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Social media privacy vs. bullying

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This week a Senate committee heard testimony on a bill that would prohibit schools from demanding access to students' social media accounts.

Privacy advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union, testified in support of the bill.

"We would never expect a school administrator to be allowed to enter a student's bedroom and look at their personal letters or look through their photo albums," said Devon Chaffee, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire. "We shouldn't allow them to do the electronic equivalent."

Souhegan High School freshman Jonathan Petersen offered a different perspective.  He took a year off of school after being bullied.  In at least one incident, other students posted inappropriate pictures of him online.

"I've been bullied a lot and most of the time people get away with it," he said.

Dean Michener, director of the New Hampshire School Boards Association, echoed Petersen's concerns.

"School districts have a unique parental role while students are in school," he said. "If you move forward with this legislation, we think it should include a provision that districts are not liable when they don't have access to evidentiary information."

In 2010 the state expanded its bully law to hold schools responsible for policing cyberbullying.

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