International Law

We've bee seeing more and more stories like this, and it's pretty disturbing that people still freak out so much over a minor negative comment. Apparently, two twin brothers at the University of Calgary made some disparaging remarks about a professor, setting up a page that read "I no longer fear Hell, I took a course with Aruna Mitra." Because of that, they were disciplined by the school and are now in court fighting the whole thing. This is pretty silly on many different levels. First, these types of comments are very, very common among students. I remember joking around about similar things back in college, way before Facebook existed. Now, just because it's on Facebook, it deserves disciplinary action? Even worse, it looks like the school is blaming the twins for comments made by others on that Facebook page. There are some other problems here: in that the school didn't give the students a chance to appeal or present their side. For a university that's supposed to be encouraging free thought and discourse, it seems pretty ridiculous to punish students for making statements on Facebook, even if immature.

via techdirt.com

Students be warned: I'm watching what you say ... and I have my lawyers on speed dial. (I joke, I joke ... I don't have a lawyer on speed dial.)