On: US says it is not illegal for schools to spy on st...

[duffbeer703]

The headline is a really dumb conclusion to draw. What happened is that the prosecutor (ie. the US Attorney) declined to prosecute. They have the autonomy to do that. The school district managed to levy enough political influence to convince the prosecutor to look the other way.

The conclusion to draw is that justice in the US is up for sale. Another US Attorney successfully prosecuted a the principals of a seafood wholesaler, and imprisoned them for 8 years for importing lobsters in plastic bags instead of cardboard boxes. (True story: http://www.economist.com/node/16640389/comments?page=2)

[sprout → duffbeer703]

Because the alternative, that the parents of these students drummed up a flurry of Internet rumors over nothing, is impossible.

[hga → sprout]

Given that that is the subject of a civil suit we may find out if it's nothing or something.

[duffbeer703 → sprout]

Sure its possible. The stories written about this seemed credible enough to show that something very wrong was happening.

It's also possible that the US Attorney concluded that the admin at the school was incompetent, but not intentionally acting in a criminal way.