Student/Family Violated Over Facebook Mention of "Gun"

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

As I recall the Ohio school shooter said on Twitter that he was going to bring a gun to school. THAT should be investigated but rumors or saying that someone is the type of person to do that is not enough to warrant an investigation.

 

[Tim37]

i remember in Jr high some one accused me of somthing (drugs not a gun) i got pulled out of class searched my locker and backpack tossed and they wouldnt even tell me who said it. that was nearly 20 years ago i spent a week getting stocked by the school because someone accused me and i had nothing. so i really feel for the kid and his parents because of a bunch of teenage bs.

 

[langenc]

Couple weeks ago we had pres primary. A CPL holder decided to OC to the voting booth. He had voted and was exiting thru a school exit and got nailed by a school administrator. (Gun carry was entirely legal)

Cops called and he was banned forever from a bldg in that school district. I dont recall if he was hauled off or not.

He apparently cannot be banned from voting and the admin will have to 'bite the bullet', most likely.

 

[Neverwinter]

Cops called and he was banned forever from a bldg in that school district. I dont recall if he was hauled off or not.

He apparently cannot be banned from voting and the admin will have to 'bite the bullet', most likely.

There's a thing called an absentee ballot, where you can mail in your vote instead of going to the polling place.

What the perpetrators of this rumor did is illegal, and is actionable both criminally and civilly. The principles could find themselves owing thousands in a civil case of defamation. And I hope they do. It seems that many people don't understand that untrue and derogatory things written on facebook or other social sites constitute libel.

What they did was obliquely make false criminal accusations, and they shouldn't be let off the hook for that. If they had come forth immediately at the first sign of actual school and police action, that might have been reason for leniency but they didn't.

 

[hso]

“It was a rumor run wild … that’s what social media does these days,” Girard School District Superintendent James Tracy told msnbc.com on Wednesday. “Nothing was actually said. … It’s like that old post office game, you know, where you tell a secret and by the 12th person it’s totally different. Magnify that times literally … thousands of people on social media, it really gets messed up.”

It seems that the point at which "free speech" on the internet becomes slander was passed.

 

[bottom shelf]

From the article

Though the Internet is a good teaching tool that young people respond well to, it created a “real problem” in this instance, Tracy said.

<sigh> So guns are not the only inanimate objects that have a malicious mind of their own. Good to know.

 

[MachIVshooter]

So guns are not the only inanimate objects that have a malicious mind of their own. Good to know.

You're reading too much into that comment. I don't see anyone calling for the banning of internet or specifically social networking sites here, just mentioning that the way in which they are sometimes used can be problematic. The same can be said of most anything. Guns, cars, baseball bats, pencils. We all know that things used inappropriately can cause harm. Internet is no exception.

 

[Ancap]

I think I am just going to live on a sea stead until this fetid society collapses.

 

[CmdrSlander]

I think I am just going to live on a sea stead until this fetid society collapses.

I'm constructing a self-sufficient home in the Nevada high desert, inside a played out open pit mine, when society collapses all I have to do is turn off the elevator and retract the ladders. It runs on geothermal power with solar as a backup, and has a 150 yard shooting range off the back patio.

Anyway, what happened to that student is a disgrace, the girl who started is most at fault, but she will likely never be punished.

 

[hermannr]

As there was actual harm done by the slander..and because the one way to get the young lady's parent's attention, and tehreby the young lady's attention...I think they should be taken to civil court for slander. The dad taking off work because of this...that is expensive.

 

[CmdrSlander]

As there was actual harm done by the slander..and because the one way to get the young lady's parent's attention, and tehreby the young lady's attention...I think they should be taken to civil court for slander. The dad taking off work because of this...that is expensive.

What! What did I do! Oh wait....

 

[Sky]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/09/opinion/obeidallah-social-media/index.html

CNN article on key words that are monitored on the social networks. Not a big deal unless you want to be placed on a no fly list or some other form of protection for the masses......

 

[HankB]

Read the linked report in the original post . . . police said that they searched the house & the kid's room and found nothing.

One thing that seems to be missing in the report: mention of a valid search warrant. Did they just force their way in, or did they ask the homeowner for and receive permission to search?

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I don't see people jumping on the police here. They did their job, and they saw through the BS.

Sure they did, but the claim was that the family was violated and who violated them? Who was the claimed Salen Witch Hunt party that searched the home? Despite the police doing everything fairly appropriate, the "OMG what ifs" started about things such as "what if the police had found a gun in the house?"

So instead of some folks saying just like you did that they saw through it, they apparently want to keep the fear mongering violation alive by what iffing what didn't happen.