Schools in Illinois now have access to kids' social media passwords

This is the direction gov Brandstad is going in Iowa too. He was after letting the school punish kids in school for things said on social media outside of it.

What happens when some pederass in a school gets ahold of those? Responsible parents that monitor their usage and keep their friends lists limited to known friends and safe adults will not have this control anymore.

Hopefully fb will get wind of this and start dropping the lawsuits.

"It's for the children" Aka us.

originally posted by: Domo1

legislators now can demand a student's social media password.
According to KTVI, Illinois schools could only take action against bullying if the post on Facebook or other social media occurred during the school day. The new law gives school districts and colleges the ability to demand a student's social media password regardless if it was posted after hours.

You have got to be kidding me.

I'm no fan of bullying, but bullying isn't going to be stopped by invading students private accounts. I don't see how this is at all legal, and I really can't see it holding up if challenged.

Schools should have 0 freaking ability to access a students account, even if the student was using the account while at school. It's a huge breach of trust.

If a kid is using his smart phone in class, by all means, confiscate the phone. If a student bullies another kid at school, by all means take action. You do not have the right to have full access to their personal social media accounts.

Think about all the communications that these kids think would be private being combed over because the kid called another kid a name. Think how much room for abuse there is.

Link

I say give them the password, then conveniently "forget" what it is when you get home to log in and are just sadly forced to create a new one, and sadly again, forgot to tell the school administrators the new password. Oopsie! That would be my small "eff you" to the school.

The real trouble would be if a kid makes a fake account for another kid then the victim would not know the password and would presumably be punished for not knowing...

why would anyone even comply by giving them the password? I cannot understand that, what happened to the rebel spirit? Under what #ing authority are these people trying to force you to comply against your conscience? Just tell em to feck off, and damn the consequences. ohhh what a suspension?? Big deal.

originally posted by: Helious
I live in Illinois and they have about as much chance of enforcing this as the law against sodomy. Any school trying to force my son or daughter to disclose anything without me present or against their will, WILL be met with absolute resistance and the merit in that stance is that I am far from the only one.

This is gross and profane overreach, it will not stand the test of time nor the test of parents.

Unfortunately this law has already been enforced in other schools, so, sadly, yes, I can see this going through. I'm glad my daughter's school has not yet gone this route, though thankfully the worst thing on her social media is she's in a I Like Justin Bieber fan club on Facebook. She says she hates him because he's a jerk, but she likes his music. LOL

Teacher Humiliates Girl and Distributes PM After Getting Password

Minnesota Girl Represented BY ACLU Bullied By Local Deputy and School over Password Due To Sex

An ACLU news release says the student, referred to only as "R.S." was taken into a school administrator's office where she was "coerced" by school officials and a local deputy to give up her Facebook password "because of allegations that she had online conversations about sex with another student off-campus." The ACLU alleges the girl was "intimidated, frightened, humiliated and sobbing" during the interrogation.

"R.S. was called a liar and told she would be given detentions if she did not give the adults access to her accounts," the release says. The student's mother wasn't told about the search until it had already happened, according to the release.

"Students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the school house gate," Charles Samuelson, Executive Director for the ACLU-Minnesota said in the release. "The Supreme Court ruled on that in the 1970s, yet schools like Minnewaska seem to have no regard for the standard."

Lt. Tory Jacobson of the Moorhead Police told WDAY, “If we are doing a criminal investigation, we have probable cause. If we needed to we could draft a search warrant to try and obtain that information.”

Officials told CNN the school district acted responsibly.

Employer s Ask For Your Password Too!

Facebook follows the news just like you do. And it's been paying attention to the weird and worrying new trend that employers have asked prospective employees for their Facebook passwords during the hiring process.

Today, Facebook, in the name of "protecting your passwords and privacy," has made it a violation of its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to "share or solicit a Facebook password."

"We don't think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don't think it's right the thing to do," Erin Egan, Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer, explains. "But it also may cause problems for the employers that they are not anticipating. For example, if an employer sees on Facebook that someone is a member of a protected group (e.g. over a certain age, etc.) that employer may open themselves up to claims of discrimination if they don't hire that person."

