Broadcasting yourself: no such thing as online privacy
Erika Helmerichs
Issue date: 8/22/08 Section: News
"John Doe just joined the group DRUNK SK8 2008."
"Jane Smith is soooo sick of her literature class and professor Hamilton."
Despite constant Internet incrimination, freshman Daniel Rowell said he knows he is protected when he surfs Myspace and Facebook.
"I post nothing I would be embarrassed about if someone else read it," Rowell said.
He said these Web sites have helped him find and keep in touch with many friends and relatives, as well as meet new classmates.
Myspace and Facebook have made fortunes off of the willingness of students to broadcast information to anyone and everyone on the Internet.
"Students are more hooked up to their computers and phones now," James Klenke, associate vice chancellor of Student Affairs, said. "There has definitely been a shift in how students get to know each other."
Klenke said there have been countless changes in university life since the conception of these sites, including a major loss in "face to face" communication.
Sophomore Margaret Sheerer said sees this shift in communication as a positive advancement for college students.
"The sites can provide a place where people with common interests can come together and university organizations often use these sites as a means of much stronger communication between members than in the past," Sheerer said. "I think the effects are mostly positive, although there is the occasional underage drinking bust or loss of job credibility."
Sheerer said she regularly uses these sites, though she has made her Myspace page private and never includes personal information on any Internet sites.
"Students should first and foremost think strongly about pictures and things they post online before doing it," Sheerer said. "They should consider the possibility of future employers or other important people seeing anything that might damage the students' reputation."
Klenke said SIUE cannot protect students against breach of privacy when they willingly upload pictures or include information telling of the "habits they have."
"Jane Smith is soooo sick of her literature class and professor Hamilton."
Despite constant Internet incrimination, freshman Daniel Rowell said he knows he is protected when he surfs Myspace and Facebook.
"I post nothing I would be embarrassed about if someone else read it," Rowell said.
He said these Web sites have helped him find and keep in touch with many friends and relatives, as well as meet new classmates.
Myspace and Facebook have made fortunes off of the willingness of students to broadcast information to anyone and everyone on the Internet.
"Students are more hooked up to their computers and phones now," James Klenke, associate vice chancellor of Student Affairs, said. "There has definitely been a shift in how students get to know each other."
Klenke said there have been countless changes in university life since the conception of these sites, including a major loss in "face to face" communication.
Sophomore Margaret Sheerer said sees this shift in communication as a positive advancement for college students.
"The sites can provide a place where people with common interests can come together and university organizations often use these sites as a means of much stronger communication between members than in the past," Sheerer said. "I think the effects are mostly positive, although there is the occasional underage drinking bust or loss of job credibility."
Sheerer said she regularly uses these sites, though she has made her Myspace page private and never includes personal information on any Internet sites.
"Students should first and foremost think strongly about pictures and things they post online before doing it," Sheerer said. "They should consider the possibility of future employers or other important people seeing anything that might damage the students' reputation."
Klenke said SIUE cannot protect students against breach of privacy when they willingly upload pictures or include information telling of the "habits they have."
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