| Facebook becomes law enforcement tool |
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| Written by Sean Garmire -Argonaut | ||||||
| Tuesday, 04 April 2006 | ||||||
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Lately Facebook has been used for more than connecting people. Outside
Idaho, some university administrators and law enforcement agencies have
used personal information and pictures from Facebook to sanction
students, or even expel them. Joni Kirk, UI media relations officer, said she was unaware of any cases of university administration using Facebook to investigate students. However, it has become common practice at some universities. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported March 22 that the University of Washington began questioning students after party photographs posted on Facebook were reported to administrators. The photos depicted underage students drinking from keg cups. Another case occurred in March 2005 after a University of Oklahoma freshman posted a joke about the assassination of President Bush. The U.S. Secret Service was alerted of the threat by a fellow UO student and the Facebook user was detained and questioned. Students at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., advertised their on-campus party on Facebook and asked the guests to “bring cake.” The party was later raided by campus police, who found no alcohol at the party, according to the police report, just an inordinate amount of cake. Student’s profiles are visible to anyone registered on Facebook from the same campus or Facebook administration. However, account privacy settings on the site allow students to filter out viewers, meaning users can block anyone registered as faculty or staff from viewing the profile. A Facebook search at UI revealed several photos of university students posing with beer bottles, plastic cups, shot glasses and, in some cases, illegal drug paraphernalia. “This type of thing happens occasionally at schools throughout the network,” said Chris Hughes, a Facebook spokesperson. “Faculty and/or administrators are able to consider Facebook a forum of expression for their students, and they are legally able to regulate their behavior or use that information to make decisions. We’re not saying that we by any means support this type of use of the network, but it is within their legal rights to do it.”  Add as favorites (93) | Views: 3140
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