Posted on 09/21/2010 12:04:09 PM PDT by Inappropriate Laughter
A Pennsylvania teen who stored intimate photos of herself on her cell phone — but never e-mailed or shared them with anyone other than her longtime boyfriend — settled her federal privacy case against high school officials who had seized the phone without a warrant and turned it over to prosecutors.
Still unsettled, however, is the question of how far educators can go when it comes to fulfilling their obligation to keep sexually explicit images, audio and text from reaching the eyes and ears of minors while on school grounds.
"I hope this settlement will lead school officials in the future to consider whether they have valid grounds to search students' private text messages, emails and photos," the teen, now 19, said in a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.
SNIP
...the local district attorney's office mounted an investigation. In the lawsuit, the ACLU claimed that a prosecutor threatened to file charges against the teen if she didn't attend a special class. Instead, N.N. sued everyone involved — including a district attorney’s office investigator who she claimed made the comment that if she had waited a few months until her 18th birthday, Playboy would have published the photos.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.msnbc.msn.com ...
In this case the school and prosecutor violated her far more than anything she did to herself. How about we just prosecute people who take advantage of underage girls instead of prosecuting underage girls? Does that make too much sense for you?
Same here and even one of my friends kids had his phone taken. However, when their attorny sent a letter explaining to the school district that seziure of private property makes them liable not only for the cost of the phone but for the cost of the service as well and that he would be happy to notify their counsel as to the location of the lawsuit but needed to know their address, they sent the phone home with the boy the next day.
Technology is raising all kinds of interesting legal questions.
Does a school have the right to tell a student that pornography electronically stored on a phone or laptop is prohibited? I don't think that anyone would have an issue with a school prohibiting a student from bringing in a pornographic magazine in a backpack. Same principle.
Actually, your second question is exactly backwards in its assumption. Law enforcement has the most restrictions, not the least, in their abilities to perform searches. Because of their potential for abuse of civil liberties and their training, the courts give law enforcement personnel very strict search requirements. Employers (and I assume by analogy, school officials) have leeway in searches that law enforcement personnel would never be given.
She should have claimed to being a lesbian.
Then she would have made 33 million.
And laid a strong foundation for future DNC political aspirations.
No they cant
“Unless you are a 17 year old girl, the coppers don’t want to look at you naked.”
Hey,, i have feelings here ya know.
Have you forgotten what it is like to be young? For 17 year olds a couple of months is a long time.
I my kids’ school they will take it from you and you have to go to the Asst Principal to get it back. The next time the parent needs to come in and get it back.
Pretty effective.
She's 19. The phone was taken when she was 17 and in HS. And 'longtime' is relative.
PP may finally be brought to justice for not reporting their knowledge of pregnant 13 year-olds. Under sex abuse reporting requirements in force in most of not all States, medical personnel are obligated to report on suspicion. Pregnacy is pretty compelling evidence for sexual abuse of a minor.
“Some Circumstantial Evidence Is Very Strong, As When You Find A Trout In The Milk” – H.D. Thoreau
SO why was her phone seized in the first place??
My guess is that she was using the phone when she should NOT have been doing so. Most schools have a no cell phone usage in school policy. It is also likely that she was showing the picture to others. We had a similar situation in our school; a girl sent a compromising picture to her “boyfriend” who shared it with the world when they broke up. He was a creep and she was stupid.
Cell phones are major problems in schools..I ask my students to keep their purses (with phones) under the desks (and guys to keep cell phones out of sight and reach) since kids can take pictures of tests, etc. Texting is out of control as well.
read the article then post 38. you are confused
If you had read the article you would know. You would also know that she hadn't sent the photos to anyone, including her boyfriend, so no one could have posted them on the Internet. If they end up on the Internet now it will be because the school or the district attorney leaked them.
I understand your point...but really. Is it too much to ask that parents reinforce the school’s policy on cell phone usage? I teach high school...most students are good about keeping the phones out of sight, but some are truly addicted! Remember...cell phones can take pictures of tests, students can text answers etc if there is no policy in place. And should teachers have no recourse if students rudely answer phones or text in class???
If a student is consistently rude with cell phones, I ask him/her to put it on my desk in plain sight. They can pick it up at the end of class; I do not confiscate it. However, the assistant principal can—if the student is constantly being written up—ask for the phone and require parents to pick it up at the end of the day.
The idea that students have a legal right to have a phone is ridiculous.
“School Sanctioned” being the nuts and bolts to that argument.
(Now that I’ve read the article)....
They took a (against district policy) ringing phone and searched it. That is where they screwed the pooch. Arguments against sexting on campus aside, there was no reason to assume that behavior was going on here.
how old is her long term boy friend? when did their long term relationship begin? and how old did you say she was then?
hummmm!
what if the long term boy friend is 40???
what if the long term boy friend is 40???
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