NOT THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: School Invades Students’ Privacy To Teach Students About Invasion Of Privacy
Old Saybrook (CT) High School freshmen were outraged when school officials used their classmates’ Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages to teach them about online privacy, The New Haven Register reports:
[P]olice and school Principal Oliver Barton say the purpose of the assembly was to make students aware of how public their “tweets,” photos and profiles are online if their privacy settings aren’t strict enough. Barton said the presentation showed pictures that officials didn’t think would embarrass anyone and were publicly accessible.
“The point was to help kids understand what they’re putting out there. Here are some respectful and appropriate pictures of each other, so let’s keep it that way,” Barton said. “I think in retrospect, for a kid to hear about the presentation who wasn’t there and then get really concerned about it, wasn’t something we had anticipated.” …
[T]he school resource officer put the slide show together by accessing Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr accounts that had publicly available information and using 15-20 student photos. Even if privacy settings allow only friends or friends of friends access, that could be thousands of people, they said.
In a way, the presentation seems to have gotten its message across. [A] junior said that when students are talking about putting things on the websites, they’re warning each other because “this might get back to the school.” Still, she added, “I just think it’s a violation of privacy.” …
School administrators and police didn’t intend to make anyone upset, according to Barton, and they’re talking with those who were uncomfortable with their photos being used.
Comments