Spring Break
Web site poses problems for privacy
Furrah Qureshi
Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: Ed-Op
Guaranteed anonymity and a platform to promulgate your ideas to the world are the means to turn a respectful non-contentious student into a belligerent Internet spammer. We are finding ourselves in this new medium of public domain, still unaware of just how public it is. I can't wait for the 2066 elections, where viable presidential candidates will be haunted by their own Facebook pictures as the beauty queens of today are. We are part of a youth culture that has the ability to instantly photograph all factions of our lives and instantly post them to the web. We may be hurting ourselves in the long run, but in the short run, many Internet users are hurting others as well.
JuicyCampus.com has been making headlines recently, as well as not-so-recently, for providing a mechanism for anonymous users to exploit the personal lives of other students. Sexually explicit recollections and possible fabrications that mention students by name are making Google waves across the Internet. Since last fall, seven college campuses have launched the gossip web site despite the uproar of students.
"It is an expression from our student body that we don't want this junk in our community," Andy Canales, leader of the student government at Pepperdine, said in an interview with CNN. Pepperdine recently voted 23-5 to ask for a ban of the web site.
JuicyCampus is the latest staple in the ongoing war between the freedom of speech and the right to privacy. Society exists as equilibrium of the two - constantly fluctuating and wavering, depending on the political environment of the country. But I am a staunch zealot for the first amendment, yet I still have qualms about the web site. I think it's tacky and in very poor taste. However, defenders of the web site (and there are many) will claim that anyone who is willing to "act" a certain way "deserves" to deal with public ramifications - which is absolutely stupid. Even though I think people have a reasonable expectation of privacy when engaging in intimate acts, who is to say any of these posts are even valid? Regardless of how you feel about drunkenness or promiscuity, you can at least feel sympathy for people who have done nothing and still appear in trashy posts by name. As usual, the Internet is providing a platform for people to lie or hyperbolize while hiding behind the guise of freedom of speech.
JuicyCampus.com has been making headlines recently, as well as not-so-recently, for providing a mechanism for anonymous users to exploit the personal lives of other students. Sexually explicit recollections and possible fabrications that mention students by name are making Google waves across the Internet. Since last fall, seven college campuses have launched the gossip web site despite the uproar of students.
"It is an expression from our student body that we don't want this junk in our community," Andy Canales, leader of the student government at Pepperdine, said in an interview with CNN. Pepperdine recently voted 23-5 to ask for a ban of the web site.
JuicyCampus is the latest staple in the ongoing war between the freedom of speech and the right to privacy. Society exists as equilibrium of the two - constantly fluctuating and wavering, depending on the political environment of the country. But I am a staunch zealot for the first amendment, yet I still have qualms about the web site. I think it's tacky and in very poor taste. However, defenders of the web site (and there are many) will claim that anyone who is willing to "act" a certain way "deserves" to deal with public ramifications - which is absolutely stupid. Even though I think people have a reasonable expectation of privacy when engaging in intimate acts, who is to say any of these posts are even valid? Regardless of how you feel about drunkenness or promiscuity, you can at least feel sympathy for people who have done nothing and still appear in trashy posts by name. As usual, the Internet is providing a platform for people to lie or hyperbolize while hiding behind the guise of freedom of speech.
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