PC gone too far. He has his freedom of speech. I'm sure the reason he was arrested was because the was the creator and it was being distributed, but he can only be responsible for that if he was the one doing the distributing. I expect ACLU to get this boy a hefty settlement in court.
These are the responsible party for distributing non-school sanctioned flyers. The creator of the list still has his rights to say these things, whether you agree with him or not.
They're not defamatory, at least according to the legal definition, if he never states them as fact but as opinion, or if these allegations have a basis of truth in them.
when you post something on a site like facebook, you might as well be writing a book. yeah, probably not many people are going to see it outside of your circle of friends, but it has that potential. we live in a new age and these things have to be looked at as such
Printing the list out and distributing it is probably where I imagine things get tricky, especially if he's making claims about sexual orientation and alleging specific sexual activity. What a ****ty little kid.
I suspect this has to do with the recent focus on cyber bullying. I mean what if one of the girls felt so humiliated by this that she killed herself? I don't think arrest and criminal prosecution are justified but at the same time I don't think we can just dismiss this either. At the minimum this guy should know there are consequences from posting something like that on Facebook, which we all should remember aint private.
This is clear cut libel. You can't use lies to defame people unless their are politicians or celebrities. He broke the law. He should suffer the consequences. This is not a PC issue, it's a law that's old and a foundation of our democracy.
The boy published the list. That makes him responsible. What others do with it afterwards is not the same thing. You do not have the write to say whatever you want. That's not the law. The law is: libel http://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=1153 It might not be a criminal act, but it is a civil violation and he can be sued for damages.
I think all public kissing and telling is LAME. I'm all for more transparency in some aspects of life, but this whole thing of making everything thats "insider" into public knowledge goes too far. Sleazy TMZ'ing of culture. Not all kids are "precious", but kids DO NOT HAVE the same exact rights as adults. And it IS a a double standard applied to young people. It IS based on age. And I feel young people do need additional protections. So I'm not against stopping this guy from being a creep, its what you SHOULD do. The question here is HOW and at WHAT level. Now to offer a counter example just for objectivity sake, if a bunch of gossipy little girlies talked about all the sexual prowesses of the guys at school and ranked them, would the main gossip starting girl get ARRESTED?! (I highly doubt it). So to me there is a bit of PC'ism in this, though it can be applied fairly.
Vaguely related. If you're a parent, this is something to keep an eye on, as it may be the simplest way to end this offensive stupidity - hit the kids/parents in the pocketbook.
You guys are acting like this isn't serious. You let that punk kid write something sexual about your daughter and I bet you're at that kids door with a baseball bat.
Nah, it is the insurance carriers that are having to take care of this under the personal liability section of the homeowners or renters policy. Lawyers have figured out these types of issues can lead to bucks because the typical policy will pay up to 300k worth of liability. More affluent individuals usually have $1mil plus worth of coverage.
A good point, but I rather doubt an insurance company is going to be pleased with that result. Insurance will then cost more, if you can get it at all.
BUT, if your daughter actually did those things... Maybe the bat should turn into a belt, and you can whip your daughter.
It's covered for now but expect it to become an exclusion possibly down the road or something to pay more for later. Good example is animal liability. You have to pay for that separately now with a lot of companies or else it's excluded. Lawyers are getting what they can before it gets overhauled.
I can just see it. "How much is it for the optional my-kid-is-a-flaming-dumbass-internet-bully-insurance?"
