Court Rules Mom May Be Banned From Posting About Family on Facebook

An appeals court recently ruled that a mother may be banned from posting about her children and ex-husband on Facebook.  According to Mycentraljersey.com, "[t]he restriction on what she [the mother] could say on Facebook was imposed after her ex-husband's family and the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office argued that the mother's maniacal postings were frightening, saying that they referenced Book of Revelation in the Bible, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, Satan and Adolf Hitler."

In the initial ruling the judge stated, "You can talk about what you want to talk about, but don't reference (your husband) or the children,"  The woman claimed that the restriction was a prior restraint. 

On the surface, this sounds like a clear cut First Amendment violation; however, it appears that
the court imposed the special condition with the purpose of advancing the mother's rehabilitation.  The woman was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was arrested in May 2011 after trying to take her children to Canada in violation of a custody order.  She pled guilty to interference with custody and in return it appears that the prosecution dropped kidnapping charges.

The bottom line is that infringing on one's First Amendment rights is a slippery slope.  Taking away someone's right to freely express themselves is not something that should be done without weighing other options.  It would not surprise me if these types of cases become more commonplace in the future.

Copyright 2014 by Shear Law, LLC.  All rights reserved.

Minnesota School District Sued For Violating the Social Media Privacy Rights Of A Student

A Minnesota school district has allegedly violated the social media privacy rights of one of its students. According to an American Civil Liberties Union press release: "the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court against Minnewaska Area Schools and the Pope County Sheriff's office for violating the constitutional rights of a minor student."

The ACLU states, "In early 2011 R.S. posted a comment, while at home, on her Facebook page about her dislike of a school staff member. The school learned about the comment, and R.S. received a detention and was forced to write an apology to the staff member. She was disciplined again when she cursed on her Facebook page, complaining that someone reported her to the school. This time she was given an in-school suspension and was prohibited from attending a school field trip. The ACLU-MN contends that these sanctions violate her First Amendment right to freedom of speech. In a second incident R.S. was brought into a school administrator's office where she was coerced to turn over (against her will) login information to her Facebook and email accounts because of allegations that she had online conversations about sex with another student off-campus. Present at the search was a local deputy along with two school officials."

I find it very troubling that school officials and a local deputy would believe that it is constitutional to require a student to provide them her user name and password of a personal electronic account. If a student is forced to turn over her password to a social media account without a court order what will stop a school from requiring a student to turn over a personal email password and user name without a court order? This behavior is a clear 1st and 4th Amendment and possibly a 5th Amendment violation of the U.S. Constitution.

This behavior is not limited to violating the privacy rights of middle schoolers. According to an MSNBC report, employers and universities across the country are violating the privacy rights employees, students, and applicants.

There may be some situations where requiring access to personal password protected electronic content may be necessary. For example, some high security clearance jobs, some national security positions, and some regulated industries have invasive background checks. However, in the overwhelming majority of positions, there should be protection against requiring access to password protected electronic content. With access comes responsibility, so employers and schools that demand this information may open themselves up to unforeseen legal liability and may create new legal duties where none existed before. Therefore, why risk a multi-million dollar lawsuit and judgement?

To learn more about these issues you may contact me at http://shearlaw.com/attorney_profile.

Copyright 2012 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.