Georgia authorities seek gossipy MySpace blogger for sexual content

ATHENS, Ga. -- MySpace Lesson No. 143: Be careful what gossip you blog about.

Authorities are searching for whomever posted a long list and description of supposed sexual encounters between dozens of high school students on the online networking site MySpace.com.

Oconee County Sheriff's officials said they were investigating who posted the gossip about North Oconee High School students Sept. 1-9. Since gossip isn't a crime, the sheriff's report lists the offense as distributing obscene materials to minors. The list describes sexual encounters and could be accessed by people younger than 18.

Students argued with one another, disrupting classes, on Sept. 9 -- when most found out about the MySpace blog -- said principal John Osborne.

Lt. David Kilpatrick said that MySpace gave him the e-mail address of the person who created the site, but that it was an anonymous Yahoo account. He said he would subpoena BellSouth, the Internet service provider used to create the e-mail address, to try to determine who paid for the Internet service.

Any student found to have created the site could be expelled because the school's conduct code covers off-campus behavior that affects school life, Osborne said.

He said they might also face lawsuits from parents of students cited in the postings.