Jan
15
news roundup
Filed Under free speech, news | Leave a Comment
Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Freedom Foundation have filed a federal lawsuit in response to the August raid of the Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley. The suit — filed against members of the UC Berkeley police, Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, and the FBI, who participated in the raid — seeks to “regain control of all information seized in the raid, to preserve its confidentiality, to bar any retailation or surveillance resulting from the information, and to obtain compensation.”
Read more and more and more (pdf). (Background about the raid.)
More news on students being punished by schools for off-campus produced websites:
- In September, a U.S. District Court judge ruled against a Pennsylvania middle-school student who had been suspended for a creating a fake MySpace page mocking her school principal. In the ruling, the judge applied a 1976 district court case that upheld school jurisdiction over off-campus student speech, regarding publicly made obscene comments about a teacher that could be heard by the teacher and others. The judge also ruled it was ok for the school to suspend the student because she brought copies of the MySpace page to school. Lawyers indicated they intended to appeal. Read more.
- In December, a Florida high school student is suing her former school to challenge a suspension resulting from a Facebook page she created criticizing her English instructor. The page was up only for two days and was not seen by the teacher before the student voluntarily removed it, yet the student was suspended for violating cyber-bullying/harassment and disruptive behavior policies. Lawyers claim this was a violation of the student’s First Amendment rights, since the criticism was posted outside the school and did not contain a credible threat of harm. Read more.
- Also in December, a federal appeals court heard arguments regarding a Pennsylvania high school student who created a fake MySpace profile ridiculing his school principal. The student had been suspended; a U.S. district judge previously ruled the students actions were constitutionally protected. The arguments presented discussed whether prior court rulings regarding student First Amendment rights at school can be applied to off-campus, electronically published speech. Judges on the panel seemed skeptical that schools should be able to suspend students for using vulgar language or ridiculing school officials online. Read more.
It remains unclear what impact another recent court case will have on the above, or other similar, situations. In December, a Missouri woman was convicted of misdemeanor computer charges in what’s being called a “landmark cyberbullying trial,” which could potentially result in prosecution of anyone who violates a website’s terms of service. The case resolves around a woman who created a profile on MySpace of a fictitous teenage boy, using it to send flirtatious messages to a teenage girl, then “dumping” her. The girl killed herself; prosecutors said the woman wanted to humiliate the girl in retaliation for things the girl said about her own daughter. The woman was indicted under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act; she was charged with conspiring to violate MySpace’s terms of service agreement, which prohibits the use of phony names and harassment of other MySpace members. The woman was not convicted of conspiracy or other felony charges, instead convicted of “accessing computers without authorization.” Read more.
In October, a U.S. artist was detained at the U.S./Canada border because of a drawing of a sports utility vehicle in her sketchbook; customs officers suspected her of “copyright infringement.” The rough sketch showed an SUV covered with crocheted fabric, with its mirrors labeled as “ears.” The sketch related to an art project the woman was working on. She was released after proving her status as an artist and a university professor. Read more.
Exhibitionist teenagers are starting to get caught in legal snares intended for pedophiles and child pornographers, according to reports from reason.com. Several teens are facing child pornography charges for taking nude or semi-nude photos of themselves and sharing them with other teens — or for being on the receiving end of those photos. Read more.
The New York Police Department has dropped its policy of photographing and videotaping participants in all political demonstrations. Read more.
South Dakota Supreme Court rules a man who cursed at police officers was engaging in protected free spech; the man, who yelled profanities at two cops as they drove down a street, was arrested for disorderly conduct. A lower court had ruled the man had used “unprotected fighting words.” Read more.
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