Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.

stomachmonkey · 02-21-2011, 07:13 PM

Did the Internet Kill Privacy? - CBS Sunday Morning - CBS News

`The pictures were exactly what you'd expect from a European summer vacation: Cafes in Italy and Spain, the Guinness brewery in Ireland. So 24-year-old Ashley Payne, a public high school English teacher in Georgia, was not prepared for what happened when her principal asked to see her in August 2009.

"He just asked me, 'Do you have a Facebook page?'" Payne said. "And you know, I'm confused as to why I am being asked this, but I said, 'Yes.' And he said, 'Do you have any pictures of yourself up there with alcohol?'"

In fact, the picture that concerned the principal - showing Payne holding a glass of wine and a mug of beer - was on her Facebook page. There was also a reference to a local trivia contest with a profanity in its title.

Payne was told a parent of one of her students called to complain. And then, Payne says, she was given a choice: resign or be suspended.

"He told me that I needed to make a decision before I left, or he was going to go ahead and suspend me," she said.

She resigned. Attorney Richard Storrs is fighting to get Payne's job back.

Brando · Brando's Garage

The internet didn't kill privacy. People being stupid and putting their information on the internet, for all to see, killed their own privacy. If you want something to remain private, DO NOT put it anywhere on the internet. At all.

But being fired or forced to resign for what one does (when not illegal acts) is ridiculous. If she violated a conduct agreement or some other such agreement during the course of her employment however, that's a different story...

stomachmonkey · 02-21-2011, 07:26 PM

The offending pic.

bell · bell's Garage

nynor · 02-21-2011, 07:34 PM

ridiculous. common sense has left the building. we've become a society of perceptions over substance.

Racerbvd · Racerbvd's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

The offending pic.

She was fired for not properly holding the wine glass..

A930Rocket · 02-21-2011, 07:38 PM

Sounds like somebody got a bad grade and this is payback.

doug_porsche · 02-21-2011, 08:05 PM

As I have heard once: If you've never been offended, you don't have free speech.

This is why I definitely deny doing 188MPH in my Bugatti Veyront yesterday, though that school zone during, lunch hour, while drinking alcohol, while smoking that Cuban cigar.

Cant we start an E-campaign telling the Georgia school system how offended we were at their actions?

sc_rufctr · 02-21-2011, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brando

The internet didn't kill privacy. People being stupid and putting their information on the internet, for all to see, killed their own privacy. If you want something to remain private, DO NOT put it anywhere on the internet. At all.

But being fired or forced to resign for what one does (when not illegal acts) is ridiculous. If she violated a conduct agreement or some other such agreement during the course of her employment however, that's a different story...

+1

Most people online don't have a clue about their privacy!

They just join up with FB or Twitter (for twits) or whatever and accept the default privacy settings.
Never questioning them until someone points out that their photos are open for everyone to see.

A lot of "ladies" on my FB use pictures of themselves with their children as their profile picture! How dumb is that????

This "school teacher" should have made sure only her "friends" could see her photos... And none of her students should have been on her friends list.

Actually she deserved to get fired for being so stupid IMHO...

Noah930 · Noah930's Garage

Ridiculous.

1. If FB is done on private time, and there's no link in her FB page to the school, that shouldn't be public fodder.

2. She's 21, what's the big deal? It's not like she's plastered--just really really enthusiastically happy.

3. Why wasn't just taking down the picture from FB or switching the privacy setting on that photo to make it not visible to the general public not an option? Why just suspension or resignation? It certainly doesn't sound like reasonable options were provided. It's not like a crime was committed.

Is there some sort of regulation against teachers being seen in public (or private) with alcohol?

5String43 · 02-21-2011, 08:24 PM

Quote:

The internet didn't kill privacy. People being stupid and putting their information on the internet, for all to see, killed their own privacy. If you want something to remain private, DO NOT put it anywhere on the internet. At all.

