The U.S. Constitution protects the rights of free speech and privacy. But social networks pose challenges to those rights. Straight-A students have been expelled from school for criticizing their teachers on Myspace. Thirty-five percent of companies turn down job seekers based on posts from social networks, especially photos that show the person holding a glass of wine or beer.
When employees used to complain about their jobs in discussions around the watercooler or at the local bar, bosses rarely found out or took action. But now workers are fired for venting on the Web, including a 16-year-old who complained that her job was boring and an emergency worker who posted a cartoon about a clueless doctor.
Courts considering social-network cases have had to balance issues of free speech, privacy, and potential harms. The tensions between protecting rights and preventing harms were highlighted when an eighth grader in Bethlehem created a "Teacher Sux" website with reasons why his algebra teacher should die, asking for $20 "to help pay for the hitman."
The student was expelled, and the state Supreme Court said that, even though the website had been created in the boy's home and had specifically said that teachers should not read it, the student could be punished since the website upset the algebra teacher. A dissenting judge in the case argued that the boy's website was protected by the First Amendment and pointed out that the school had never perceived the boy's actions as a real threat. What's more, said the judge, "this type of sick humor can be found in some of today's popular television programs, such as South Park."
