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You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Tech News > Illinois law mandates handover of students' social media passwords

Illinois law mandates handover of students' social media passwords
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NewsPoster
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Jan 21, 2015, 12:48 PM
 
A law that came into effect on January 1 in Illinois is riling up parents of students in the state. Public Act 098-0801, ostensibly passed to cut down on school-age bullying, mandates that school authorities may demand a student -- or a parent -- surrender social media account information, including passwords, if school officials believe that there has been a violation of school rules or procedures. The law applies even to accounts or postings not on school grounds, and made at any time or place. Furthermore, failure to comply will trigger a criminal charge for the student, the parents, or both.

A letter sent to parents in the state states that "if your child has an account on a social networking website, e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, ask.fm, etc., please be aware that State law requires school authorities to notify you that your child may be asked to provide his or her password for these accounts to school officials in certain circumstances." No subpoena or warrant is required for the demand, just the agreement of school officials. The agreement process isn't codified in the law, and is left up to school districts to decide what is considered "certain circumstances."

Superintendant of the Triad district Leigh Lewis told Motherboard that there could be criminal charges if parents fail to comply. Lewis said that "if they didn't turn over the password, we would call our district attorneys because they would be in violation of the law. That would only be in some cases -- we'd certainly look at the facts and see what we're dealing with before we make the decision."

The Illinois law flies in the face of other states' laws, and may not even be constitutional. The act of handing over a password is against most services' terms of service, and Facebook also requires that users be at least 13 years old before obtaining an account. It is unclear what decision-making process is required for passwords to be demanded, or what criteria law enforcement would be notified of a failure to comply with the password turn-over demand.

Lewis says that the school is in "the business of protecting kids," and that the law assists in this goal. She added that she has absolutely no issue with the law, as "if there's a disruption to school, if there are threats or discrimination of any type that fall under bullying and harassment policies we have, we have to follow through and investigate."

( Last edited by NewsPoster; Jan 22, 2015 at 04:34 AM. )
     
ricardogf
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Jan 21, 2015, 01:34 PM
 
Not even North Korea has such a draconian and absolutely ridiculous "law" - in fact, it's amazing to see allegedly "civilized democracies" like the US going the way of the Dodo with these prime examples of stupidity.
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prl99
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Jan 21, 2015, 01:35 PM
 
Totally unconstitutional and will be overturned in court. This isn't China and people do have a right to privacy. What's this country coming to? No warrant, no due process? Whichever group passed this law should be thrown in jail after being fired.
     
DiabloConQueso
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Jan 21, 2015, 01:37 PM
 
That is patently ridiculous and absurd.

I'd be tempted as a parent to enact something similar to the "Siamese Twin" defense, whereby both twins walk free if one commits a crime because it's a bigger grievance to incarcerate the innocent twin than to let the guilty one free.

I'd have a single Facebook account for both me and my child (against Facebook's T&Cs, but bear with me), whereby providing the password for my child would inadvertently expose my Facebook postings and information as well, potentially putting the school district in a conundrum where they'd have to demand my password (something that would absolutely be refused by me) in order to see my child's Facebook history.

Or something to that effect. Point being that this is a clear overreach of the school districts' power, whereby they start acting like law enforcement.

Again, like I referenced in a different post, this is simply some type of governing body wanting to lower the basketball hoop so that it's easier to dunk rather than telling players that they need to work harder on their dunking skills. Yes, social media and the internet in general make it a lot easier for children to receive and send information hidden away from prying eyes, but at the end of the day, if the school district wants to access this information, they need to work harder -- not demand that the children make it easier for them.
     
darkelf
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Jan 21, 2015, 01:50 PM
 
but... won't anyone think of the children?!
     
Inkling
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Jan 21, 2015, 02:54 PM
 
Keep in mind that Illinois, along with California and New York are Superblue states. They're so dominated by liberal Democrats that the end result of blue or liberal agendas becomes obvious. In this case, it's attempts to regulate speech that's legal under our constitution. Also keep in mind that this isn't just about free speech. It's about another constitutional right, that against forced self-incrimination.
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ricardogf
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Jan 21, 2015, 03:19 PM
 
Once more, the absurd stupidity of this "law" is really difficult to fathom - not even the poorest LDCs or most closed dictatorships come up with such rubbish - are we sure this is NOT an advance April 1st joke?
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just a poster
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Jan 21, 2015, 03:38 PM
 
Establishment of communism requires control of free speech and the intimidation of those with dissenting ideas.

