Federal judge upholds student's rights to bash teacher on Facebook

[SlitheyTove]

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I see a problem stemming from what appears to be Constitutional protection for the “mean girl” facebook pages and websites that target and harass fellow students and can create a terrible social environment in schools. I really hope I’m missing something here, but it sounds as if the vaguer the slams, the harder it will be to establish libel – not to mention most parents will not have the resources to take action. For example, “Tara is a slutty girl whose clothes are heinous. Did you see what she was wearing on Tuesday? O.M.G., why doesn’t someone stop her from leaving the house like that? And everything she says in history is so stuck up, bla bla bla.” There, no libel, but under this court’s decision, how can a public school shut it down?

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<p>The Beverly Hills school district ran right into this problem:</p>

<p>[For</a> students, a right to be mean online? - Los Angeles Times](<a href=“http://articles.latimes.com/2009/dec/13/local/la-me-youtube-schools13-2009dec13]For”>For students, a right to be mean online?)</p>

<p>It’s an odd situation that “mean girl” speech can be banned at schools as bullying, but can be allowed online as free speech.</p>