Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Facebook under more scrutiny

Tonight at a meeting, it was brought up that the webiste Facebook.com has been in the news as of late. Schools such as UC-Santa Barbara, Boston University, and even in Chicago's CBS affiliate's nightly news have had stories about it in the last couple of days. Some of the news coverage spotlights the risk of publishing personal information online based upon privacy concerns, other aspects highlight dangers of being charged with a violation or denied a job because of what's in one's profile.

I could easily see people my age objecting to such a possibility under the mantle of free speech and expression. Free speech though does not mean freedom to offend, or at least, if someone speaks or expresses themself freely and offensively, that person should not be surprised if repercussions are in order. In all honesty, I don't know why people want to join Facebook clubs with titles like "Yes, I'm Drunk in my Facebook Picture" and "Accidentally Missed Class because I was Hungover on a Weekday...Again." Whatever happened to keeping some information--particularly the most unflattering, tacky stuff--private? Or is being what could be considered an alcoholic a good thing? I don't know anymore, but I feel like my generation is under the impression that there is no holds barred in terms of doing tacky, stupid, things and advertising it to all of the world. If an employer or school adminstrator should notice this too, maybe it's not such a bad thing.

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