Big Brother, or Perhaps We Should Call It Big Teacher, Wants To Monitor Your Kid's Facebook Account

It's amazing how easy the government is able to find new civil rights:

Education Department officials are threatening school principals with lawsuits if they fail to monitor and curb students’ lunchtime chat and evening Facebook time for expressing ideas and words that are deemed by Washington special-interest groups to be harassment of some students.

There has only been muted opposition to this far-reaching policy among the professionals and advocates in the education sector, most of whom are heavily reliant on funding and support from top-level education officials. The normally government-averse tech-sector is also playing along, and on Mar. 11, Facebook declared that it was “thrilled” to work with White House officials to foster government oversight of teens’ online activities.

The only formal opposition has come from the National School Board Association, which declined to be interviewed by The DC.

The agency’s threats, which are delivered in a so-called “Dear Colleague” letter,” have the support of White House officials, including President Barack Obama, who held a Mar. 10 White House meeting to promote the initiative as a federal “anti-bullying” policy.

The letter says federal officials have reinterpreted the civil-rights laws that require school principals to curb physical bullying, as well as racist and sexist speech, that take place within school boundaries. Under the new interpretation, principals and their schools are legally liable if they fail to curb “harassment” of students, even if it takes place outside the school, on Facebook or in private conversation among a few youths.

So, now your kid has a civil right not to be bullied on Facebook and somehow your kid's school is supposed to be able to monitor the messages your kid sends and receives on the service (not to mention text messages on the kid's phone).  How are teachers and schools supposed to do that?  Will the government abrogate privacy laws to allow schools open access to kid's computer and phone records?

This is another classic overreach by the federal government.  No one thinks bullying is a good thing, but schools are not parents and there has to be a limit to what information schools can access about your kids.

Of course, if your kid is being bullied you can always show him this video of a kid in Australia who finally had enough.  And yes, sometimes violence IS the answer.