Except, of course, it wouldn't be just on users' behalf; the notional suits would be as much about protecting Facebook as about protecting its legions of account-holders. "If you are a Facebook user," Egan notes, "you should never have to share your password, let anyone access your account, or do anything that might jeopardize the security of your account or violate the privacy of your friends." The key phrase being, actually, violate the privacy of your friends. The policy update is a striking admission of the value of the connections that live and grow on Facebook's platform: A violation of one user's privacy through password access is, implicitly, the violation of the privacy of all of that user's friends and family and coworkers and former coworkers and random acquaintances and elementary school classmates and bowling league teammates and former flames.

And, sure: It's easy to see today's announcement simply as a convenient PR play on the part of a network that is better known for violations, rather than defenses, of its users' privacy. And that likely has at least something to do with the policy change. It's more interesting, though, to see the update as a reminder of the core and crucial role of the network aspect of Facebook's social network. On Facebook, privacy isn't personal and it isn't private. It is collective. It is shared. And that means that the violation of privacy is shared as well.

Of course I can post MANY more links, but I'm sure you get the picture. There are tons of search links for teachers who've been fired for posting an innocent picture. Seriously, give me a break! Or how about a picture of someone out with friends? But because they were holding a glass of alcohol it violates the companies "morals clause" because it makes them look like a drunkard. Stupid crap!

Let's not forget the children, shall we? How about a sleep over, innocent fun, right? You'd think! Schools have a way of twisting pictures that appear on Facebook and giving kids detention, suspension, or even expulsion, depending on the offense. Worse? How about the kid that decides to come out as gay on Facebook. Hypothetical, what happens if he comes out as gay and mom and dad don't know, and hypothetically the school gets involved and tells them? Maybe Mom and Dad don't approve. Has the school just sentenced this kid to a near death beating? It is a VERY slippery slope allowing the school access to the passwords, I hope, if FB IS suing employers, that they also sue city districts and stop schools from playing this game as well.

a reply to: Anyafaj

Worse? How about the kid that decides to come out as gay on Facebook. Hypothetical, what happens if he comes out as gay and mom and dad don't know, and hypothetically the school gets involved and tells them? Maybe Mom and Dad don't approve. Has the school just sentenced this kid to a near death beating?

Imagine the school finding out a girl had an abortion or something too.

Also imagine police finding out that there was a picture of someone doing something illegal. Betting the school would be obligated to forward that on, and then you have some very clear constitutional violations.

And this isn't just grade school kids, this is students in freaking college too. I don't know why that makes it seem worse, but it does.

a reply to: Domo1

This will be challenged legally. I don't think it has a chance to prevail.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: DYepes

this sounds like both my kids. They close their FB accounts about twice a year each. The truth: it how they thin family from the ranks of their friends list.

My daughter has two FB profiles. One that she uses regularly, and one from 3 years ago that she forgot the password to. Because she also forgot the email associated with that account, she can't have the password emailed to her, I've tried contacting Facebook to close the account but no one ever contacted me back. I made a separate email address inside my Outlook that she uses for FB to make it easier, and the password was one I made, rather than her favorite obscure ones like PrincessGlitterCats3000, which I can never remember because next week it will be CatsLoveBirdsAndSoDoI412893! LOL

originally posted by: Domo1
a reply to: Anyafaj

Worse? How about the kid that decides to come out as gay on Facebook. Hypothetical, what happens if he comes out as gay and mom and dad don't know, and hypothetically the school gets involved and tells them? Maybe Mom and Dad don't approve. Has the school just sentenced this kid to a near death beating?

Imagine the school finding out a girl had an abortion or something too.

Also imagine police finding out that there was a picture of someone doing something illegal. Betting the school would be obligated to forward that on, and then you have some very clear constitutional violations.

And this isn't just grade school kids, this is students in freaking college too. I don't know why that makes it seem worse, but it does.

Or how about something the school deems to be child abuse, even though it's perfectly legal and fine, but they contact CPS anyway because quote, "They had a legal obligation to". Let's not forget, some high school girls, and even college and young mother's now. Hypothetically schools can really mess up their lives by taking their children away and labelling them "bad mothers" over an innocent picture.

