A Minnesota school district is being sued by a 12-year-old girl who claims that the school pressured her to give up her Facebook password. But, wait, the minimum age on Facebook is 13.
Now we toldja about employers in Maryland who seem to think they have the right to search potential hires’ Facebook profiles.
Now the Minnewaska school district in Minnesota stands accused of coercing a 12-year-old girl into giving up her Facebook and e-mail passwords, so that a school could spy with their little eye.
A lawsuit on behalf of the girl–brought in conjunction with the ACLU–declares that her First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated.
The girl–referred to in the court papers as R.S.–apparently felt that her hall monitor was mean to her and therefore described her as “mean” on her Facebook profile. She claims that no school equipment or property were used to make her postings.
It is alleged that the password-demanding incident occurred when the parents of another student objected to a Facebook post in which sex was discussed.
The girl was even called to a meeting at which a school counselor and the deputy sheriff were present.
It was at this meeting that she was allegedly “interrogated” and surrendered the passwords to her Facebook and e-mailaccounts.
And, no, her mother did NOT consent to the search.
The ACLU declared in a statement: “Students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the school house gate. The Supreme Court ruled on that in the 1970s, yet schools like Minnewaska seem to have no regard for the standard.”
Now the kid is in the wrong too because she’s only 12! You have to be 13 to have a Facebook account.
Facebook’s rules are very clear on this. Facebook promises to delete the accounts of all under-13.
