Most likely you have an account on the Facebook. Most likely there are pictures of you posted there. And if you’re a minor, it’s very likely that some of those pictures show you engaged in a certain illegal activity — that is, drinking alcohol — as college students are wont to do.
Surely this comes as no surprise to anyone. What may come as a surprise is that police and university judicial authorities can use Facebook evidence in their investigations into student behavior. Students at several universities have faced disciplinary action or investigations due in large part to information authorities obtained via Facebook pictures, groups and comments.
No one is using Facebook photos as the sole grounds for investigations — it’s not as if Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore sits at his computer every day, scrutinizing every photo he can find for pictures of Boston University kids hitting the bottle — but it is another tool in authorities’ toolboxes, and a perfectly acceptable one.
While they may find this kind of investigation unsettling, students must understand that it is well within the limits of the law. And if they want to avoid any Facebook-related incidents, they must recognize that it is their responsibility to make sure they don’t put anything incriminating online for all to see.
Because it requires a “.edu” email address, the Facebook lulls us into a false sense of security, into believing that anything we do there is only open to a limited audience. But the Internet is a very open place, and it is not difficult to obtain “.edu” addresses — especially for administrators, who obviously already have them.
Before the Facebook, it seems, students were wary of what they posted online. They thought twice before putting such personal information as their phone numbers, screen names, addresses and photographs online.
Now, however, students throw caution to the wind — and they do so at their own risk.
Remember those links on the left-hand side of every Facebook page? The first few — “My Profile,” “My Friends,” “My Photos” — are familiar to every Facebook user. Less familiar, though, is the last link: “My Privacy.” There, people can limit access to their profiles to their friends or their friends’ friends. The decision is left to the individual, but it should be made with the knowledge that evidence is evidence, regardless of whether it comes from a new-fangled website like the Facebook.
Does this mean that students should sit at home every weekend because they’re afraid someone may snap a picture of them with a big red cup or a bottle of beer in their hands at a party? Of course not. But they also shouldn’t go looking for trouble by posting hundreds of photos of themselves doing illegal things online.
