September 28, 2013

Students' rights to digital privacy versus "in loco parentis"/parents' interests

My 17 year old son told me the following story, not vouching for the 100% accuracy thereof:

He has a 15 year old female friend who attends another high school nearby. Supposedly....she sent a Android app message (starts with a K...I'll go look it up) to a fellow student. Again, supposedly....she volunteered to go buy LSD for this fellow student. Her high school supposedly provides free wifi with no agreements that must be signed informing the kids upfront that their digital privacy may be invaded at any time.

Soon, she was summoned down to the main disciplinary office of the high school. Again, supposedly, the high school has installed a system on their wifi that scans for keywords like LSD. Her mother was called to the high school and now she is in deep doodoo but no legal trouble.

Again, without talking to this 15 year old, I do not know how accurate all this is. I've never even been to the high school in question, which is near Daytona Beach, FL.

Assuming the story is basically correct....school in the clear or school in hot water ? I explained to my son the whole in loco parentis" doctrine. Apparently according to that Wiki link, it has been not upheld on numerous occasions.

What say you ?

eta: My son was outraged that, supposedly, the school had done this with his friend. I told my son I completely understood his outrage but, because of my limited knowledge of in loco parentis, that I could see the school district winning in court. Now that I've read a bit more on ILP, I could be wrong. To be clear, I sure don't want my son selling LSD, so I tend to side with the school district if this account is basically correct.


eta2: I think this was the app: Klyph for Facebook

September 28, 2013

Second Life AMA (ask me anything, in reddit-speak)

http://secondlife.com/

AsahinaKimi thinks IMVU is superior, guess we'll have to agree to disagree respectfully

*waits for queries*

September 28, 2013

she's in good company indeed nt

September 28, 2013

question on necro-posting in the Lounge

I answered an old thread in the Lounge, from July 2013 aka necro-posting. Below you see my post:



Now you see the screenshot of the Lounge from just a few minutes ago:



You will notice that even after a few minutes, the OP from July 2013 is NOT showing up at all. Is this a bug ? A feature ? My computer caught in another dimension ? Thank you kindly.

eta: To be helpful, here's a screenshot of the entire thread:

September 27, 2013

Health Law Helper (PPACA) from Consumer Reports, an fyi only

http://www.healthlawhelper.org/?utm_source=Y39healthlawhelper&utm_medium=newsletter

Hope this helps someone.

September 27, 2013

This photo is inspirational to me, makes me think

This little Austrian boy was so happy to get new shoes during World War 2. It inspires me to be happy with the very small things in life. The photo almost made me tear up.

September 27, 2013

The Outer Limits TV series, the 1960's one...love it, hate it, meh ?

I remember it scaring me silly when I was 5 and crying. I still don't like horror type stuff to this day. Too empathetic/sensitive/scaredy-cat lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outer_Limits_(1963_TV_series)

September 26, 2013

NSA spied on Martin Luther King, documents reveal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24279394



The US National Security Agency spied on civil rights leader Martin Luther King and boxer Muhammad Ali during the height of the Vietnam War protests, declassified documents reveal.

The documents show the NSA also tracked journalists from the New York Times and the Washington Post and two senators.

Some NSA officials later described the programme as "disreputable if not outright illegal", the documents show.

The operation, dubbed "Minaret", was originally exposed in the 1970s.

September 26, 2013

Poll: Do you feel optimistic for increased Democratic seats in 2014 ?

Just curious.

"Increased Democratic seats", meaning more Democratic Senators, Representatives, and Governors.

I think if the PPACA rollout goes well, we will do well. Anything can happen in the next 13 months of course.

September 26, 2013

Do icemakers go out often on old Frigidaire refrigerators ?

Right now I'm reduced to making ice cubes 1950's style, with trays. The horror

My working hypothesis is one of the three:

1- dead icemaker
2- water not hooked up correctly, waiting for son so we can move the fridge and see
3- both of the above

My fridge is at least 10 years old, if not older. I've already looked at the schematic, which helped me not at all. Next step is to see if the water line is hooked up correctly, right ?