tree
- Business people and co-workers interested in networking
- Classmates and study partners
- Anyone looking for long lost friends!
This site has become a problem for many schools. Some have taken issue with MySpace over online threats of violence and other hate speech.
In addition, a New York case established that students who engage in such speech, even if they do it outside of school, can be punished by the school if they "endanger the health or safety of pupils within the educational system or adversely affect the educative process" (Coghlan v. Board of Education, 262 AD2d 949 [4th Dept 1999]).
Recently, a popular high school teacher logged onto this web site and read the demeaning comments a student had posted alongside her picture, the teacher felt completely degraded.
The school district suspended the student.
The teacher filed a lawsuit against the student, but she isn't looking for money. She just wants other students to understand how harmful Internet pranks can be.
"This teacher was maligned by this kid," an attorney for the teacher said. "She was so upset about it and she filed this lawsuit because she says teaching is a profession and that the administration turned their back on her complaint."
The School District said it did what it could to help the teacher by suspending the student and taking other disciplinary action, but it's not alone as it struggles to deal with cyberbullying. Similar lawsuits and complaints are popping up nationwide as bullies move from punching someone on the playground to writing nasty and sometime libelous postings about classmates, teachers and school officials on the Internet, where everyone can read them.
Public and private schools have launched cyber crackdowns on these bullies, but that has left them vulnerable to accusations that they are violating the students' First Amendment rights, particularly when the posting is made on an off-campus computer as most are. The American Civil Liberties Union has been quick to file and threaten lawsuits if it thinks a school or district has crossed the line.
And Dr. Joseph Turrow, an Internet expert at the University of Pennsylvania, calls such discipline for off-campus activity cyberspying.
"I don't think the long arm of the school goes anywhere beyond the school," Turrow said. "Where does the school end if you say principals have the right to monitor student activity on every Web site?"
Some lower court cases have weighed in but have done little to remedy the issues.
In Beussink v. Woodland R-IV School District, a federal court in Missouri ruled in 1998 that a school had violated First Amendment rights when it suspended a student for using profanity when criticizing school officials on a personal Web page.
But in 2002, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school district in a similar case. In J.S. v. Bethlehem Area School District, the court said that a student's Web site created off-campus was considered on-campus speech because the student had accessed the site at school and told other students about it.
The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on the issue.
There are literally hundreds of cases where students have posted cyber-attacks on their peers and school officials. What's the school to do?
Many are now "blocking" MySpace and other social networking sites to prevent these pages from appearing on computers within the school building. But this doesn't really solve the problem. (For more information about "blocking" one might look at c/net and search the terms "block web." You will see a variety of tools with names like "NetDog" and "Safe Eyes" to help you prevent certain sites from being viewed.)
Private schools have a bit more leeway because parents and students usually sign codes of conduct before they enroll, said Parry Aftab, a lawyer who specializes in Internet law.
But public schools may find themselves in trouble if they continue to punish students for what they place on websites, Aftab said.
"Public schools do not have a legal authority to regulate what a kid does at their home computer," she said. "They're going to get sued...."
But that doesn't mean cyber bullies are in the clear. Aftab said it's only a matter of time before parents start suing the bullies' parents for libel and slanderous comments their kids post online.
It will be interesting to see how recent cases involving MySpace, and similar Web sites, address this issue.
The Advantage Press is releasing a new set of Discipline Learning Packets for High Schools that will help address problems created by social networking sites like MySpace. These packets may help to provide an alternative way for schools to deal with such issues.
The Advantage Press, Inc. publishes a number of behavior packets that can help students assess their own social and emotional problems. You are welcome to try our free samples.
This newsletter is freely distributable.
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