After being forced to give up her Facebook password to school officials two years ago, 15-year-old Minnesota resident Riley Stratton won a case defending her right to privacy against the school board of Minnewaska School District.
Originally, the school forced her to give up her password after discovering that she had created a post stating her disposition towards a teacher aide, and then from there proceeded to draw conclusions on allegations that she had been sharing illicit material through Facebook’s direct messaging.
In conjunction to paying $70,000 directly to the family, the school also had to promise to rewrite its policy regarding the privacy of their students e-mail and social media accounts, especially those made outside of school.
While school’s have a responsibility to prevent problems amongst the student body, the questions arise, “How far is too far? Where does protecting students turn into an invasion of their privacy?”
The following are Parkway West students’ responses to the Riley Stratton case and how they would react themselves.