Teacher sues MySpace teens
p2pnet.net news:- A Pennsylvania school principal is suing four of his ex-students for, “falsely portrayed him as a pot smoker, beer guzzler and pornography lover,” sullying his reputation, “through mock MySpace profiles”.
So says CNET News, reporting on the case, launched by Eric Trosch, “principal of Hickory High School in Hermitage, Penn., at the time the short-lived profiles went up on the popular social-networking site”.
In January, 2006, with help of the American Civil Liberties Union, Hickory High senior Justin Layshock and his parents filed a federal lawsuit against the Hermitage School District and three high-ranking employees, “claiming they violated his Constitutional rights by punishing him for the Internet postings,”said the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review at the time, going on:
Layshock, 17, parodied Hickory High principal Eric Trosch in a profile on MySpace.com, a Web site popular with young people. In answering questions on the fictitious profile, Layshock often poked fun at Trosch’s apparent heft by using the word “big” before phrases. One question asked what he did on his last birthday, and Layshock responded, “too drunk to remember,” according to the lawsuit.
Layshock created the profile on his grandmother’s computer. MySpace has since removed it.
Trosch, “claims that the students committed defamation by posting three separate profiles bearing his name, official school portrait and a host of ‘unsubstantiated allegations, derogatory comments and false statements’ about him, according to a complaint filed last month in Mercer County, Penn., civil court,” says CNET.
Also See:
CNET News – Principal sues ex-students over MySpace profiles, April 9, 2007
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – ACLU backs teen, January 28, 2006
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
April 11th, 2007 at 2:11 am
lol thats funny sounds like something i would to 2 lmao!!!
April 11th, 2007 at 9:38 am
No sense of humor. Defamation is hard to prove, especially when it’s just a site that clearly is intended to be humorous, because parody and satire are a very protected form of speech. This should be interesting.