[Freedombox-discuss] School intimidates girl to give up Facebook password

[eresrch@eskimo.com (Mike Rosing)]

The article states that the girl posted angry comments about the principal 
reading her facebook page, and that the parents did not give consent. 
This implies to me that the school either broke in to the account or used 
an informant because she was punished before the request for password was 
demanded.

It looks more like the school officials are trying to cover up breaking 
into the account, which clearly violates 4th amendment search provisions. 
If they used an informant, there is not much the girl can do about the 
original punishments, but the demanding of the password is another story.

There is a lot going on here - what is "protected speech" and how private 
is "private speech"?  Students should be allowed to criticize their 
schools, even in public!  If a student complains about something in a park 
with 10 friends how is that different than posting something on a facebook 
page?

I don't see how Freedombox can help here.  If a person makes comments to 
another person, that other person can repeat the comment.  Whether it's by 
paper or by gigabit network it doesn't matter.  Freedombox can deliver the 
message so that no one but the correct recipient can read it, but after 
that it's in the clear.

For places that don't have rights, none of this matters.  Freedombox can 
aid communication and smart people will move faster than those trying to 
catch them.  With luck, it can aid in the creation of rights.

Smart people use good tools, but good tools can't make people smart.

Patience, persistence, truth,
Dr. mike