Effective January 1, 2015, the state of Illinois passed a law that states if any student is accused of cyberbullying, they may be required to give their passwords to the school administrators.

Personally, I think this law is absurd. Students should not have to give up their passwords because it is an invasion of privacy. If they are accused of cyberbullying, then it is already on the internet, and you can see the comments or tweets, or photos. Also if they delete it, then it won’t matter whether or not you have their password because the material is already gone.

“I don’t condone cyberbullying,” freshman Brandon Cassavaugh said. “But it is a total invasion of privacy for them to require a password.”

Cyberbullying is wrong, and we need more ways to stop it, but making kids give their passwords to the school is not going to solve anything. Additionally, it takes about a minute to change a password so it would be easy for students to change their passwords as soon as they give them to the school.

There is no benefit to a school having their password; it just shows the kids personal messages and their followers. Messages can be screenshotted from the victim instead of the bully.

“You shouldn’t have to give up your password because there are other ways to stop cyberbullying,” sophomore Caleb Martin said.

As of right now, Illinois is the first state to have a law like this, but more may follow.