Wired’s ‘Threat Level’ blog picked up a story yesterday from the Miami Herald on a lawsuit in Florida that is one of the latest in a small handful of court cases dealing with the emerging legal issue of ‘cyberbullying.’ The bullying, in this case, came from former high school student Katherine Evans (pictured at right) when, in November 2007, she created a group on Facebook that used her teacher’s full name paired with “is the worst teacher I’ve ever met!” She invited her friends to “express your feelings of hatred.” Only three of her classmates responded, criticizing Evans:

“Mrs. Phelps is one of the most amazing teachers I’ve ever had and there’s plenty of people who agree with me,” one student wrote. “Whatever your reasons for hating her are, they’re probably very immature.”

Evans deleted the group shortly after. Her high school responded by suspending her for three days and removing her from the AP class taught by the teacher in question. The lawsuit claims that the high school violated Evans’s right to free speech and is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Before the internet, student speech cases usually concerned student newspapers and dress codes.

As with the Megan Meier case, it looks as if the issue of cyberbullying is dodging serious consideration by being addressed poorly and out of context. In my opinion, schools do not have any business punishing students for what they do online at home any more than they can punish them for giving a younger brother a wedgie in the backyard or stealing candy from the corner store. The issue of free speech complicates it, but it seems fairly clear that it’s acceptable to voice your mind about someone else in a public forum… right?

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This article is part of a virtual reading group for Daniel Solove’s book The Future of Reputation (schedule here).

people’s online social networks may be only an “imaginary” community

Class after class of students come through the small college where I work. They pour out their hearts into the digital blackness and spend their time with socially networked acquaintances; their conversation comes in fast spurts over AIM. Their relationships are increasingly weak and standoffish at the same time that what they reveal of themselves to the public is incredibly intimate. Secrets that they would hate for their parents to see are only a Google search away. Do they realize that those hasty admissions—ideals that will change, relationships that will sour, drunken indiscretions—will all be preserved like fossils in the digital strata for their entire lives and beyond? In a virtual world designed around speed, convenience, and ego, they will loose a sense of what constitutes a strong relationship and their ability to empathize will suffer. At a time when it is easier than ever to find a reason to hate someone, they will be more likely than ever to be willing to hate. How can we—as mentors, as parents, as developers, as netizens—put a stop to this progression?

The Internet is a Cruel Historian

My wife used to write online about our son, who was a baby at the time. Her journal was ‘onymous,’ meaning she made it a point of pride to use her real name. The stories she wrote were the sorts of thing that any parent would share about a baby—harmless amusing anecdotes, pictures, and such. As time went on, we had to think of something that parents before us had never considered. What will our son do when these funny baby stories are still available within seconds of a search when he is in high school? Or when he applies for his first job out of college? Or when he’s middle-aged and looking to distinguish himself in a profession? How will these stories effect his ability to find love or to raise his own children?  Fortunately, she put a lot of thought into where to draw the line on what was shared and what was held back, but many—probably most—parents won’t have that discretion.

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Did You Know? also known as Shift Happens is a thought-provoking video presenting facts and figures loosely themed around globalization and the information age.  It has been circling the internet in one form or another since 2006.  This is the latest iteration, rumored to have been improved from the original by Sony BMG for an executive meeting they held recently in Rome.  You can find out more about the video at the Shift Happens wiki.

It’s a nice way to spend five minutes.

From ‘A Softer World’

There is an argument made against privacy that says someone who isn’t engaged in criminal behavior has nothing to hide. This method of thinking allowed the US government to slowly sap away our civil liberties in the wake of the 9/11 attacks–many have just accepted that trading privacy for security is acceptable and used the “nothing to hide” argument to rationalize what was, essentially, a decision based on fear. However, limiting the government’s ability to intrude in our private lives is easy compared with attempting to control how personal information spreads on the internet via gossip. Rather than spies or wiretaps, gossip is often gathered by those we trust and spread online by people who don’t understand or appreciate the potential for the damage it can do. In reality, privacy is about much more than concealing wrongdoing.

Internet-based abuse (‘cyberbullying’) and privacy / relationship issues are still massively misunderstood. The complexities of online sociality are probably the biggest ‘generational divide’ between modern teens and adults. To help put it in perspective a bit, here are some numbers…

I HAVE A MYSPACE ACCOUNT!!1!