Posted by Rick Denney on November 27, 2002 at 09:48:50:
In Reply to: Re: Another worthless Baritone player posted by Jeff again on November 26, 2002 at 19:45:57:
What the band director should have done is sue the student for libel, instead of having him suspended. He is a teacher and not a public figure, and has not given up his rights to public portrayal. Also, the yearbook picture is copyrighted by the yearbook company, and posting it on a website (especially without a model release) is also a violation of copyright and his right to privacy. The phone number is public information, so there's nothing he can do about that.
Of course, the band director didn't have the ACLU providing him a lawyer for free (this is a small assumption on my part, but the donation of part of the winnings is the tip-off). If the teacher union wanted to really defend teachers instead of trying to carve for themselves a narrow political agenda, they rush to his defense.
The right to free speech has been tempered by libel laws, copyrights, and privacy rights all along--that's the route to attack public speech that is immoral.
Rick "who'd have included the parents as defendants because the kid is a minor" Denney