By: Nathan Park

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The American Civil Liberties Union of  (ACLU) is trying to present a bill that would protect student rights to privacy on social media. School administrators across the nation have forced students to disclose their username and password to their social media accounts. Though the ACLU recognize the problem, they do not have enough evidence to support the need for the bill. The student body, who has suffered these abuses, need to stand up and share their story with the ACLU to prove this is an issue.

In a recent press conference, ACLU intern Sana Chaudry advocated students to support the bill without providing much evidence proving the urgency of the issue. She only gave a few isolated states that had the problem. Civil Beat reporter Chad Blaire criticized her for not backing up her claims by saying ,”ACLU where’s the beef?” Though, ACLU does not have significant statistical data to support their claims, it doesn’t mean that the issue isn’t there. We don’t want to wait for the issue to grow into a significant problem to do something about it. We must take preventive measures to stop these policies before they spread to every school in the nation.

To support the bill, students can go onto the ACLU website and email them their story. Also, students can go the Children and Youth Summit 2013mit on October 1, 2012, to vote in favor of including it in the Keiki Caucus’ 2013 State Legislative Package. We the students have the power to stand up for our rights and it is our duty to do so. Keep that in mind when you decide whether or not to support this bill.