Coach Accesses Girl's Facebook Account: How Much Privacy Should She Have?

[J Bryson]

$100 Million lawsuit filed by parents.

JACKSON, Miss. -- A former high school cheerleader is suing her former coach and the school district for $100 million after the coach allegedly read personal e-mails, WAPT-TV reported.The student filed the federal lawsuit after she said her coach got into her Facebook account and read the messages. One of the e-mails was between the student and another cheerleader and had profanity.Court Documents: Family Sues Pearl Schools Over Facebook"I didn't know if I will get in trouble or not for putting it on there, because I didn't think there was anything wrong with what was on my Facebook," Mandi Jackson said.Jackson said coach Tommie Hill read the e-mail and suspended her from cheering at football games and pep rallies. Jackson's mother, Missy Jackson, said the coach tried to take over her role.The lawsuit also says that Hill requested Jackson's password and that Jackson never used Facebook at school."To me, that's my responsibility. What's going on my Facebook account is every parent's responsibility to deal with themselves. It's not hers," Missy Jackson said.Missy Jackson said she has tried to work with school officials for two years on the issue. Now, the fight is heading to federal court.The Jacksons' lawsuit claims the school violated Jackson's right to privacy.A man at Hill's home said that she was in Texas and WAPT was unable to get a comment from her.Jackson said she is an outcast at school. Her friends were mostly cheerleaders, and now they avoid her."None of them talk to me. One of them that I used to be friends with in middle school all the way up to freshman year, she talks to me a little but, seriously, none of them talk to me," Mandi Jackson said.She said she dreads her return to school as a junior. She fears her fellow students and teachers will shun her.School officials filed a motion saying Jackson and all cheerleaders were told coaches would monitor social networking sites. The motion asks the judge to dismiss the case.

 

[linwood]

$100 Million lawsuit filed by parents.

I don`t use any of these social networking sites so I may be misunderstanding how they work.Please correct me if I am.

It seems this coach accessed E-mails and internal messages that go above and beyond "Monitoring social networking sites".

On it`s face it looks to me like one of those lawsuits I always wished some stupid teacher or government official would drop in my lap like candy.

Sadly I`m not so lucky.

Sounds like the girl is in the right to me.

 

[blackout]

That's ********. Are school employees paid to spy on students now days?
Dont' they have anything better to do?

What a person does on their own time is their own business.
Not the damn school systems's.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I don`t use any of these social networking sites so I may be misunderstanding how they work.Please correct me if I am.

It seems this coach accessed E-mails and internal messages that go above and beyond "Monitoring social networking sites".

Sounds like it.

Facebook does let people post publicly-viewable messages, but it also has a private messaging system. The article makes it sound like the coach hacked into the student's account. That goes quite a bit beyond "monitoring social networking sites".

 

[Kilgore Trout]

She should like totally get $100 million for this.

 

[linwood]

She should like totally get $100 million for this.

I don`t think she should get $100 mil nor do I believe she will but I believe she will "win" this proceeding and rightfully so.

The amount?
That`s what judges and or juries are for.

 

[J Bryson]

I agree with all of you. However, remember that she did voluntarily (for a given value of "voluntarily") give up her password, and knowingly gave school officials the ability to access her account in the process.

 

[Nepenthe]

I agree with all of you. However, remember that she did voluntarily (for a given value of "voluntarily") give up her password, and knowingly gave school officials the ability to access her account in the process.

That's the part I'm baffled by... No question this was a blatant infringement on her privacy, but what the hell was she thinking?!

I'm gonna try to friend her on FB and see if she'll give me her MySpace and Paypal passwords.

 

[linwood]

I agree with all of you. However, remember that she did voluntarily (for a given value of "voluntarily") give up her password, and knowingly gave school officials the ability to access her account in the process.

Yeah, I was thinking about that but does it change anything legally?

Does giving you the key to my house give you the right to go ransack it and use what you find to make my life difficult?

I dunno, it would suck if it did.

 

[J Bryson]

Yeah, I was thinking about that but does it change anything legally?

Does giving you the key to my house give you the right to go ransack it and use what you find to make my life difficult?

I dunno, it would suck if it did.

No...although a closer analogy would be "Would it give me the right to snoop through your medicine cabinet and your bedroom nightstand?" To which the answer is still no.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I agree with all of you. However, remember that she did voluntarily (for a given value of "voluntarily") give up her password, and knowingly gave school officials the ability to access her account in the process.

Did she? I notice that the article and the statement of claim both only say that the password was requested. They're silent on whether she actually gave it.

And I wonder what the circumstances were when she was asked for it.

 

[Nepenthe]

Did she? I notice that the article and the statement of claim both only say that the password was requested. They're silent on whether she actually gave it.

And I wonder what the circumstances were when she was asked for it.

Yes, she complied and actually gave the coach her password, but it still raises the question of how much she was pressured as well as the obvious invasion of privacy.

And it looks like the coach "demanded that members of her squad hand over their Facebook login information." The whole squad, passwords and all?

I am so not trying out for cheerleader practice next year!

 

[Wookiemonster]

Wow...am I the only one who would have told them to **** off if they asked for my password.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

I guess if they start training our children to expect authority figures to abuse their privacy, it will be easier to control them as adults.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Yes, she complied and actually gave the coach her password, but it still raises the question of how much she was pressured as well as the obvious invasion of privacy.

And it looks like the coach "demanded that members of her squad hand over their Facebook login information." The whole squad, passwords and all?

Hmm. I don't know what the law says there, but here, if an organization wants to collect personal information, they have to have a legitimate use for it.

 

[Apex]

Sadly it does not surprise me a school official would do such a thing.

 

[J Bryson]

Sadly it does not surprise me a school official would do such a thing.

Sadly, same here. I was annoyed enough with locker inspections when I went to school. I can't imagine what I would have done if asked to give up privacy of communication outside the school grounds.

BTW, I noticed that your location is where my parents met at grad school....

 

[Sunstone]

I guess if they start training our children to expect authority figures to abuse their privacy, it will be easier to control them as adults.

Which is a scary thought.

 

[blackout]

I guess if they start training our children to expect authority figures to abuse their privacy, it will be easier to control them as adults.

frubals.