An illusion of privacy

With the court’s dismissal of their habeas data petition, should  parents of the girls who were barred by St. Theresa’s College from attending last March’s high school graduation  pursue their case against the school?

In justifying their ruling, the court agreed with the school’s position that the girls shouldn’t realistically expect their Facebook accounts to remain private for long despite the security settings which would confine access to family and close friends only.

Thus the Facebook photos of the girls in their swim wear, of them drinking in a bar, dancing  and doing other social activities that their computer teacher obtained from sources close to the girls  aren’t subject to confiscation or return to the girls.

In any case the school needs the photos to build their case.  STC believes  the sanctions on the girls, while harsh, are fully justified and, as they continue to insist, even merciful since they considered the Facebook photos   severe violations of school policies on proper student conduct.

The parents could file a motion for reconsideration or elevate this to a higher court but is the  emotional and psychological baggage on the family and the girls  worth the trouble?

That’s the question only the girls and their parents can answer. For now,  their options aren’t many.

For what it’s worth though, STC was right when it said that the court ruling would cast new light on cyber-responsibility not only of the parents but  the youth.

Children should be guided  by their parents on the pitfalls of using or overindulging in Facebook or any social networking site. There are  security  issues involved that  can result in serious consequences such as the recent experience of a Japanese schoolgirl who nearly got victimized by her teacher’s son.

At the same time, this “Big Brother” stance of STC and other similarly inclined schools deprive students of their individual rights to privacy.  Even  in this age of the Internet, this  remains a viable and valued commodity.

The parents and the girls have every right to require the school to respect their privacy especially since it involved a question of off-campus student behaviour  which is far from being criminal. As a first offense, consideration should be given to the folly of youth.

It’s up to the girls and their parents to decide what to do next but the court ruling  should serve as a warning to would-be students of STC and other schools that their Facebook and   social networking activities may be monitored from now on  by  school officials.

You can’t censor content posted by students on the Internet, but with   “Big Brother” watching, a teenager’s  fun-loving indiscretions could come back and bring loads of regret.