Is this Illegal?

Question

At my school, I had my cell phone (which is against the rules), to make a long story short, my friend 'borrowed' it, and got caught, and I got in trouble. I know it was fair for me to get in trouble, as I was breaking the rules, but while they had my phone, they read through all my old text messages..
There was nothing bad, and it really wasn't a big deal, but I'm just curious, is this legal? I'm told it is, but, it just doesn't seem fair.
I'm a good student with a spotless record, but they didn't look at that, they just went through my texts looking for something bad.
This just bothers me, and I want to know, is it really ok?

Answer 1

You knew what you were doing was wrong, now your mad because you got caught, take your medicine, kiddo. There are reasons for the rules, if someone else broke the rules and the school did nothing to ensure your safety, your parents would be very upset.

Answer 2

Schools today have fairly broad power to investigate anything they feel might prove a threat to the safety of the school and the students. Since you brought the phone into school contrary to the rules, they were well within their rights to examine it closely, to see if it contained any material that would be classified as a threat.

At least that would be their response, and in today's climate, the court would back them up. You're lucky there was nothing bad in any of them, especially of a threatening or sexual nature, or you could have really had trouble.

Ethical? No, Legal? At the moment, yup.

Answer 3

I agree with you that the need to alter the mind, i.e., to escape from reality, is a basic human need. I think it may be a little lower on the list, though, because humans need love and/or companionship before they need other things. I also agree that the taxation issue, especially when it comes to marijuana, is significant. If everybody could just grow it in their back yard, the government wouldn't get its cut like it does with tobacco and alcohol. The pharmaceutical industry has enough drugs to put the entire nation into la-la land and then some, but they federally regulated, are profitable, and pay taxes. Heroin and cocaine are more problematic because of their addictive properties and potential lethal nature. If anybody could legally buy these drugs, cheaply, there would be a huge spike (no pun intended) in overdoses, so in this regard I believe the government, or at least your average voter, is concerned about the health effects and not so much about the lost taxes.

Answer 4

Remember that "against the rules" is something institutionally set. However, if it is a public school you are not required to or recommended to follow rules that violate commonly established rights.

For example, if I carry a cell phone into a theater all they can ask if for you to be polite enough to put it on vibrate. But if they said, "no cell phones allowed" they would be violating your ability to carry a cell phone on you to communicate. Such violations can restrict certain citizens from using their services such as doctors who are on call.

Just because your school tells you that cell phones are not allowed does not mean you cannot get a lawyer and sue over that rule. They are within their rights to tell you to keep the phone on vibrate but you as an American (yes, even an underaged one) have no fewer rights to a cell phone than a doctor. Here is a hypothetical: What happens if your mother has cancer and needs to call you if an emergency happens?

As far as their right to search your phone, I believe they had the right. This simply because you gave them custody of the phone. You should have a phone that requires a safety pin to unlock it.

In my school during lunch hour I used to bring a game boy to pass the time. I was told by a school resource officer to hand him the game boy and that it was not allowed. I refused and told him that there was no specific mention of a "game boy" in the student manual and that I would not turn over the game boy. This got administration involved until I mentioned a lawsuit and suddenly I was allowed back to class, game boy in my bag.

The point is this, you have freedoms. Your rights as an American supercede a public institutions ability to breach those rights. In fact, if the institution is public they have an obligation to afford you these freedoms. A cell phone on vibrate is not a violation of public health and safety anymore than a whistle or a pair of scissors. All you have to do is maintain a certain level of public decency.

How you protect your rights is up to you. If you allow people to walk all over you because you are scared of the repercussions you deserve to lose any and all rights you have. If however you fight back and make sure that no matter who is in a position of authority you maintain your rights granted to you under the law, then salute yourself, you would be in the minority.

Take this incident as a lesson. Your rights were violated because you failed to stand up for them. What will you do next time?

Answer 5

Ok, you say you are a good student yet you broke the rules. Now that wasn't nice. So you have to pay for your mistake. I would say that they have a right to read your text msg to make sure you arn't up to no good and with all the school shootings, can you blame them??? So get your act togeather and move on. Oh, you do not now have a spotless record.

Answer 6

NO it is illegal invasion of privacy we still have some of that left. Even with probable cause a teacher or principal has no legal authority to do that. Talk with ur parents about it dont take stuff like this laying down!

Answer 7

The school policy is no cell phones. So that mean it is right for them to either tell you don't get caught with it again. Or they can take it away and give it back to you after school or to your parents. But they are not allowed to go thru your phone.

Answer 8

You are a minor and need to be protected. I KNOW you don't think you do but the law says that's the case. They are doing what they believe they need to do to be protective.
For instance, they probably wonder very much why you'd violate the rules and and have a cell phone and think it might be for illegal purposes. Yup, it's OK.

Answer 9

No, it is illegal and if you pursue legal action, you might get something out of it. The plain truth is that you probably won't because you can't prove that they looked through your texts. How do you know they did anyways? If you can prove it, then your onto something!

Answer 10

I would ask a lawyer for details, I personally think what they did was unethical. Do you give up your right to privacy only in school or later when you are an adult? Kids should have rights too I think.