U.S. Court Says Comments on Facebook Protected by Freedom of Speech

Katherine Evans, an honours student, was suspended for three days in 2007 from Pembroke Pines Charter High School in Florida for disruptive behaviour and cyber-bullying of a staff member. School principal, Peter Bayer, suspended Evans and removed her from Advanced Placement classes because she criticized her high school English teacher, Sarah Phelps, on a short-lived Facebook page titled "Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I've ever met”, which Evans created using her home computer after school hours.

Evans filed a lawsuit in a United States federal court against Bayer, based on the alleged violation of her right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment of the United States constitution. Evans is asking: (1) that the court rule that the school's suspension was invalid; (2) that documents related to the suspension be removed from her school file; and (3) for token or nominal damages and legal costs.

United States Magistrate Judge Barry L. Garber recently denied the principal's motion to dismiss the case. In his order, Garber found that Evans had a constitutional right to express her views on a social networking site: “Evans’ speech falls under the wide umbrella of protected speech. It was an opinion of a student about a teacher, that was published off-campus ... was not lewd, vulgar, threatening, or advocating illegal or dangerous behavior.”

For additional information, visit :

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/ptech/02/16/facebook.speech.ruling/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/education/16student.html

http://cbs4.com/local/student.lawsuit.facebook.2.1497593.html

Volume VIII

U.S. Court Says Comments on Facebook Protected by Freedom of Speech