Principal sues MySpacers

The next big challenge of the social-networking phenomenon is beginning to show up in news reports. This week the Associated Press picked up a story in the San Antonio Express-News about a school administrator suing two students for impersonating her in a MySpace profile (and last week I included an item about a school assignment gone awry with a student threatening to kill a dog in his MySpace page). Anna Draker, assistant principal at Clark High School in San Antonio is suing the students, both 16, and their parents for "defamation, libel, negligence, and negligent supervision," alleging that the students "set up a Web page on MySpace in her name" and posted obscene comments and pictures. The AP adds that "Draker found out in April that someone had created a page on MySpace. It had been up about a month before she discovered it. The site falsely identified Draker as a lesbian. Klasing said Draker, who is married and has small children, was 'devastated'." Social networkers of all ages are doing the same to celebrities. MySpace "is filled with dozens of user pages that purport to be profile pages created by business luminaries Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Martha Stewart and Donald Trump," USATODAY reports. "Many of the phony pages appear legitimate: They have flattering photos and list seemingly correct personal details, such as income, astrology signs and marital status. But bits of misinformation - and even malicious tidbits - are often tucked in." MySpace says that impersonating profiles violate its terms of service and removes them upon request. The problem is, the minute a profile's taken down a fresh one can be created, which can make stopping determined and/or malicious impersonators a full-time job for both their victims and MySpace.