12-year-old US girl suing school over Facebook comments row

[Natasha]

Where I work you have to either let one of the brass be on your friend's list OR permit them access to your account. It doesn't bother me b/c I have nothing to hide, but I can see how it would bother some people.

 

[acctnt shan]

I think that people have a right to expect a certain level of privacy with regard to their Internet activities... after all, we all have a life outside of work where we should be allowed to be ourselves. I know that for me, I spend so much time at my job and they already take so many hours of every week from me, that I feel I should be entitled to "let my hair down" when I'm not on the clock.

That being said, you really do have to act with at least some responsibility. If you're going to list your school or employer on your FB profile, you're associating your personal space with that school/employer, and I think that instantly puts a limit on what you should be doing/saying in a public place. It's easy to claim that it's your personal space, but if someone sees you posting irresponsibly, and then sees your company name there, it reflects poorly on the place where you work. For this very reason, I removed my employer from my FB profile.

 

[Natasha]

I think that people have a right to expect a certain level of privacy with regard to their Internet activities... after all, we all have a life outside of work where we should be allowed to be ourselves. I know that for me, I spend so much time at my job and they already take so many hours of every week from me, that I feel I should be entitled to "let my hair down" when I'm not on the clock.

That being said, you really do have to act with at least some responsibility. If you're going to list your school or employer on your FB profile, you're associating your personal space with that school/employer, and I think that instantly puts a limit on what you should be doing/saying in a public place. It's easy to claim that it's your personal space, but if someone sees you posting irresponsibly, and then sees your company name there, it reflects poorly on the place where you work. For this very reason, I removed my employer from my FB profile.

Our SOP has an "off duty conduct" clause that pretty much covers all of that. I don't have my employer listed, but around here just the fact that people KNOW who you work for can be enough to get you in trouble.

 

[darkcgi]

its basically spying on people
people are not the same at home as at the corner mart
kids change when they are in school vs being at home

generally people adapt to their environments
so observing people in one environment and their actions
does not depict how they will respond in a different environment

so why use it again them it communistic behavior to for people to live as expected by their employers

WTF

 

[Kyle B]

It's a two way street.

People seem to forget about how students like to screw around with teachers on Facebook assuming their identities.

Jaybird, that's the difference between you and I. Depending on what my child wrote on face book, they may have more to worry about than the school.

This is definitely true. After i left high school a few kids who were still students there made a page titled "We hate [teacher's name]" When I was in high school some kid made a MySpace page for a teacher as a joke to make fun. It's pretty messed up that some kids just don't have a clue on how to respect boundaries.

BUT

I still think that Facebook is private and outside of the realm of the school. For stuff like this, parents should take responsibility.

 

[Kyle B]

Our SOP has an "off duty conduct" clause that pretty much covers all of that. I don't have my employer listed, but around here just the fact that people KNOW who you work for can be enough to get you in trouble.

It's definitely understandable that the supervisor is concerned about the image. And honestly, if someone does something off-duty that makes your job look bad, they should be held accountable.

Yet, if I had to add my boss to facebook, I would constantly feel like their watching me. And if I didn't like the supervisor, knowing that they can snoop around my page and such would bug me a lot. Lots of people like to keep their family/friend life separate from work life, and that's not really easy to do when your boss has a nice sneak peak into your life outside of work.

Plus, can't adults just be trusted to act like adults on their own time? If they fuck up outside of work and someone really has a problem, and it's reported, then okay. But if that trust isn't there from that get go, that kinda sucks.

Just my two cents.