The More She Saw, the Less She Spoke.

Lately, social networking and privacy has been a very controversial topic in the media. The big question is, “How far is too far?” “Should businesses and schools have the right to check employee or student’s social networking sites?” etc. Businesses and schools have started to ask for the right to check the social networking sites of their future employees, current employees, or student. People have brought up the opinion that this is impeaching on people’s privacy, that this no longer divides up personal life with professional life etc. Others say that this is okay and that if you are going to put it on the internet it is free rage for anyone’s viewing pleasure.

Recently, some students from Gastonia, N.C., were suspended because of comments that they made on Twitter. Parents and students are in an uproar about this because they are throwing around the questions that I mentioned earlier trying to get multiple opinions. One parent said, “The administration is supposed to be for the kids.  They are not supposed to be against the kids.” I completely agree with her. At my high school they would expel students due to content they found on their facebooks by creeping around. As much as i don’t think that people should be putting this stuff out of the internet if they don’t want it to be found, I still think that this is going overboard.

I think that these parents are right. The school should maybe stop looking into what students say and punishing them for it, instead, they need to look within the school and figure out what they need to work on as a faculty. This has been a problem for longer than we realize, but people seem to just now be catching on. Although the school denies searching for students, they obviously have been. I personally think that school, work, and personal life should all be separate unless someone is flaunting inappropriate information that could affect the business or school that they attend.

In conclusion, people are in debate about this controversial topic and it will most likely end in more laws allowing or prohibiting these actions. Dating back, it all fundamentally has to do with freedom of speech. Jenifer Rudinger, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina said, “Students should not be disciplined for what they express on their own time, especially if they are using their own computer or cell phone.” I think for now, schools are just going to do what they can to protect their establishment while they can whether wrong or write.