For example, I have a baby picture of me in the tub. Nowadays, it's child porn. Or how about Babies tucking into their first cake. Most bakers will bake a full cake for the family, and a tiny cake the size of a plate for babies to tear apart. Nowadays, some people cry child abuse over all the sugar, but let's face it, it's more the destruction of the cake, as they get it all over themselves, than it is about the eating of the cake. But hey, anything to complain about. How long before a picture is posted and CPS comes running in claiming the mother is harming the infant by allowing them access to so much sugar?

a reply to: Domo1

What is going on there in the States . I used to be a total sceptic when people here on ATS said that governments were going to have total access to everything that we do . A little bit of the sceptic died upon reading this . Next the thought police .

Heh. Feel good legislation that is impossible to enforce. Any intelligent kid will either: a) give the wrong password, b) "forget" the password, c) give the password then immediately change it, or d) not give it up at all.

Like how do you even enforce such a stupid law?

I run a girls softball league and we have rules of conduct for social media. Violate those rules and we will take action. The difference is that the coaches and parents sign the waiver before being allowed on the field. They have a choice. These school kids don't have the choice. I say tell the school where to go.

I actually had to give up my passwords for all of my social media/email accounts at one point for a "job" opportunity, although in reality it was just a family friend on a power trip trying to control every aspect of my life. I didn't feel very secure when other people had those passwords. I also didn't really use social media so maybe it was kind of a good thing. But I certainly didn't feel okay about the fact that somebody else had my info and could peruse all of my previous online activities... some people just need to try to control everything

a reply to: Domo1

originally posted by: FamCore
I actually had to give up my passwords for all of my social media/email accounts at one point for a "job" opportunity, although in reality it was just a family friend on a power trip trying to control every aspect of my life. I didn't feel very secure when other people had those passwords. I also didn't really use social media so maybe it was kind of a good thing. But I certainly didn't feel okay about the fact that somebody else had my info and could peruse all of my previous online activities... some people just need to try to control everything

a reply to: Domo1

Facebook is making it now where they can sue YOU for revealing your passwords to your employer because you violated the privacy of everyone on your friend's list.

Today, Facebook, in the name of "protecting your passwords and privacy," has made it a violation of its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to "share or solicit a Facebook password."

"We don't think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don't think it's right the thing to do," Erin Egan, Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer, explains. "But it also may cause problems for the employers that they are not anticipating. For example, if an employer sees on Facebook that someone is a member of a protected group (e.g. over a certain age, etc.) that employer may open themselves up to claims of discrimination if they don't hire that person."

Except, of course, it wouldn't be just on users' behalf; the notional suits would be as much about protecting Facebook as about protecting its legions of account-holders. "If you are a Facebook user," Egan notes, "you should never have to share your password, let anyone access your account, or do anything that might jeopardize the security of your account or violate the privacy of your friends." The key phrase being, actually, violate the privacy of your friends. The policy update is a striking admission of the value of the connections that live and grow on Facebook's platform: A violation of one user's privacy through password access is, implicitly, the violation of the privacy of all of that user's friends and family and coworkers and former coworkers and random acquaintances and elementary school classmates and bowling league teammates and former flames.

And, sure: It's easy to see today's announcement simply as a convenient PR play on the part of a network that is better known for violations, rather than defenses, of its users' privacy. And that likely has at least something to do with the policy change. It's more interesting, though, to see the update as a reminder of the core and crucial role of the network aspect of Facebook's social network. On Facebook, privacy isn't personal and it isn't private. It is collective. It is shared. And that means that the violation of privacy is shared as well.

a reply to: Anyafaj

Facebook is making it now where they can sue YOU for revealing your passwords to your employer because you violated the privacy of everyone on your friend's list.

Sue the employer not the little guy.

I keep wanting to make another Facebook account because I feel a bit left out, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

originally posted by: Domo1
a reply to: Anyafaj

Facebook is making it now where they can sue YOU for revealing your passwords to your employer because you violated the privacy of everyone on your friend's list.

Sue the employer not the little guy.

I keep wanting to make another Facebook account because I feel a bit left out, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

I agree on suing the employer.

Tell that to FB though. If you ever do weaken and create and account, PM me and I'll give you my FB profile so you can contact me. I'll walk you through it and help you out if you need it.