I think it's pretty obvious why they want it removed, if I was in you position I would take it down, apologise and then start it again with a different domain and don't advertise the fact it has anything to do with you
But I just see it as wrong that they are demanding I take down a site which was not created againts the school. TommyD, Its not on the school system. dct: Its already been remade by other people on other servers.
Also learn a lesson from this...Don't Sh*t where you eat If you design something like this at home, market it elsewhere. Not at your own school where you can be suspended for chewing gum.
If the site is not hosted on school servers, they cannot "demand" anything. I demand amazon.com be taken down, they get way more sales than I do and I'm miffed!
yfs1, It was not maketed, it has found its way into the system by forums that my school mates must visited.
Like I said, you may be legally in the right but whats that get you? You are a smart girl, college and continued education should be on your mind. Not making $7 at the expense of your education.
$7 which may I add goes to charity, as does most of the money I make . But okey im starting to see your point.
They technically have no right to force you to shut down the site, but they could make your life difficult at school, couldn't they?
Been down to your local library lately? Highly filtered in KC, there seems to be a manual blocking of sites... someone posts a f-bomb in a forum, and some old lady decides you can't visit the entire domain. This is a useful tool, school or not. Get your folks involved, if they agree with you. They will be treated as intelligent adults, not ignorant children to be bullied.
Sorry guys but you are muddying the waters on this issue. There are 2 issues here, and we appear to be answering them at the same time. This chap is a pupil at a school, he has a site that is actively promoting and therefore advocating pupils in the education system bypass the very security that is put in place to protect them. Sorry but if you live in my house, you live by my rules! Case 1: can they deman he remove the site? case2: can the school punish him for not doing so. In the second case the answer is bluntly that the school are within their rights to expel him from school because of his actions. The LAW allows people to be punished if their actions outside of a school or place of work impacts on that school or place of work. Are they within their rights to demand it be taken down? NO legally if the information is not illegal, then they do not. I suspect though that we have not had the full story, and that the letter demanded that he took the site down, or face the consequences. In this case that is likely to be a suspension/expulsion!
I'm with the Welsh bloke. Schools run on their own rules. Forget the law. You annoy them - they suspend you. Best thing to do would be to tell them you are no longer running that site. Doesn't mean you can't run the site anymore, just transfer it to some other name and make it not traceable back to you. Then apologise to them, and tell them you've reaslised the errors of your ways. Be meek. Explain that you would have closed it down, but it was worth money so you sold it. Tell them you sold it to VORD if they ask. Really it works. And don't promote it publicly in the school. From the way it you've promoted it so well the teachers have found out you won't have to.
I'll stick my 2 peneth in here. Don't take the site down and seek legal advise. This isn't a lot different to what a company I used to work for tried. Many companies think that because you're contracted to them for 8 hours per day, that they can tell you what you can and can't do during the other 16 hours. No they f'in can't and if you signed a contract that says they can then you need your head seeing to. Schools seem to be trying to go down the same route. I have many many issues with the schooling system in the UK, and the legal requirement to send my child to school yet a school can arbitarily decide to exclude any child from their school (my child is only 2 years old atm so I'm not really affected yet) even because they've decided to go on strike for the day. Lord I hope I'm rolling in it when my child has to go to school. Get legal advise. Then assuming the legal advise is in your favour, write up a press release and send a copy to the school (without sending it anywhere else). In this day and age, a school's reputation is everything and imagine what publicity a school (any school) will get when people start hearing, reading in the papers, viewing on the TV and Internet, that the school doesn't support creative thinking. Be prepared to take some serious s**t though. The establishment don't like people who rock the boat, and schools are part of the establishment. Above all, be prepared to follow the legal advise you get. If they say you don't have a leg to stand on then back peddle fast. If your school is stupid enough to make an issue of this then that's their problem, it could quite literally destroy any reputation they have (if the press release is worded correctly) and that could destroy intake numbers which in turn affects funding, sponsorship etc etc. At the end of the day it's your call, but I dispise anyone (school, company, or whoever - with the exception of SWMBO) who tells me what I can do in my time. And yes, I have threatened to walk out of jobs in the past over this - if you're good at your job they will back down. It's easier now that I work for myself as I get a big say as to what's written in the contracts. note: if you are a minor, then clear everything through your parents first. They are legally responsible for what you do. In fact, if you're a minor then I'm not sure the school can demand that you take the site down - they may be able to demand that your parents/legal gardian take the site down. and remember IANAL
The main problem is that we don't really know the whole story, as someone already said. What did your school exactly complain about? Anyway, from what I know I would go for getting rid of the site and maybe putting it in someelse's name but very discretely. Still, the school can make your life harder even though you don't formally run the site, but simply because you started it and that pisses them off, and they could suspect your involvement anyway.
Because you shouldn't bow down to rediculous requests. People have to stand up against so-called authorities. If the site is hosted privately they can not ask you to take it down (unless it slanders the school in question or something to that effect). Even if you were ignoring school rules and access the site (if that's the case) they can only punish you for that and still not make you take yuor site down. That's just rediculous. Will they ask all webmasters of sites their pupils visit to take their sites down if they don't like the content? Give me a break. Tell them you won't take it down and say sorry if you have been accessing this or other sites whilst forbidden by school rules.
If you take Jlawrence's advice keep in mind the school may also get aggresive. I suspect your proxy was used to do something illegal or at the very least against school rules. Those involved may have been able to use ANY proxy service but they used yours and you can probably be directly linked to them knowing about it. They might then argue your involvement and your press release will be met by their rebuttal which will include all the facts. I agree they will be concerned with their reputation so thats even more of a reason for them to release what the students in question were using your proxy for. They will then argue that it was made just for this purpose. If you are willing to lose everything you have acquired and risk your future over principal (which without all the facts may not even be the case), then go for it.
I have to disagree T0PS. You and I may persue a legal battle but we know the risks involved. This is a young girl who needs to think about more than principal.