That said, I don't understand why children should be on "social media". What benefits do twitter/facebook offer that outweigh face-to-face interaction?
     
pottymouth
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Jan 21, 2015, 05:07 PM
 
Oh c'mon. This isn't a "liberal agenda" conspiracy. This is simply loudmouth helicopter parent nonsense. You'll find their kind on both sides.

I don't see anything about passwords mentioned anywhere in PA 098-0801. Where did this story come from?
     
jimoase
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Jan 21, 2015, 05:10 PM
 
Each state needs to consider the repeal of one state law, compulsory education.

School are controlled by dollars rather than community objectives. School get dollars from student attendance. Works great because attendance is compulsory.

Repeal of compulsory attendance will return the parents to being responsible for training children to be parents.

Compulsory attendance in conjunction with Model Cities of the Great Society in 50 years turned 4 of out most prosperous cities, Detroit, Newark, Camden and Oakland into decay.

Its very difficult for a compulsory education system to freedom of education.
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Jan 21, 2015, 05:11 PM
 
Originally Posted by pottymouth View Post
I don't see anything about passwords mentioned anywhere in PA 098-0801. Where did this story come from?
Check the embedded letter to parents, included in the story.
     
pottymouth
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Jan 21, 2015, 05:17 PM
 
Originally Posted by Mike Wuerthele View Post
Check the embedded letter to parents, included in the story.
OK, so the school administrators don't know what they're talking about.

Looks like this hogwash originated from Fox News blowing up that letter as some sort of conspiracy nonsense.

The actual law says nothing about any new powers granted to school administrators, security, or official law enforcement. The law was only changed to include cyber-bullying under the definition of bullying.

Here is the history of the act: Illinois General Assembly - Bill Status for HB4207

There is no story here.
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Jan 21, 2015, 06:06 PM
 
Tell that to the parents and guardians that'll get the request. As with most stories like this, time will tell.

Original source is Vice (and the letter from the school) which is linked in the story, not Fox News. Fox got it from Vice.
     
pottymouth
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Jan 21, 2015, 06:17 PM
 
Time will tell, indeed. But I'd wager that we never hear anything about this ever again.

My friend had a sticker in his car that said "Cash, ass, or grass. Nobody rides for free." I think that request was about as legally binding as this letter.
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Jan 21, 2015, 06:26 PM
 
The strangest things roll around for a return visit, and are often as welcome as that pack of cheese you left in the back of the fridge for about a month too long.

For instance, I thought that the LAUSD iPad thing would disappear after they started managing it better. That one is the gift that keeps on giving.
     
The Vicar
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Jan 21, 2015, 10:08 PM
 
@Inkling:

Ha ha, no. Illinois is split about 50%-50% red-blue. The Chicago and Springfield areas — where there is actually a local city to provide some culture and the population actually gets to meet with other people who aren't more or less guaranteed to be exactly alike (same class/skin color/ethnicity) — are basically blue, the rest of the state is basically red. The state would be a tossup if the red voters weren't too lazy to vote most of the time, but the Republican voters always turn out, even in minor elections, so off-year elections in Illinois, when voter turnout is low overall, tend to go more Republican.
     
Grendelmon
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Jan 22, 2015, 12:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by Inkling View Post
Keep in mind that Illinois, along with California and New York are Superblue states. They're so dominated by liberal Democrats that the end result of blue or liberal agendas becomes obvious..
This has nothing to do with New York. This has nothing to do with California. This is entirely about overly sensitive school administrators being barked at by micro-managing parents. Your attempt to tie yet ANOTHER news article with the "liberal" corruption of Chicago/Illinois/Etc by our evil, communist president and his communist political party is rubbish.

Seriously, give it up. Your comments are getting really annoying.
     
   
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