School Board Tries To Force Newspapers To Reveal Anonymous Online Commenters
from the can't-take-the-heat? dept
Paul Alan Levy writes in to let us know about how a New Jersey School Board is trying to get around the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which limits what information the government can get about online speakers, in order to find out the identity of some anonymous commenters on a series of newspaper stories about teachers in the district using questionable diploma mills to get "degrees" and qualify for higher salaries.I contacted Marc Zitomer, the School Board’s lawyer, to get his explanation for the subpoena.You always know there's something bad going on when someone busts out the "nothing to hide" line. But, once again, this seems like attempts by thin-skinned officials who can't take the heat trying to expose anonymous commenters as an intimidation technique.
His explanation was that the Board, as a body corporate, has the authority to file suit against members of the public who defame or threaten its staff. I rather doubt that a school board could file suit for defamatory words that are not "of and concerning" the school board – the of and concerning requirement, after all, is a constitutional requirement under New York Times v. Sullivan. Moreover, Zitomer conceded that he could not identify any cases in New Jersey where a school board had filed such an action on behalf of its staff. When I pressed him on these issues, Zitomer claimed that an additional reason for the subpoena was that the Board could take disciplinary action against any of the bloggers who were members of its staff. But even assuming that the criticism is a proper basis for discipline consistent with the First Amendment, the Board cannot compel the identification of bloggers on that theory without putting forward an evidentiary basis for believing that the bloggers are employees. It remains to be seen whether Zitomer will be able to do that.
Board member William Bruno has been quoted as justifying its subpoena on the theory that "If they have nothing to hide, what's the problem?"
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Filed Under: anonymity, new jersey, school board
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overstepping
"His explanation was that the Board, as a body corporate, has the authority to file suit against members of the public who defame its staff"
- I find this difficult to believe
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Who is hideing what?
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Investigate all teachers
I'm of the opinion that this should be a practice for anyone that deals with children...
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Re: Investigate all teachers
Whether they school they go to provides them with a quality education - enough to teach children - is a whole different story!
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Re: Re: Investigate all teachers
Nothing, they are both teachers.
The difference with my proposal is that no-one with less than a 3.0 out of 4.0 can obtain permission to take the test to obtain a license to teach, and all of the credentials are put into a national registry along with finger prints and DNA. At the same time, another portion of the test is an extended psychological evaluation (takes about 3 days). This will help to determine a person's ability to handle the job of a teacher.
In order to keep their license, they will have to take evals and be retested every 5 years or at the time of hire at a new school (whichever comes first). This in addition to taking classes to update their knowledge. This way they do not get stale.
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Re: Re: Re: Investigate all teachers
Also, start working on that teaching degree, because no one in their right mind will go through that kind of regime for a job that starts at around 20k a year when they'll rack up 100k or more in debt just to graduate with a degree.
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RE: Investigate all teachers
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Investigate all school boards!
I personally really appreciate you following these kinds of articles, Mr. Masnick. It affects the freedoms of privacy and 1st amendment rights on the internet so deeply when cases like this go wrong and become precedent in that state. This gives people an opportunity to reflect some scrutiny back to these "duly incorporated school boards or entities" and really give them a wake up call that despite all their normal powers... they can't fight the citizen tired of being stepped on and crushed by bureaucracies (which is all a school board really is) when we speak out against something that these "people" hold dear and fast (like their salaries and prestige).
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Teachers
-You are a teacher
-You make a low salary
-You can get an incrementally higher salary (not talking huge amounts here) for having a masters in education
Do you:
Pay big bucks and put a lot of time into a quality degree from a reputable education,
or
Get a cheap, easy degree from someplace local.
The benefits of the more expensive degree are only what you personally perceive- a broadened personal perspective, if you will. But the better degree is TOTALLY meaningless in the school system. So why would you get one?
D
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