MySpace Imposter!!!!

A growing trend in high school and college is for a student to pretend to be someone else on MySpace. They get a picture of someone(usually a teacher or another student) and then make up a fake MySpace page on that person. Many are harmless but occasionally these fake sites can lead to the arrest of the student or students involved.

Here are some real examples:

In Colorado, Billy Johnson, a teacher, had a fake Myspace page made on him by a student. The student used the fake profile to send sexually suggestive emails to some female students. The parents of these students demand that something be done to this teacher. The school suspended Mr. Johnson with pay pending investigation. Eventually, with MySpace’s help(which took a subpeona), the charges against Johnson were dropped, and he was allowed back into the classroom. The police eventually arrested the student that did the fake page. The student pleaded guilty to computer crimes and criminal libel, which is a felony. He has yet to be sentenced.

In another case, Anna Draker, an assistant principal in Texas, had a fake MySpace page made up on her by some students. The page had picture of Anna and contained some obscene comments, photos and graphics. Ms. Draker found out about the site about a month after the page was put up. It had been viewed hundreds of times by students. With the help of MySpace(again, after the subpeona), the work was traced back to the homes of two students. One students was suspended three days and the other faces a felony charge. Draker is also suing the two student’s families for two million dollars for defamation. She claims that the parents should be held responsible for what their children did for failing to supervise them.

As you can see, this is a growing problem. There are many more stories like the two I mentioned. A common response by students is that since this is done outside of school, they should not be punished by school authorities. Courts have so far upheld the schools right to punish the students. The courts say that even though the posting is done off campus, it “substantially disrupted school operations” and that alone is enough for punishment.

Please think twice before doing something as stupid as this. It can and will be traced back to the computer it was developed on. There are serious consequences if you are found guilty.

If you have this happen to you here are some things that you can do:

1. Contact MySpace that someone has made an imposter profile and ask that it be taken down.

2. Contact the local police. Depending on state law, there may be serious laws that have been broken. MySpace also requires a subpeona before they will release information.

3. Contact the school administration so they can take action at the school level.

4. Students: Tell your parents!

5. Teachers: Call your local Uniserv representative as the school might come after you at first.

Posted by HCHS News Editor Mr. Bruns