Moreno v. Hanford Sentinel Inc. - A Struggle Between What's Law and What's Right

Court Rules MySpace Posting Not Private
News Excerpt: "The post was on Moreno's MySpace profile for about a week before she removed it. Roger Campbell, principal of Coalinga High School, saw the post and sent it to the local paper the Coalinga Record where it was published as a letter to the editor with Moreno's full name.

After the letter was published Moreno's family received death threats and a shot was fired at their home. The family later moved out of town. They sued for invasion of privacy and for intentional infliction of emotional distress."

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My problem with this situation is not with the ruling. If the letter was posted on MySpace or any similar website or blog, then no, it can no longer be considered private.

However, it seems to me that there would be a question of publishing rights because A)neither authorship nor ownership of the letter belong to Campbell, the principal, for him to submit it to the newspaper, and 2)the newspaper didn't have the permission from the author and owner of the letter to publish it. But, I'm not versed in the legal ins and outs of copy rights and intellectual property so I can't say if my arguments would have any merit in the courtroom.

What bothers me most about this whole thing: What is Campbell doing cruising the MySpace pages of young college girls? And what motive did he have for bringing Moreno's blog post to the local newspaper? I don't think it's unfair to assess that he exercised incredibly poor judgment by doing this. There is absolutely no logic behind such actions and the only conclusion that can be drawn is that his intentions were at the very least spiteful. If I were a member of this community, I would think this raises great concerns as to Campbell's abilities as a principal of the local high school.

No matter how the court ruled there's no escaping the fact that both Campbell's and the news paper's action were monumentally irresponsible. What they hoped to accomplish by publishing the letter will have to remain speculation. But I hope that this can serve as an example to all of us adults of how NOT to behave.

What do you think? This is issue intrigues me because it's really much more complex than initial impression might suggest. Please leave your comments because I am very interested to here everyone's take on the matter.