It’s back. School districts are again claiming the right to demand Facebook passwords from students. This, despite several states passing laws making the practice expressly illegal, and introduction of federal legislation that will do the same when Congress gets around to passing it.
The Illinois Principals Association has posted a “model letter” on its website that school districts can send to parents. The letter asserts that school officials can demand passwords to access to social media accounts if they think the account “contains evidence that a student has violated a school disciplinary rule or procedure.” There are other ways to gather evidence, such as using apps like storiesig to save questionable Instagram stories and other posts, so is this huge invasion of privacy really necessary? There is also the question of whether or not schools have the right to interfere in children’s private lives, is it not the responsibility of the parents to make sure their children have a moral compass? There again, do bullies deserve to have privacy if they misuse it to harm others?
That letter appears to be the basis of a very similar note actually sent recently to parents in a district on the western side of Illinois. Vice.com obtained a copy of that letter.
The Maryland lawyer largely responsible for bringing the social media password demand issue to light almost three years is not pleased.
“I was under the impression that this practice was slowly being phased out,” said Bradley Shear. “(It’s) very troubling and it appears to violate the federal Stored Communications Act along with students’ First and Fourth Amendment rights. It further demonstrates the importance that President Obama has recently placed on the need for stronger student privacy laws.”
Opponents of the practice, like Shear, think schools have no right to routinely interfere with students’ off-campus communications. But it’s easy to see why school districts want to access kids’ Facebook, Twitter, and other accounts. They can be used for cyberbullying, or to plan criminal activity. Like a teacher who demands to see a handwritten note being passed among students, it would seem natural for school officials to investigate potentially dangerous online incidents or harmful digital chatter.
Most states that have examined the issue have decided that password demands are an overreach, however. A dozen states have outright banned the practice. Federal legislation nicknamed SNOPA (the Social Networking Online Protection Act) has been introduced, but never reached a vote in the last session of Congress.
There are legal means for schools to obtain data from password-protected social media networks — by going to law enforcement and obtaining a court order. It’s quite a leap to give administrators the right to demand passwords because students have allegedly engaged in behavior that breaks school policy.
Illinois has traveled down this path because of an anti-bullying law that took effect Jan. 1 which requires schools to set aggressive anti-bullying policies. Instead, it might end up providing students with quite a civics lesson.
“Unfortunately, this new law will reverse the trend (of prohibiting password demands) and it must be amended before it harms the personal privacy and safety of students and their families,” Shear said.
Mark Rasch, a cybersecurity law expert, said the Illinois letters are actually the result of two state laws: the cyberbullying law that took effect this month, and the state’s “Privacy in School Setting” law that took effect last January. The law makes it a crime for schools to ask for a student’s password, but carves out a huge exception: schools may in fact do so as long as they have a policy in place saying they can.
“That’s an exception that eats the rule,” Rasch said. “It’s a monumentally stupid law.”
Rasch offers a more detailed legal analysis of the controversy at his SecurityCurrent.com blog.
Sign up for Bob Sullivan’s free email newsletter.
; unfortunately, this new law will reverse the trend and it must be amended before it harms the personal privacy and safety of students and their families.”
Be the first to comment