Do as I say not as I do?
Seven Parsippany students suspended for MySpace accounts:
Is this hypocrisy or not? You make the call…
PARSIPPANY — Seven Parsippany High School students will serve 5-day suspensions starting next Monday for setting up two MySpace.com accounts filled with photos and “vulgarities” about classmates and teachers, Interim Superintendent James Dwyer said today.
The students used cell phone cameras to photograph classmates and other school employees without their permission, Dwyer said. He did not say how many photos were posted.
A teacher surfing the Internet stumbled across one of the MySpace sites two weeks ago, Dwyer said, prompting an investigation by high school principal Anthony Sciaino and the school’s police resource officer.
All seven students — two freshmen, three sophomores and two juniors — admitted to their involvement last week and both sites have been pulled from the Internet, Dwyer said. The group included both boys and girls, he said.
However…
Dwyer, who defended Parsippany High School’s decision to hold a mock war crimes “trial” of President Bush by a senior class several weeks ago, said there was no contradiction in punishing students over Internet postings that included “profanity.”
He did not describe the comments that were made.
“This is not a free-speech issue,” said Dwyer. “They were using photos of students and staff without permission.”
Free speech for some but not for others? Discuss.
Tags: free-speech, new-jersey, Parsippany-High-SchoolRelated Stories
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9 opinions for Do as I say not as I do?
Austin
Apr 13, 2006 at 8:34 pm
“This is not a free-speech issue,” said Dwyer. “They were using photos of students and staff without permission.”
You can’t just take someone’s photograph without telling them and then use it however you want. That is most definitely illegal.
Trench
Apr 13, 2006 at 8:39 pm
How does that differ from paparazzi photographers?
Austin
Apr 13, 2006 at 11:54 pm
Paparazzi isn’t American.
Austin
Apr 13, 2006 at 11:57 pm
Actually, they are. I lied. Or I was mistaken. Sorry. But I think publishing someone’s photo in a magazine, and making a public profile pretending to be the person, and then defaming them, that’s a big difference. It’s wrong, and you know it. Quit pretending to be an idiot.
Trench
Apr 14, 2006 at 12:15 am
Then who is filling up all those gossip rags with pictures?
Trench
Apr 14, 2006 at 12:19 am
Where does it say they were pretending to be the person they photgraphed?
Dracs Spago
Aug 5, 2007 at 4:00 pm
I feel that celebrities and other public figures are open for their pictures to be taken because they are voluntarily in the public eye. A private citizen having their picture taken unknowingly and then having the picture posted publicly with false derrogatory statements attached is a clear violation of privacy. Celebrities, politicians, etc. trade their private citizen rights to be public figures but even they can sue someone for posting slander.
katie
Dec 22, 2007 at 11:14 pm
hey i was one of the people who did this site(the myspace) and i can tell you there was two pics on the site one of the school and one of a heating unit in a box sitting in the hallway.
Woogy
Aug 31, 2008 at 3:03 pm
People in the public eye are subject to publicity of their pictures and lives and even mockery, as determined in the Falwell versus Larry Flynt. Conversely, private individuals are protected and their pictures and lives cannot be published without written permission.
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