For their TV broadcasting class, two students at Lakeview High School in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, outside Detroit, produced a high-impact, eight-minute video documentary on the poor judgement shown by some teens at their school who reveal WAY too much of themselves in their personal Web pages at MySpace.com.

It's a timely, worthy topic. Recent news reports have highlighted how predators use MySpaces.com to identify underage girls for sexual liaisons. Parents need to be the ones really watching out here, but some proportion of kids using MySpace.com could certainly stand to hear from their peers about the risks of the venue in which they're operating. They seem to forget, or not care that the Internet is global and very public.

So, what happens to the journalism teacher in whose class the student-produced video was shown? She gets put on paid administrative leave, pending further review, by Lakeview Public Schools, because of "salacious" images in the video. A story last week in The Freep described those images, involving Lakeview student exhibitionists. (Their faces, taken from unobscured MySpace.com screenshots, were blocked out in the video).

They showed students drinking, posing provocatively or partially nude, and in one case kissing a vodka bottle.

On the Internet for all to see. I'll bet you dollars to donuts that Lakeview High School already has "safe sex" content in its sex ed classes. Shooting the messenger here makes no sense. The school's mission statement says it seeks, in part, to "empower" students to learn appropriate "behaviors" in order to become "responsible" citizens.

According to Freep columnist Brian Dickerson's piece today (first link), Lakeview student and video co-producer Scott Sobanski:

....says his controversial MySpace report has already succeeded in making the Web site safer. "Our point was that kids never know who's looking at the stuff they post for their friends' benefit," he said. "All the girls whose sites we showed have either taken down their pictures or set their profiles to private," a feature that allows MySpace users to restrict access to Web users they know.

MySpace.com is owned by conservative media magnate Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp. There are 60 million MySpace users. At the MySpace.com home page, you can quickly get to browsing for "18"-year olds within five miles of any zip code, with their pictures and get-to-know-me-if-you-dare come ons. Literacy and coherence aren't considered bait. Here's what one clothed, 22-year-old from South Carolina with green tassels very strategically affixed to her sweater has to say:

Ummmm..... Let see. I am 22 years old five feet six and antisocial!!! Okay I m me and thats all I have to say to everyone!!! If you dont like me then goodbye dont waste your time res i am comp;ocated as is my life!! about me!!! im boring until you get to know me, but i never talk first!!! !

Here's another gal, from Seattle, an 18-year-old, uh, "moral values" conservative.

I don't watch american news because all we seem to care about in the U.S.A is "Oprahs bad hair day" and we don't give a s*** about people who go hungry and die all the time in the world. I support G. Bush I don't give a f*** why you do or don't so please hold your thoughts to yourself, thanks. I am a religious person and I don't personaly give a f*** if you don't believe in my lord...if you don't good for you go f*** yourself cuz I don't give a s***, don't try and bring me down. I am such a nice person just please respect me.....I currently take a weight loss pill called Hoodia and I work out a lot (thats how I stay so fit because people keep asking how) I don't enjoy large crowds or big social meetings. I like to be alone a lot, I don't open up to a lot of people because lets face it...you don't really give a s*** anyways. Im from SEATTLE WASHINGTON and I don't care what bad you have to say about it, and the rain jokes are out dated...it dosn't even rain here that much idiot. Basicly I am someone who supports MORAL VALUES AND WHAT AMERICA *USED* TO STAND FOR. People who use the excuse "well it's the 2000's" can go get f*****. I don't care, just because everyone jumps off the f****** bridge dosn't mean you have to.....Byeeeee!!!!

God Bless you, darlin' - you do need His love, it's clear. I like your politics and your bikini, but you really need to get out more.

Social network applications like MySpace.com tend to underscore that some (large) percent of the e-canvass will always be a bathroom stall covered with electronic graffiti. High-school kids posting on that wall, like those attending Lakeview High, need to learn the rules of engagement. The school cannot change risky behaviors, but student journalists are to be commended for highlighting the problems of using graphic photos to invite quick intimacy from strangers, online. Seems like these days, every other high school bimbo with a bikini and shot glass is auditioning for "Girls Gone Wild" ("No Rules! No Parents! No Clothes!").

MySpace.com is where a lot of kids are spending their spare time, as opposed to, say, Lakeview High's production of "Music Man." For its part, the company says it will soon announce plans to boost security, monitoring and safety education.

Safety education. Like what the Lakeview High student video was all about.

TECHNORATI TAGS: MYSPACE.COM, LAKEVIEW HIGH SCHOOL, ST. CLAIR SHORES, GIRLS GONE WILD, INTERNET, SEXUAL PREDATORS, NEWSCORP, RUPERT MURDOCH, SEATTLE, SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGE BUSH