COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
Maren Williams | January 23, 2013

Remember the 16-year-old from New Jersey who was arrested last month after a teacher reported his notebook doodles of “what appeared to be weapons?” Now the same sort of hypervigilance on the part of school officials has caused another teen in San Francisco to be suspended and possibly expelled from school for her private creative expression — this time for a poem containing the lines “I understand the killings in Connecticut. I know why he pulled the trigger.”

Courtni Webb, a 17-year-old senior at Life Learning Academy charter school, frequently expresses her feelings through poetry in a private notebook. But last month, a teacher found the notebook and noticed Courtni’s poem expressing empathy with the feelings of alienation and anger that may have driven Newtown shooter Adam Lanza.

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COMPUTERWORLD
Jaikumar Vijayan | January 4, 2013

Employers in Illinois and California cannot ask for usernames and passwords to the personal social media accounts of employees and job seekers under laws that took effect on Jan. 1.

Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn in August signed legislation amending the State’s ‘Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act.’

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation adding the prohibitions to the State’s Labor Code in September.

The two states join Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey and Delaware in implementing such privacy laws.

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SACRAMENTO BEE
Melody Gutierrez and Diana Lambert | November 2, 2012

A book that was briefly banned at Rocklin High School will remain in the library following the release of a district committee’s report Friday.

The Rocklin Unified committee was charged with reviewing a mother’s request to remove Stephen King’s “Different Seasons” from the high school library because of what the parent said was a graphic rape scene in the book.

Rocklin High School formed a committee at the beginning of the school year to review the book and determine whether it was appropriate. That committee voted to remove the book, prompting the lone dissenter, Rocklin High student Amanda Wong, to take her concerns about censorship to the school district.

Rocklin Unified Superintendent Kevin Brown overturned the high school committee’s decision in October, saying the call should have been made by a committee of districtwide representatives.
Brown said Friday that the districtwide committee’s findings to allow the book are final, although “if the complaining party wishes to appeal the findings, they can take it to the next level and it goes to the (school) board.”

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/report-card/2012/11/rocklin-district-makes-decision-on-ban-of-stephen-king-book.html#storylink=cpy

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Original NDLA IF Blog posting

THE FLASH ONLINE
Rahul Verma | October 9, 2012

Censorship is one of the most controversial concepts present in modern-day America. Some see it as a dangerous attack on the 1st Amendment right to freedom of expression. Others note that in some cases, censorship is justifiable, or even necessary. Due to a conflict regarding a Stephen King novel, Rocklin High School now finds itself dealing with that same argument.

Last spring, a parent complained about the presence of King’s book Different Seasons in the Rocklin High School (RHS) library because of certain portions they considered to be graphic and obscene. A committee, consisting of Rocklin staff, a RHS parent, and a student representative, reviewed the matter, and voted to ban the book.

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Related article:
“High School Considers Banning Stephen King Book Containing Graphic Rape Scene“
(CBS13 | Anjali Hemphill | October 12, 2012)