FACEBOOK POLICING IS NO SURPRISE

When The Hatchet began investigating the story of a student who was
arrested for possession with the intent to distribute marijuana last
week, background material was just a click away.

The fact that Student Judicial Services and other campus offices use
Facebook and other online sites to monitor student behavior should
not be surprising, especially when access to potentially
incriminating evidence is so easy. Numerous reports over the past
two years have shed light on instances in which administrators use
Facebook to investigate student behavior. Students should realize
that they are liable for content posted on the Internet.

Social networking Web sites should be enjoyable resources for
students to maintain friendships and meet new people in cyberspace.
Users must realize, however, that such content is voluntarily posted
in the public domain and is no longer their personal property. While
the online personal data and images collected by GW, other
universities and private businesses may spur a vigorous debate on
privacy issues, those who choose to post their contact information,
activities and pictures should not be the ones who are surprised.

Perhaps the most alarming aspect of this issue is the willingness of
our generation to voluntarily submit information about ourselves to
areas of public scrutiny. Often ignorant to the operation of Web
sites that allow users to post information, students readily leave
an electronic trail of personal data that may be stored on servers
for many years.

As more University departments, such as GW's athletic programs, use
Facebook and other sites to monitor their students, more members of
the GW community will likely express outrage over such actions. It
is, however, a student's responsibility to treat the Internet as the
public domain it is and operate accordingly.