Student Sues School For Privacy Invasion After School Found Nude Photos On Her Phone
from the the-case-that-keeps-on-giving dept
You may recall the news story from last year about some teenaged girls in Pennsylvania who were being threatened with child porn charges, after taking "nude and semi-nude" photos of themselves on a mobile phone during a party, and sending them to others. The judge halted the potential lawsuit, noting that the nude photos didn't appear to depict any sexual acts (as per the law), but the local prosecutor still wanted to file charges. As more and more details came out, the whole thing got increasingly ridiculous. Apparently, the girls in question were given a choice to either take a "re-education" class, or face charges.And now, reader Pickle Monger points out that one of the girls, along with the ACLU, is suing the school district itself, claiming that it violated the girl's privacy. Apparently, the way the school found out about the photos was that it had confiscated her mobile phone, after she was caught making a phone call on school grounds, against school rules. There's no problem with confiscating the phone, of course, but then the school searched through the phone and found those photos. It's the search that the ACLU and the student are questioning. The school had no reason to search through the phone, or to look at the photos stored on the phone after it had confiscated it.
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Filed Under: mobile phones, privacy, schools
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I have long been concerned about the tyrannical situations that our school children have to deal with, day after day. There have been a few cases that generated publicity, but they've been too few and far-between to affect any real change on a large level.
Hopefully, with all of the publicity that these recent cases have gotten, people will start paying attention to what's going on in our public schools.
Adults would never stand for the level of scrutiny and illegal behavior that these children are forced to deal with.
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I agree.
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Further, schools are government institutions. Assuming that you live in America, how would you feel if you were treated like a school child is today when you enter a government office?
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Fact, the girl was breaking the rules AND she was behaving badly. If she had not done both of them, this wouldn't even be an issue. She shouldn't be suing, she should be spanked, have her phone taken away and taught proper manners.
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That's irrelevant.
First, just because YOU put up with it does not mean that anyone else should.
Second, you can still find a new job. It might be hard and it might be a shitty job, but you have the option of leaving if nothing else.
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aside from that, its not the schools place to lay down any sort of discipline in response to something like this. notify the parents? sure. notify law enforcement? id even buy that... but schools are educational facilities, not law enforcement agencies.
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Sure you can. It's perfectly legal and people do it all the time.
You have a right to be free against warrantless searches of your home and belongings by the police but you can waive that right and allow the cops to search your house even if they don't have a warrant.
You have a right not to testify against yourself but you can waive that right and sign a confession or take the stand at trial.
You have a right to an attorney but you can waive that right and proceed without one.
You have a right to free speech but you can waive that right in exchange for money or something of value.
The only right the courts have deemed unwaivable is the prohibition against slavery.
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Re: This is great and awesome.
Im in the area of Lower Merion. I had a user come in and we were talking about what had happened, and her concern was that her taxes would go up. She has a daughter in 12th grade. She said, "Aww, all they will see if they looked, was my girls confused look as she tried to figure out her homework." Then went on to complain about taxes, and how it looked. Forget the possibility some scumbag tech could have seen her naked, or those photos could some day appear on the internet... She was more concerned about prestige, and money. This is a typical attitude for the area. Very stuck up.
"Adults would never stand for the level of scrutiny and illegal behavior that these children are forced to deal with."
I am not so optimistic. PPL will put up with an amazing amount of crap. The past 10 years has shown that. LOL.
Have a good day Rose.
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Re: Lost Phone
Be afraid ... Be very afraid
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Now if you look through the contacts and then copy them and publish them and copy the photos and publish them too, you might get in trouble, so don't do that :-p
On another note ... I assume the school copied the photos off of her phone, so copyright violation as well? but she'd have to register the copyright first?
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Nope. There is no need to "register" copyright. You have it implicitly, the moment you created the work (i.e. took the photo).
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Did you also look through the phone's private photos and send them to other people? I think there's a huge difference between looking through a phone's contact list to try to report it missing and going through personal photos or text messages no doubt looking for something salacious or punishable. There's also more to the suit than just the principal's actions, apparently there are multiple copies of the photos floating around after it was sent to the police and its labs and the detective who was put in charge of the case when the principal decided to send the photos to the police told the girl that she should have waited a couple months until she was 18 and sold the photos to Playboy and winked at ther as well as some other pervy and beyond inappropriate things.
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returning a lost cellphone
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I was GRATEFUL!!
Now get off your high horses
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dont ya love mondays and @6
Perhaps Mister Jobs was looking at the photos....
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Unauthorized Computer Access
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Sex and Nudity
Thats because in our new, shiny, 21st century world of Political Correctness run amok, nudity in ANY form equals sexual deviance. Remember, people get prosecuted now for having nude pics of their OWN children in, say, a bathtub. I have one of me (no genetalia showing tho) from when I was about 5. Should I be hauled off to jail as a "child pornographer"? The answer today is YES! Of course I should, dont be stupid. Nudity=sexual acts for these purposes. The fact that its a pic OF MYSELF also wouldnt matter, since its a NUDE of a CHILD and therefore illegal. These overzealous prosecutors and moral crusaders twist not only the law, but common sense, in their puritanical zeal to stamp out ANY hint of nudity or sex at any level of society.
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Like the guy viewing the Rorschach blots: How can you say I have a dirty mind, Doc? You're the one with the dirty pictures.
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Jail 'em, Jail 'em NOW
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Re: Jail 'em, Jail 'em NOW
Remember "Child porn is the gateway to Parliament."
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There are a lot of unknowns -- at least as far as the general public goes -- in this case.
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A school is not a proper substitute for either of those things, as much as they think they are or should be.
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You can look thru a phone to find identity information without looking for photos, texts, etc. If you look at photos and texts, your prying.
And @DJ - I'll get down off my high horse when *I* choose to. If you think you can tell me to, I got an ass you can blow it out.
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You're all missing the point here.
If in fact like the post says (confiscated directly from the student for making a call on school property, which is against the rules), they already KNOW who the owner is and are simply taking it for the day. They in fact have NO reason to go through it.
If like one poster said, the teacher overheard something in the conversation that they were concerned about, call the parents of police and again....NO reason to go through the phone. That's the parents job. There is a lil ol thing in the constitution against illegal searches and seizures. Just because the student is on school property and thus under their rules, does not give the school free reign to do exactly that.
My 2 pennies.
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Re: You're all missing the point here.
stupid tired fingers.
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Security
Folks, we're in the Information Age. That means information = power. The more of your own info you keep to yourself, the happier (and safer) you will be. If you don't use a PIN code, set one now. Here's hoping you keep all your data safe.
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School Administrators
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School Administrators
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Parental ConcernS
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THE PICKS
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of a school that does that all the time. whenstudents complain
the teachers merey explain how they are in the right even tho they arent. we are teaching children not to question authority
even tho their authority are fucking dirt bag over powered jerks.
schools can now even acces students face book without student consent and read convos. Even the off school problems are being handled at school. THE SCHOOL KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES
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