Is it legal for schools to punish us for what we put on Facebook?

[Robert B]

Schools have and assume a lot of latitude in intruding in a student's life.

If you wanna make something out of it, you'll be graduated and long gone before the case makes it through the court system.

[mr_gees100_peas]

That is a hell of a good question. How deep into a persons private life can people in power go. Then again, the internet may be consider public and once you are in public the same rules don't apply. It depends the level of access that particular site has too. If everything is public then you are no longer protected by privacy.

Now the question is if what they are doing has legal ramifications. Well, if you are ding something illegal then yes, you can get in trouble. Worst yet they now have evidence. The question is what if its something that is border line duvius. If you are doing something that may be frown upon some but not all then that is wen it becomes difficult to determine because then it becomes an issue of a persons belief vs another's person belief and these type of cases are not clear cut.

This is actually something that has not been clearly defined by the law. People have lost their jobs over dumb things and the law is not clear. My best policy at least for now is to keep your work/school life separate from your private life. This is why I don't ost any pictures of myself online and use virtual name. I think is not fair and if we put it through the constitution this type of behaviour would be considered abuse. Pretty much is persecusion. This is because is not letting people express themselves which is part of freedom of speech. If I'm force to beave a certain way, dress a certain way and ask a certain way because I'm afraid to loose my job or other consequences then that is not freedom.

[Beverly]

This is actually a pretty simple answer.

Anything you post on Facebook that is available to the public IS considered public.

If you are posting information that demonstrates that you have done something wrong, then it would not be inappropriate for school officials to react to that information.

Look at it this way: If you were walking around with that same information on a sign across the street from your school, would you expect them to react?

Where you were when you edited and posted the information is irrelevant; all that matters is that the information ended up in a public forum.

Ultimately, whether or not it is appropriate for them to involve themselves depends on whether the behavior is illegal OR has anything at all to do with the school. Meaning: If it is illegal behavior, they are within their rights to respond as soon as they discover the information whether or not it has anything to do with the school. If it is NOT 'illegal' but it violates some school rule AND is directly related to school business, then again you can expect them to respond.

Be VERY careful listening to people who tell you it is 'none of their business'. Putting stuff up on facebook - or on ANY public forum, for that matter - is legally and functionally the same thing as buying up ad space on a freeway billboard and posting it there. It becomes the business of anyone who wishes to see it.

[edmhin]

well I think it's not...everyone has their right to speak for themselves or do whatever they want...