School Admins Demand Access to Students' Cellphones
In another example of constitutional rights being suspended for kids in school, a schoool district in Massachusetts has
implemented a policy allowing them to not only confiscate cell phones, but also to search through students' cell phone data as part of their anti drug/violence efforts.This doesn't seem legal to me, but what do I know.
posted by Doc at 1:26 PM
3 Comments:
If I recall I mentioned something very similar to you a few months ago. I found out that a certain school was drug-testing their students.
Drug testing is one thing. Rummaging through someone's cell phone is totally different.
It's about scope, to me. The school has a clear interest in knowing what students are doing drugs. Therefore drug testing is reasonable. It's focussed squarely on drug testing. It's not some general "let's see what's in this kid's urine" operation.
On the other hand going through someone's cell phone data is a broad net. It's giving the school access to all kinds of things they have no business reading. Intimate text messages between a boyfriend and girlfriend, messages mocking teachers in the school, even email accounts, many of which now have WAP access from a user's cell phone.
Now, in specific instances, where there is reasonable suspicion and accountability to document and justify that suspicion, OK. Police can access all kinds of personal data if the appropriate legal processes are followed (or if they work for the Bush administration). But some omnibus authority to search should not be OK.
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