MySpace is Free Speech, Case Overturned 242
eldavojohn writes "The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled that a judge violated the constitution after placing a juvenile on probation for an expletive laden MySpace entry on the principal. The court decided that the juvenile's free speech rights had been unconstitutionally revoked, and the original judge had suppressed politically motivated free speech since the comments were directly attacking school policy. I think we are starting to see a fine line develop online as it did with print — bullying & slander are punishable while we have to allow criticism of ideas no matter how harsh it is."
Students Not Second-Class Citizens (Score:5, Informative)
- Greg
Re:Students Not Second-Class Citizens (Score:5, Informative)
Decided on the Indiana Constitution (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Students Not Second-Class Citizens (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Students Not Second-Class Citizens (Score:5, Informative)
It's rediculous how as a 16 year old you can drive a car and pay taxes but can't vote. It is taxation without representation in my opinion and that is why the founders of this country took up arms and fought back. Ill stick with posting to internet forums myself but the whole thing is kind of rediculous.
Students are absolutly second class citizens. Remember also that many high school students are 18 years old and they still have the same lack of rights.
Re:Students Not Second-Class Citizens (Score:3, Informative)
Minors don't really own any property unless they gain their legal majority through a legal procedure in the courts!
If you are a minor, your parents can take away any of your property, legally, at any time! Period, end of story.
This is one reason why we have things like trust funds. Let's say you have a billion dollars and want to give a million of it to your favorite nephew because he's just so darned cool, thus guaranteeing that if he is not amazingly mature he will grow up to be a trustafarian with no respect for anyone's property or person, or for the act of doing work, so that later when he grows up he squanders the family fortune instead of handing it down to his descendants. (I have actually witnessed this very thing, but names have been omitted and even genders have been changed to protect the stupid.)
Maybe their parents are great people, so you feel secure in giving the money to the child. That's nice, it can go in their (fictional and thus able to contain stupid-large sums) bank account which is in their name and that of their parents. But then their parents are hit by a bus and aunt shrew gets custody because she's a closer relative than you are. That money is now hers. She gains custody of the child's bank account at the same time she gains custody of the child, and can now spend the money as she sees fit. In theory it should be spent on the child's behalf, but I think we all know how that will go.
Minors cannot be held to a contract. Minors can not own property. Minors are fucking non-people under the laws of the United States, and AFAIK pretty much all of the states themselves as well.