| Quote of the Day |
| Gossip is always a personal confession of malice or imbecility; it is a low, frivolous, and too often a dirty business. There are neighborhoods where it rages like a pest; churches are split in pieces by it, and neighbor made enemies for life. Let the young avoid or cure it while they may. |
| - Jack Holland |
Myspace is one of the most popular websites for teenagers. A cross between an online diary and a social blog can be set up complete with pictures, links to favorite music and networked discussion groups in a matter of minutes. It is the virtual mall of today’s teenagers. It is where they go to “hang out”—to see and be seen.
Teenagers tend to be, well teenagers, on the site, stretching the limits of good taste and decency. They do that at the reality-based malls as well.
Recently, some teenagers in nearby Costa Mesa blew past those limits and demonstrated that laws against threatening speech apply on the internet as well as in the real world. Myspace allows “friends” to comment in a private group and post comments to the group. One such group was named “I hate {girl}.” The online bullying escalated to a threat of violence and twenty teenagers were suspended from school.
As the Findlaw article notes, some parents question whether a school district can discipline students for off campus after-hours activities. For the most part, school districts can suspend students for off-campus threats of violence. That question has been definitively answered after the Columbine and Santana high school student shootings.
The California Department of Education bullying policy regulates all activity “at school, at school related activities and traveling to and from school.” It explicitly regulates off campus activity but only during the school day.
Online bullying and abuse, however, arising from the school environment is just as harmful as the activities identified in the policy. Internet activity that threatens the safety of students or that interferes with the student’s right to an education should be strictly regulated by school districts.
For a different view here’s the Electronic Frontier Foundation's position on student blogging.
The EFF takes the position that schools may not regulate student blogs maintained on off-campus computers and done outside school hours. The EFF relies on Tinker v Des Moines School District for support.
That reliance is misplaced. Tinker is a free speech case. Three students wore black armbands to class to protest the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court held the students did have a first amendment right to express themselves. In the school setting, the court held that school authorities cannot limit student speech based on an undifferentiated fear of disruption. On the other hand, the Tinker court held that conduct that “materially and substantially” interfering with the learning process can be regulated by the school officials.
The court did not draw a distinction between on campus and off campus activities and there is no sound reason for doing so. If the activity substantially interferes with the learning process by, for example, so intimidating a student from being able to learn, the school district can intervene.
Myspace’s response is to point out that risky conduct is risky whether or not it occurs on the internet or at the mall. That’s true, and there are a lot of similarities between the virtual mall of Myspace and the real thing. There are some noticeable differences, too. Teenagers know they are under some form of supervision at the mall, even if it is only enforced by merchants and private security services. It would be good if there was some form of voluntary supervision at the virtual mall sites before that supervision becomes involuntary.
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