IM icon lands student in trouble
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“Police blotter” is a weekly CNET report on the intersection of technology and the law. This week’s story: A student sues after being suspended for a semester for having an allegedly “threatening” instant-message icon on his home computer.
“The icon showed a gun pointing to a head, a bullet leaving the gun, and blood splattering from the head. It included the words ‘Kill Mr. VanderMolen,’ the name of the student’s English teacher at Weedsport Middle School.”
“Although the students apparently viewed the icon as a joke, VanderMolen did not. He later testified that he was scared, concerned and felt sick to his stomach upon reading the message.”
But the student’s parents stroke back. Free speech was their base argument, argument rejected by the federal judge in charge of the case. The “icon constituted a true threat unprotected by the First Amendment.”
PS: Drop up a note if you’re heard of those kind of stories for VoIP calls.
Jul 1, 2006 | By Nuno
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