The Winner
The Supreme Court recently reached it's judgement, denying the petition of the parents, and reminding all that posting online material, even if tagged "private" is never really such. I'm quoting the last paragraphs of the Supreme Court's judgement:
It has been said that “the best filter is the one between your children’s ears.”53 This means that self-regulation on the part of OSN users
and internet consumers in general
is the best means of avoiding privacy rights violations.54 As a cyberspace community member, one has to be
proactive in protecting his or her own privacy.55 It
is in this regard that many
OSN users, especially minors, fail. Responsible social networking or
observance of the “netiquettes”56 on the part of teenagers
has been the concern of many due to the widespread notion that teenagers can sometimes go too far since they generally lack the people skills or general wisdom to
conduct themselves sensibly in a
public forum.57
Respondent
STC is clearly aware of this and incorporating lessons on good cyber citizenship in its curriculum
to educate its students on proper
online conduct may be most timely. Too, it is not only STC but a number of
schools and
organizations
have already deemed it important to include digital literacy and good cyber citizenship in their respective
programs and curricula in view of the risks that the children
are exposed to every time they participate in online activities.58 Furthermore, considering the complexity of the cyber world and its pervasiveness,
as well as the dangers that these children are
wittingly or unwittingly exposed to
in
view
of
their unsupervised activities in cyberspace, the participation of the parents
in disciplining and educating their children about being a good digital citizen
is encouraged by these institutions
and organizations. In fact, it is believed that
“to limit such risks, there’s no substitute for parental
involvement and supervision.”59
As
such, STC cannot be
faulted for being steadfast
in its duty of teaching its students to be responsible in their dealings and activities in cyberspace, particularly in OSNs, when it enforced
the disciplinary actions
specified in the Student Handbook, absent a showing that, in the process,
it violated the students’ rights.
OSN users should be aware of the risks that they expose themselves to whenever they engage in cyberspace
activities. Accordingly, they should be
cautious enough to
control their privacy and to exercise sound discretion regarding how much information about themselves they are willing to give up. Internet consumers
ought to be aware that, by entering
or uploading any kind
of
data
or
information
online,
they
are
automatically and inevitably
making it permanently available online,
the perpetuation of which is outside the ambit of
their control. Furthermore, and more importantly, information,
otherwise private, voluntarily surrendered by them can be opened,
read, or copied by third parties
who may or may not be allowed access to such.
It is,
thus, incumbent upon internet
users to exercise due diligence in their online dealings and activities and must not be negligent
in protecting
their rights. Equity
serves the vigilant. Demanding relief
from the courts, here, requires
that claimants themselves
take utmost care in safeguarding
a
right which they allege to have been violated.
These are indispensable. We cannot afford protection to persons if they themselves did nothing to place the matter within the confines
of
their
private
zone.
OSN
users
must
be
mindful enough to learn the use of privacy tools,
to use them if they desire to keep the information private,
and to keep track of changes in the available privacy settings, such as those of Facebook, especially because Facebook is notorious for changing these
settings and the site's
layout often.
In
finding
that
respondent
STC
and
its officials did not violate the minors'
privacy rights,
We find no cogent reason
to disturb the findings and case
disposition of the court a quo.
In light of the foregoing, the Court need not belabor the other assigned errors.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the petition
is hereby DENIED.
The Decision dated July 27, 2012
of the Regional
Trial
Court, Branch 14 in Cebu City in SP. Proc.
No.
19251-CEB
is hereby AFFIRMED.
Matter closed.
STC High School picture with me in the back row, 6th from left. The STC nuns had rules, and we all knew them. Our parents also knew those rules. In fact our parents placed us in STC, precisely because the nuns had high standards.
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Tags: St. Theresa's College, #STC, #Cebu, #Philippines, #lawsuit, #SupremeCourt, #decision, #bikinigirls
This is all for now,
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