We may live in an era that many feel is dangerously approaching the Big Brother world depicted in the book ’1984,’ but after a high school student was expelled for using profanity in a tweet, lots of people cried foul.

The Garrett, Indiana student, Austin Carroll, recently let loose the F-bomb in a tweet from his home computer at about 2:30 a.m. And since Garrett High School has an automated system to track the social media goings-on of its students, the missive was flagged — and he was booted out of school, just three months before graduation.

The school claims he made the tweet from one of its computers, but Austin denies that. And given the time it was posted, it seems highly unlikely. But even though students staged a protest and the media scrutiny has been harsh, the school is standing by its decision.

As for Austin himself, he’s finishing out his diploma requirements at an alternative school. And although he still steadfastly claims he didn’t do anything wrong, he does have some regrets, saying, “I just want to be able to go back to regular school, go to prom and go to everything that a regular senior would get to do in their senior year.”

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