* A report by the St. Louis Fox TV affiliate has created some controversy…
A new Illinois law aimed at stopping cyber-bullying, gives schools access to kids social media accounts. Some say the law goes too far.
Previously Illinois schools could take action against students if online bullying occurred, such as something posted on Twitter or Facebook during the school day.
However, with the new law that Illinois legislators approved, school districts and universities in Illinois can demand a student’s social media password. The new law states if a school has a reasonable cause to believe that a student’s account on a social network contains evidence that a student has violated a schools disciplinary rule of policy. Even if it’s posted after school hours.
This week some school districts sent home letters to notify parents and students about the new rules. ” To get into a social networking site and it could be at a school or at home. That we would be able to get that password and get onto their account,” said Leigh Lewis Triad Community Unity School District Superintendent.
* That piece prompted a story in the Christian Science Monitor entitled: “Big Brother: Can your school require your Facebook password?”…
The conversations around data privacy and internet safety just got hotter.
A new Illinois state law can now compel students to hand over their social media login credentials to their school if school and state officials believe it can help prevent hostile online behavior – raising privacy concerns among parents and students alike. […]
On the other hand, as Illinois mom Sara Bozarth told local Fox affiliate KTVI: “It’s one thing for me to take my child’s social media account and open it up, or for the teacher to look or even a child to pull up their social media account, but to have to hand over your password and personal information is not acceptable to me.”
* Some in the right-wing blogosphere have picked it up…
Students in Illinois are required to give teachers their social media passwords or face criminal charges under a new state law that is intended to tackle cyberbullying. However, some say this rule violates personal privacy.
* OK, to the bill. Cyber-bullying is defined…
“Cyber-bullying” means bullying through the use of technology or any electronic communication, including without limitation any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic system, photoelectronic system, or photooptical system, including without limitation electronic mail, Internet communications, instant messages, or facsimile communications. “Cyber-bullying” includes the creation of a webpage or weblog in which the creator assumes the identity of another person or the knowing impersonation of another person as the author of posted content or messages if the creation or impersonation creates any of the effects enumerated in the definition of bullying in this Section. “Cyber-bullying” also includes the distribution by electronic means of a communication to more than one person or the posting of material on an electronic medium that may be accessed by one or more persons if the distribution or posting creates any of the effects enumerated in the definition of bullying in this Section.
* The legislation expands the scope of the state’s existing anti-bullying statute to include cyber-bullying…
No student shall be subjected to bullying… through the transmission of information from a computer that is accessed at a nonschool-related location, activity, function, or program or from the use of technology or an electronic device that is not owned, eased, or used by a school district or school if the bullying causes a substantial disruption to the educational process or orderly operation of a school.
This item applies only in cases in which a school administrator or teacher receives a report that bullying through this means has occurred and does not require a district or school to staff or monitor any nonschool-related activity, function, or program. [Emphasis added]
* The existing statute required that “Each school district and non-public, non-sectarian elementary or secondary school shall create and maintain a policy on bullying, which policy must be filed with the State Board of Education.” The new law adds this…
The policy or implementing procedure shall include a process to investigate whether a reported act of bullying is within the permissible scope of the district’s or school’s jurisdiction and shall require that the district or school provide the victim with information regarding services that are available within the district and community, such as counseling, support services, and other programs.
So, it’s left up to the schools to determine the policy. Triad wants passwords. No other district is identified in any story as asking for passwords. But even if they do copy that policy, it doesn’t mean they can legally get those passwords.
And it most certainly doesn’t mean that state law “requires” parents and students to fork over those passwords.
*** UPDATE 1 *** As a commenter notes below, the above stories cited the wrong state statute. A law which took effect over a year ago allows the password order…
An elementary or secondary school must provide notification to the student and his or her parent or guardian that the elementary or secondary school may request or require a student to provide a password or other related account information in order to gain access to the student’s account or profile on a social networking website if the elementary or secondary school has reasonable cause to believe that the student’s account on a social networking website contains evidence that the student has violated a school disciplinary rule or policy.
There are no state penalties listed for parents, however.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From Ed Yohnka at the ACLU of Illinois…
Thank you so much for shining a bright light on the hysteria around the cyber-bullying legislation passed last year. As you note, a report about a single school district demanding the usernames and passwords of students’ social media accounts created a firestorm across the blogosphere, raising fears that the new law permitted a dragnet collection of such data. Obviously this is not true. Indeed, during the course of the discussion on the measure, no one ever suggested that such a mass collection of data from students was permissible. This view has been reaffirmed by the primary sponsor of the measure.
The ACLU of Illinois opposed this measure out of concern that it created an expectation that school administrators now would become investigators not of activity that takes place within the school walls and during school hours, but also investigation of activities that take place outside of school hours, activities that have no connection to school.
We note your update, referencing the previous law that appears to require that a school notify parents and students that school may seek password information in some circumstances. We would note that the law suggests that the passwords would be sought only where there is some evidence (”reasonable cause”) of a disciplinary violation — and does not carry a penalty if the parent refuses.
But the headline here is that, despite some reporting, no law in Illinois permits the broad collection of students’ private passwords.
