So the Princeton police used Facebook to track down student wrongdoers–and the students were outraged. Ed Felten has an interesting take on the situation:
It’s easy to see why Public Safety might be interested in reading Facebook, and why students might want to keep Public Safety away. In the end, Public Safety stated that it would not hunt around randomly on Facebook, but it would continue to use Facebook as a tool in specific investigations. Many people consider this a reasonable compromise. It feels right to me, though I can’t quite articulate why.[Freedom to Tinker » Blog Archive » Facebook and the Campus Cops]
I’m reminded of the crucial role higher education could play in this whole conversation. Instead, I hear either the utopian dreams of self-organizing civilization or the dystopian nightmares of expressing anything on the Internet. I’m not sure I’m exactly where Ed Felten is, but I appreciate his attempts to get at a nuanced reading of these issues. Don’t miss the discussion that follows in the comments.
Via Jon Udell, with thanks for the bookmarklet.
I just discovered your blog!
As a student who gets continually teased from the tech people and other kids in my class for being OBSESSED with facebook, I was really interested to read your blog about this mini-controversy. At first, I was upset to read that Public Safety officers were using facebook to get students in trouble. It does seem like facebook websites are sort of our own personal space. Most students assume that only students use facebook, not faculty or staff. It feels deceivingly safe because only people with college e-mail addresses can access your information and that leads one to believe that it’s keeping a good percentage of random, potentially threatening people off of your site. However, I have heard stories of girls posting their addresses and having people on campus stalk them. I refuse to post my cell phone number, but other people have that info there, as well as much more about them. I do think students need to re-think how much they post about themselves online. It could not only get them into trouble with school administration, but also be dangerous.
Hi Jenna!
This whole issue is a tough one, especially since some faculty (myself included) have accounts on Facebook and have been made to feel very welcome by our students. I’m even getting birthday hellos and other messages about classes. I want to know my students as people, not to judge them, but to know the whole person, always subject to how much that person feels comfortable sharing with me.
There’s got to be some way to find the “sweet spot” between community and privacy.
And on an abstract level, I find all these kinds of questions extremely interesting. It’s all about civilization and community.
Thanks for stopping by! I’m honored.