MySpace is not private

When will social networkers learn that they can't just post whatever they want and not expect some pushback? Latest case in point comes from Coalinga, where one Cynthia Moreno got into an online rant about how much she despised her community - and then filed suit for invasion of privacy when the hometown newspaper published her words. A Fresno.-based appellate court said she had no grounds even if she meant her thoughts to be for a limited audience on MySpace. From The Recorder:

Moreno, a University of California at Berkeley student at the time, posted her "Ode to Coalinga" on her MySpace page fresh after visiting the town of 19,000 residents off Interstate 5 midway between Sacramento and Los Angeles. She began by saying "the older I get, the more I realize how much I despise Coalinga," and then made several negative comments about the town and its inhabitants. The entry was posted only six days, but that was long enough for Roger Campbell, principal of Coalinga High School, to find the ode and forward it to Pamela Pond, editor of the Coalinga Record. The ode was published in the newspaper's letters section.

Moreno's parents and younger sister say they got death threats and a gun shot was fired at their home. Free-speech lawyer Karl Olson said some folks "probably may need a Miranda warning before they go on the Internet - that anything they post can and will be used against them."