Get involved: Send your news, views, pictures and video by texting SUPIC to 80360 or email us.
1:59pm Friday 4th February 2011 in News
Education officials are demanding that web bosses shut down sites set up by pupils to mock their school.
Facebook has taken down a page set up by a group of sixth form students at Varndean College in Brighton after teachers complained it breached the school’s copyright.
The fake page, a light hearted look at life at the college, was immediately taken down by Facebook.
A similar site set up by the same group on Twitter is now being targeted by the school.
But Twitter has so far refused – so long as the students make sure the page states it is a parody.
Featuring a fake logo, it says: “Not so official Twitter Account for Varndean College Brighton & Hove.”
Among other things, it has claimed the school is closed due to a zombie apocalypse.
The page is followed by a number of people including some Brighton and Hove councillors.
A spokesman for Twitter said: “Twitter firmly believes in the freedom of expression.
“However, impersonation that misleads, confuses, or deceives is against our rules.”
The 18-year-old pupil who set up the Facebook and Twitter accounts, with two friends, said: “We are not very happy at college at the moment with some teaching and the computer systems.
“But we just set it up for a bit of fun so we were surprised they intervened so quickly.”
A Varndean College spokesman said: “We reported the fake Facebook page to Facebook so they took it down. Facebook has a clear policy of not allowing fraudulent accounts.
“If they are fake they have to make clear they are parody. This was not done.”
The Argus has no responsibility or control over the content on external blogging sites, but you can contact us if you have a complaint.
Comments(11)
chipmunk77
says...
2:09pm Fri 4 Feb 11
Hector66
says...
2:23pm Fri 4 Feb 11
Norsemen
says...
2:25pm Fri 4 Feb 11
Interociter
says...
2:56pm Fri 4 Feb 11
Granny
says...
3:12pm Fri 4 Feb 11
dhamallamafarmer
says...
3:26pm Fri 4 Feb 11
Interociter wrote:Students who think don't pass exams. Those who learn by rote do!
I would have thought the teachers would be pleased with their pupils exhibiting creative thought, understanding the concept of satire and learning to use modern communications.
Turing Test
says...
3:44pm Fri 4 Feb 11
Granny wrote:Perhaps they were just constantly depressed by your spelling. You can't have got a scholarship based on your "grammer"...
I attended Varndean when it was a grammer school and you had to pass the scholarship to go there. It doesn't appear to have changed over the years - the staff were sadly lacking in a sense of humour then.
puddingandpi
says...
6:49pm Fri 4 Feb 11
HoveRocksActually
says...
10:50pm Fri 4 Feb 11
TheInsider
says...
3:10pm Sat 5 Feb 11
Search for Jobs in Brighton, Hove, Lewes, Worthing, Crawley and more...
Search Now »
Find the right person in Brighton, Hove, Lewes, Worthing, Crawley...
Search Now »
Search for Homes in Brighton, Worthing, Hove, Lewes...
Search Now »
Search for Cars in Brighton, Hove, Lewes, Worthing, Crawley...
Search Now »
rosiedoes says...
2:09pm Fri 4 Feb 11