Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon T
I can't see how this can be done legally, anything on a personal mobile phone, text, email's are classed as the owner's data, therefore under the data protection act you would either need the data owners consent or a legal instrument to allow them to be viewed.
I think the data commissioner/ ICO may take a dim view of this.
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Teachers act
in loco parentis at school ... In other words they are responsible to care for children as a reasonable parent would. In reality, they almost certainly already have the right to do this with mobiles if the circumstances justify it, just as they never lost the right to use reasonable force against children where justified.
The reason the use of force has been enshrined in statute, and I suspect the reason this measure is now proposed to be, is to take a stand against those parents who have a chip on their shoulders about their own school days and are prepared to resort to Law to deal with the school rather than supporting the school's attempts to deal with their children.
The DPA was never intended to prevent child bullies from being caught and disciplined and if that is inadvertently now the case then frankly that is insane. Nobody would suggest the DPA should be used to stop a parent dealing with unacceptable use of a mobile phone so there should be no justification for it being used against a school which is acting with the same duty of care s a parent.
If new statute law is required in order to prevent schools being prosecuted under the DPA whilst dealing with cyber bullying and associated issues, then I'm all for it.