Last night I was perusing a number of articles about Facebook when I came upon an interesting article about a few college students and their Facebook photos. Apparently the photos that one girl posted of the Spring Break party could be used as grounds for suspending the students.
The real issue was that the students were participating in underage drinking, something I’m sure their coaches were never engaged in during their college career. The main difference is that when those photos were posted, it showed up in friends’ newsfeeds and suddenly the photos were available to all to see. Somehow those photos made into the Online Rocket which is a college targeted news source.
You can read the article and take a look at the pictures and decide for yourselves. In this case I think the students were held up as an example and are now going to be forced to have significant consequences. Then again you must be careful when posting your photos on Facebook!
The girl that uploaded the photos pleaded with the online news publication to not run the article. They went ahead with it. I wonder if this is justifiable and at what point the media crosses the line. Is it news if a random person gets kicked out of school? Getting kicked out for having photos of yourself doing stupid things on your dorm room door can be incriminating but chances are you won’t end up in the news the next day.
Do you think this publication should have published the photos? Where is the line when it comes to publishing photographs obtained via Facebook?
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Should she have posted the photos, no. However, Facebook needs to come to allow creative commons licensing on photos that way people don't get into these situations where news outlets can publish private photos between friends.
Comment by Seth Rubenstein — March 24, 2008 @ 5:39 am
I'm surprised to see college authorities are 'astonished' to find photos of students drinking… and that is a ground for suspension??
What about online videos of college students like 'girls gone wild' or other amateur videos of students, which are far more humiliating than beer bong? When I was in college five years ago, there was no facebook, and still I never missed a frat party sex/drugs/drinking photo that either made rounds online or was even posted on the college newspaper. No-one was suspended, that I heard of.
Comment by sav — March 24, 2008 @ 10:15 am
I'm surprised to see college authorities are 'astonished' to find photos of students drinking… and that is a ground for suspension??What about online videos of college students like 'girls gone wild' or other amateur videos of students, which are far more humiliating than beer bong? When I was in college five years ago, there was no facebook, and still I never missed a frat party sex/drugs/drinking photo that either made rounds online or was even posted on the college newspaper. No-one was suspended, that I heard of.
Comment by sav — March 24, 2008 @ 10:15 am
Should she have posted the photos, no. However, Facebook needs to come to allow creative commons licensing on photos that way people don’t get into these situations where news outlets can publish private photos between friends.
Comment by Seth Rubenstein — March 24, 2008 @ 9:39 am
Where's the proof they were drinking alcohol anyway? I didn't see it. I just saw a typical student fun party.
Question – is are the college authorities taking a swipe at the students or at Facebook ? Personally, I suspect the latter plays at least some part in it.
Comment by Maggy Young — March 25, 2008 @ 1:32 am
Where's the proof they were drinking alcohol anyway? I didn't see it. I just saw a typical student fun party.
Question – is are the college authorities taking a swipe at the students or at Facebook ? Personally, I suspect the latter plays at least some part in it.
Comment by Maggy Young — March 25, 2008 @ 5:32 am
Having worked in and consulted for higher education and new media, don't let any amount of shock surprise you.
Those photos aren't even that bad… And certainly aren't of the overreacting horror-story variety. The school should do some sort of quiet punishment, not offer to speak on the matter and leave it at that. Making a loud example is silly.
I continuously warned college administrators in the last several years that their students will only be handed more and more privacy tools (and will gain the savvy to use the ones they already had)… which means that if they only use Facebook for prosecution that their constituency will drive their actions further underground. They can help decide how high the cultural wall will be.
Comment by dbrowell — March 25, 2008 @ 12:17 pm
Having worked in and consulted for higher education and new media, don't let any amount of shock surprise you.
Those photos aren't even that bad… And certainly aren't of the overreacting horror-story variety. The school should do some sort of quiet punishment, not offer to speak on the matter and leave it at that. Making a loud example is silly.
I continuously warned college administrators in the last several years that their students will only be handed more and more privacy tools (and will gain the savvy to use the ones they already had)… which means that if they only use Facebook for prosecution that their constituency will drive their actions further underground. They can help decide how high the cultural wall will be.
Comment by dbrowell — March 25, 2008 @ 3:17 pm