Via ARS Technica
By Jacqui Cheng | Published: September 22, 2008 – 07:55AM CT
A federal judge has ruled that a Pennsylvania school can suspend two eighth-graders who created a fake MySpace profile of their principal depicting him as a pedophile and a sex addict, among other things. The September 11 ruling said the students’ civil rights were not violated despite their actions taking place off school grounds because the language used on the profile was “lewd and vulgar,” and because it was akin to speech that promoted illegal actions. Given the recent prevalence of fake MySpace profiles meant to taunt or harass others at school, this ruling could help decide future cases related to student speech online.
The story goes back to March 2007, when a profile representing the principal of Blue Mountain Middle School, James McGonigle, popped up on MySpace. The profile didn’t explicitly identify McGonigle by name, but used a photo of him taken from the school district’s website and labeled him as principal. Among McGonigle’s alleged interests listed on MySpace were “f****** in my office” and “hitting on students and their parents.” The profile also had a statement with the headline “HELLO CHILDREN,” that read (in part), “yes. It’s your oh so wonderful, hairy, expressionless, sex addict, fagass, put on this world with a small d*** PRINCIPAL I have come to myspace so I can pervert the minds of other principals to be just like me.”
