Student sued over Facebook comments

GENEVA, Ill., Sept. 19 (UPI) -- A beauty school in Illinois is seeking damages from a student for comments posted on his Facebook page.

The lawsuit in Kane County Circuit Court by the Salon Professional Academy of Elgin could set a precedent on the limits of free speech online, the Chicago Tribune reported. The school says Nicholas Blacconiere used its logo without permission and also wants $50,000 in damages for emotional harm to its staff.

Blacconiere had offered his page to fellow students in a somewhat ungrammatical post: "Don't be afraid to post comments on whats going on, this is yor voice too. All for one and one for all right?!"

Robert Wagner, a lawyer representing school officials, called the contents of the page "a bunch of lies."

Courts are still struggling with the limits of Internet sites and social-networking pages set up to embarrass teachers or others. A judge ruled a Pennsylvania school violated a student's free-speech rights for disciplining him for comments on his MySpace page, while in Connecticut a school was allowed to keep a student from running for student office because of the contents of her blog.