School Official Sues Facebook

The social-networking site may have to give up the identities of some high school jokers who impersonated a dean online

By Gregory Mone Posted 05.12.2008 at 12:38 pm 6 Comments

Principal Skinner 20th Century Fox

This probably seemed really funny until they heard about the court order.

A few anonymous Facebook users—most likely students—created a fake profile for the dean of Roncalli High School, a Catholic prep school in Indianapolis, then sent out messages and images from the account to other students. The profile has since been pulled down, but the dean sued Facebook to find out who created it.

Facebook refused to give the information up, but now a judge has ordered the social-networking site not to destroy data pertaining to the identities of the jokers. The dean and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, which administers school, are currently deciding whether to pursue the case further, and ultimately hold them accountable.

This is hardly the first time something like this has happened. Ars Technica reports that students have created fake profiles that present school officials as addicts, alcoholics and more. At odds here is whether the students' prank profile page can legally be considered defamation or an act of free speech.

[Via Ars Technica]

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6 Comments

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DotNetProgrammer

05/12/08 at 4:29 pm

Impersonation and defamation are considered crimes if printed in a news paper or in other forms of media. Facebook is wrong to protect the identities and attempt to the hide behind the free speech cloak.

Facebook's idiocy will only contribute to the impetus to further regulate the internet with laws instead of common sense.

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somedumbgeek

05/12/08 at 6:51 pm

While reporting a story in a newspaper, if the reporter impersonates or defames someone, it is illegal up to a point. It is not illegal to do so in the editorial or classified sections of a newspaper.
To compare a social networking site to a newspaper or other reporting media is unfair. A social networking site is an evolution of a bulletin board.
The only legal pursuit the high school has are civil cases of slander and personal defamation which are very difficult to prove since they have to show specific damage from what the impersonator(s) did.
And let us be honest, why is this private school willing to spend so much time and rack up so many legal bills to pursue this case? Facebook will fight this to protect the privacy of all its users.

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914ian914

05/12/08 at 8:49 pm

It would be a lot easier if people weren't ignorant enough to believe FaceBook users are who they say they are.

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DarkFx

from Winnipeg, Manitoba

05/12/08 at 9:20 pm

Its wrong to impersonate someone with a profile that may appear legitimate, however if this guys is trying to sue facebook to reveal the identity he obviously has some issues to exploit, they should have just put him on a ratemyteacher forum. FaceBook does not hold responsibilites for who applys miss information, thats just ubsurd, Removing the profile was enough and if FaceBook literally lets this scam bag Catholic take there money for some noob making a fake profile, thats when ill go back to myspace.

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imaduck

05/13/08 at 8:00 pm

Well, the court has ordered Facebook to hand over the information yet. They probably just want to make sure the potential evidence isn't destroyed in case this goes to trial. I'd be pretty shocked if the school actually did win the rights to that information. Furthermore, doesn't the school administration have something better to do than waste all of this time/resources over a stupid, off-campus prank?

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imaduck

05/13/08 at 8:00 pm