School Official Sues Over MySpace Page

SoCal writes, "How much legal liability do parents have for what their kids do online? A lawsuit filed in Texas by a high-school assistant principal may give some answers. Some students she had disciplined set up a fake MySpace page in her name depicting her as a lesbian (which she happens not to be). In its coverage, Ars Technica notes that 'What sets this case apart from many other lawsuits filed over the content of blogs is that it doesn't target only the teenagers who created the site. It also argues that the parents were guilty of negligence by failing to supervise their children, and that they bear some of the responsibility for the defaming site.'" The article links the Media Law Resource Center's resource tracking more than 50 cases now in the courts nationwide, in which bloggers have been sued for libel and related claims.

Re:... depicting her as a lesbian.

[Lazbien]

Especially if they are depicting her as a .jpg

In Other Words

[Ragnar Bocephus]

RESPECT MY AUTHORITAY!

Re:... depicting her as a lesbian.

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course there is nothing wrong with lesbians, they're great! I'm a big fan, I have all their video's!

I'm surprised!

[mattkime]

I, for one, am surprised that MySpace hasn't raised the maturity level of those that use it.

Internet! What has happened to you?? You had such promise...

Proposed kindergarten curriculum

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Sharing is bad: Intro to Copyright Law
2. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but libel makes me call my lawyer
3. Sit down and shut up: Intro to Democracy
4. Why did those mean men take mommy away? Homeland Security for kids

Super Duper... thanks for asking...

[h8macs]

Litigation for this is a flaming waste of time and tax-payer monies! The assistant principal should just blow it off instead she is litigious... that is just so... gay!

Re:... depicting her as a lesbian.

[Anonymous Coward]

"I am very straight."

You have no idea how gay that sentence sounds.

Re:Not really

[heinousjay]

That's a fantastic way to pick up the point and run in a direction clearly unrelated to the rest of the discussion. Your technique is masterful. I weep with pride at the beauty of it.

Re:... depicting her as a lesbian.

[Skye16]

Or opinion, correct? After all, if they said "it is my opinion she's a cum guzzling gutter slut", well, there's not alot she can do then, is there?

Re:... depicting her as a lesbian.

[budgenator]

Well concidering that it happened in Texas, at least the kids had enough restraint to have not claimed she was something really bad, like an athieist!

Re:Not really

[Eli Gottlieb]

Have you ever thought about turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids and hitting them?

Re:One step closer

[Sj0]

I applaud your well thought out, articulate reply.

Well, I would, if your reply didn't amount to "Is not!"...

Re:I'm somewhat divided

[elsilver]

I'm up in the air about making it the parents' fault.

On the other hand, I strongly disagree with the idea that "Allowing access to the Internet, unsupervised and without restraint poses an obvious and unreasonable danger that such children would utilize the Internet for illicit purposes"

It would be a really great defense if the parents could show that they monitored their children's activities at home, and the myspace page was made from school. Then the assistant-principal would have to sue herself.

Re:Not really

[Sj0]

Why even turn off the TV? Hitting kids is just plain fun. Is it friday? Are you bored? Beat the shit out of the snotnosed brat. It's great exercise, and fun, too.

When you're in public and it's not socially acceptable to hit your kids, why not try crippling verbal attacks that focus on their most deeply held insecurities? It's fun, it's free, and if any of your yuppie liberal friends complain about it, remind them that THEIR kid just took the fall and is going to jail because someone stumbled upon the principals gay-ass blog.

Re:... depicting her as a lesbian.

[rkcallaghan]

You're a troll, and my reply right now is likely to be the most attention you've gotten from a female today. I'm a nerd, hey I post to slashdot right? Yea, I have personal ads. So what. Show me where it says that is my exclusive method and I'll eat my shoe closet. (Sorry, I don't wear hats)

You fail at life for presuming exclusivity in activities you don't approve of.

~Rebecca

Re:... depicting her as a lesbian.

[fyngyrz]

You might look really cute in a hat, though... :-)

Re:... depicting her as a lesbian.

[loraksus]

Yeah, and the law books are filled with cases where someone has sued because some 6th grader wrote "Mrs. Jekyll is a lesbian" on a note that gets passed around.
Oh, wait...