+1

This is why, after a fairly short time there, I unfriended Facebook. Well, that and the general high level of meaningless nonsense found there. I found the huge amount of twaddle generated there to be ridiculous.

sc_rufctr · 02-21-2011, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noah930

Ridiculous....

Is there some sort of regulation against teachers being seen in public (or private) with alcohol?

No there isn't but teachers are a roll model to young students so they need to be discrete with their social activities.

EG: In a young persons mind... "If my English teacher drinks then it's OK to drink".
Stupid I know but young people only see what they want/need to see and not the whole picture.

.... Ever try talking to a young person about the use of Marijuana?

What they typically say is... "There's nothing wrong with smoking dope. Everybody does it so what's the big deal?"

That was the one thing that isn't negotiable in our house.

Noah930 · Noah930's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

No there isn't but teachers are a roll model to young students so they need to be discrete with their social activities.

Right. So a reasonable response would be for the principal or school superintendent to request the teacher to remove the pic (or switch its privacy settings) such that it would not be visible to the general public. The answer is not to fire the teacher.

There's also a bit of a legal difference between alcohol and marijuana. One is legal, and the other not-so-legal. Just like there's a difference between eating a chicken and eating a person. They're not entirely comparable, IMO. If a kid looks at a teacher and thinks "hey, because the teacher drinks it's OK for me to do marijuana," there's something wrong with the kid, not the teacher.

For Porsche content, if a teacher is depicted doing a track day in an exotic 928, does that serve a bad example for an underage kid to go out and take mom or dad's car for a joyride through the neighborhood?

sc_rufctr · 02-21-2011, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noah930

Right. So a reasonable response would be for the principal or school superintendent to request the teacher to remove the pic (or switch its privacy settings) such that it would not be visible to the general public. The answer is not to fire the teacher...

I agree...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noah930

...

There's also a bit of a legal difference between alcohol and marijuana. One is legal, and the other not-so-legal...

Actually it is illegal for someone under the age of 18 to drink but I get your point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noah930

....

They're not entirely comparable, IMO. If a kid looks at a teacher and thinks "hey, because the teacher drinks it's OK for me to do marijuana," there's something wrong with the kid, not the teacher...

I wasn't making a direct comparison but relaying what I had experienced with my daughter. But again I get the point.

AFC-911 · 02-21-2011, 08:59 PM

I read about this a while ago.

You know, she resigned and now she's suing to get her job back? I say she has a case if she was fired, but she chose to resign...(Though, they'll probably say she was coerced.)

It would've been easier to just take the suspension and then take down the offending pic.

nynor · 02-21-2011, 09:02 PM

a reasonable response would have been to say, "so what?" to the parent. the kid probably sees their own parents drinking beer/wine. an adult engaging in a legal activity on their own time is not a firing offense. period.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

I think I would have informed the principal that this conversation was over, and he would be hearing from my Lawyer....

I really need to find a wicked lawyer....

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

No good ever comes out of having a Facebook/Myspace/whatever account. None. Only bad. One reason I refuse to get one.

Rick V · 02-22-2011, 01:29 AM

Wow, a teacher is not allowed to engage in legal activities because a parent has to inflict their morals on them? What a crock of crap. People need to pay more attention to their own back yards and stop worrying about things that don't amount to a hill of beans. A picture of someone relaxing, and having a good time, legally, OFF OF SCHOOL PROPERTY, is not a reason for anybodies rights to call someones supervisor and whine. That parent needs to be horse whipped.

sc_rufctr · 02-22-2011, 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick V

Wow, a teacher is not allowed to engage in legal activities because a parent has to inflict their morals on them? What a crock of crap. People need to pay more attention to their own back yards and stop worrying about things that don't amount to a hill of beans. A picture of someone relaxing, and having a good time, legally, OFF OF SCHOOL PROPERTY, is not a reason for anybodies rights to call someones supervisor and whine. That parent needs to be horse whipped.

I agree but teachers have always been held up as an example to their community. In Japan for instance they are almost worshiped.

They have an immense responsibility and therefore have always been open to a very high level of scrutiny. It's just the way it is unfortunately.