Attn: Teachers

[Sample00]

I came across this forum yesterday and thought I should share this with you.

www.ratemyteachers.ca

this forum allows students to rate/comment on their teachers and professors anonymously. so you can just well imagine the bashing that takes place.

My issue with this is; what laws are in place that would allow a website to post peoples names, professions and addresses without the consent of that individual.

Yes, my wife is listed on that site and she is the vice principal of a middle school. She is also the head of handing out the discipline at her school. You can well imagine the bashing that she is taking or will take. I got a problem with that. so can anyone offer suggestions?

[Frank the Tank]

Get a lawyer to send them a nasty letter. Usually works.

[MolsonInBothHands]

Have a look at the Wall of Shame on that site. It appears that many schools and/or districts in that province have blocked access to that site. I realize that this doesn't stop anyone from slander at their private computers, but it is a start. I agree that there are some serious privacy issues with having someone's full name, place of employment, and most likely area of residence up for public display, along with possible accusations that you can't respond to.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Great site, but Im with you, my cousin is a teacher and she actually tought me math in gr9 and 10, and had the reputation of being a bitch and sure enough she still has it. It's unfortunate that a site like this exists, teachers should come back and have their own site and rip the little ****s that ripped them.

[Burninator]

I honestly doubt you can do anything. The internet is fairly well protected for freedom of speech. What addresses are you referring to? School addresses or of the teacher?

Also I don't really understand the point of this website. When I went to k-12 I couldn't choose any of my teachers. However http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ makes alot more sense because you can pick your professor. This just serves as bashing site for stupid 14 year olds to slam their teachers because they don't let them talk on their phones in class.

[Sample00]

The site gives the name, address of the school and the position that she holds. This is done without her authorization. I dont agree with that personally.

and with regards to teachers having a site that rips the lil *******s, can yuo just imagine the lawsuits that would be filed there???????

[photon]

I can't think of any laws against posting public information on a website (I guess unless that information was for the purpose of harming the person). The fact that person ABC works at school XYZ is public knowledge.

If the posts are in any way defamatory then contact the site admins to get them removed:

http://www.ratemyteachers.ca/info.php?type=RateRules

Otherwise it's a legal battle to have the site's host remove them to shut them down.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Sample00

The site gives the name, address of the school and the position that she holds. This is done without her authorization. I dont agree with that personally.

and with regards to teachers having a site that rips the lil *******s, can yuo just imagine the lawsuits that would be filed there???????

That information is given on the school website, at least I know my mom is on there. She doesn't have the best rating, haha, but I would expect that.

As photon said, it's public information. If there are defamitory comments then those should be removed, but in terms of privacy, I don't think anything can be contested here.

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by fotze

She is prtty harsh

smartass!

but you can see how a site like this that allows them to post anonymously can get out of line, yes?

[photon]

Oh totally, I think it has pretty much no good use, and lots of bad ones.

But kids these days and all that

[@theCBE]

I think its important to put in perspective who is actually reading this stuff.

Kids - Sure they are reading it and writing it but I can't see them bothering to read what is written about teachers that don't teach at their own school, why would they care, its not like they can switch schools. Besides kids have been bad mouthing their teachers/school admin for years this is just taking it off the bathroom stalls and onto the internet. They aren't going to be reading anything they don't already hear from their friends or siblings that have had the teachers before.

Other teachers- Probably but I'm guessing is mostly so they can tease one another, I'm sure that at least 95% of the teachers on there have some pretty nasty stuff written about them. Teachers that ALL the kids love usually aren't very popular with their peers.

Parents - I would hope that parents take more stock in standardized testing results rather than bunch of kids bitching and whinning when picking a school for their kids.

Potential Employers-- Same thing as above for other teachers. Not many of the schools come off on this site looking great. Its a known fact, most kids hate their teachers. Any school that takes stock in whats written on this site is not a school that a teacher would want to be at.

The fact is nobody listens to kids, this isn't really helping their cause any.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Originally Posted by Burninator

I honestly doubt you can do anything. The internet is fairly well protected for freedom of speech. What addresses are you referring to? School addresses or of the teacher?

Also I don't really understand the point of this website. When I went to k-12 I couldn't choose any of my teachers. However http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ makes alot more sense because you can pick your professor. This just serves as bashing site for stupid 14 year olds to slam their teachers because they don't let them talk on their phones in class.

LOL, good old Devry instructors.

[jolinar of malkshor]

If the person who subject to the negative comment finds out who posted the comment, can sue for slander.

[photon]

A negative comment isn't slander... and if a comment was defamatory the site would simply remove it (as they say they do in their rules). If they refused to remove it then there might be a case, but you'd have to sue the person doing the posting and not the site itself.

http://www.ratemyteachers.ca/info.php?type=Legal

[AaronSJ]

Originally Posted by Sample00

My issue with this is; what laws are in place that would allow a website to post peoples names, professions and addresses without the consent of that individual.

Absolutely nothing. In fact, a lot of this information is already available through telephone/government directories, school web pages, civil servant salary listings, etc. An argument can be made that this isn't personal information, it's merely the name, position, and business address of a government employee... something which the public should have a right to know.

Obviously the student comments part of the site is taking it one step further. But honestly, there's really nothing you can do about this, so my advice would be to practice ignorance and just not care about what disgruntled 7th graders think...

[Sample00]

thanks for all the input guys.

I still think this kinda site should be banned but hey, what do I know..

as far as disregarding disgruntled 7th graders, I sometimes think that the parents can be far worse than the disgruntled 7th grader.

anyhow, thanks for all the input.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by photon

A negative comment isn't slander... and if a comment was defamatory the site would simply remove it (as they say they do in their rules). If they refused to remove it then there might be a case, but you'd have to sue the person doing the posting and not the site itself.

http://www.ratemyteachers.ca/info.php?type=Legal

ANY comment that, the person subject to the comment, feels is negative to their personal character is considered slander or libel.

[photon]

Um no, it's only defamatory if it's untrue. Truth is the ultimate defence for defamation cases.

And expressing a negative opinion isn't defamation.

IE:

I think Teacher X is a bad teacher, they didn't provide the information in an easy to understand format. - Not defamatory.

I think Teacher Y is a bad teacher, they come to work drunk, hit on the girls, and fail students they don't like. - Defamatory.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

ANY comment that, the person subject to the comment, feels is negative to their personal character is considered slander or libel.

Not if the comment is true. Truth is a defence to any action for libel/slander/defamation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libel

Truth is an absolute defense in the United States as well as Canada.

[V]

Huh, my dad got a good review. Who'd a thunk?