I always tell my kids to be careful what they say and to be extra careful about what they write in emails or online. Now I read about this case of a high school student who sued a principal and won because her online posts were protected under the 1st amendment and I'm just waiting to hear my kids debate the issue with me.
 
Here's what happened.
 
A federal magistrate in Florida has ruled that a student who created a Facebook page to complain about her teacher was protected under the 1st amendment. Apparently in 2007, a senior named Katie Evans said this about her teacher "the worst teacher I've ever met". She took down the page a few days, got suspended by the school's principal, and got moved from her advanced placement classes to regular classes. The principal got sued and the magistrate ruled that the suspension was unconstitutional AND asked the principal to compensate the student who was "wrongly" suspended.
 
Should social networking sites where people bare their deepest emotions and post things sometimes without thinking be protected under the 1st Amendment? But then where will we draw the line? Will criminals who brag about their crimes online also be protected? I don't know about this social networks and free speech.
 
Do I hear the attorneys world over taking a deep breath and preparing themselves to defend people who find themselves demoted, fired, jailed because of what they wrote online?