The social networking site MySpace gave birth to much more than a social phenomenon; it gave birth to many court cases as well. One of the most recent cases involves a Pennsylvania student who created a MySpace profile mocking his principle. In an era of fake MySpaces and constant satirical comedies, this MySpace was taken much more seriously than it should have been.
The student's principal suspended the student, claiming that the school still has power during out of school activities. The student's MySpace was compared to a student selling drugs off-campus or egging another student's house. As Judge Theordore McKee said "Here we've got the First Amendment involved. The egg-throwing, drug-selling cases seem very far afield of what we have here." Essentially, comparing drug selling to the MySpace is like comparing apples to oranges. While the MySpace may have been hurtful, simply asking the student to remove it would have gotten the point across.
-Tamar Shachaf
about you editor
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