Friday, August 24, 2007
APB to present “Facebook Knows What You Did Last Summer”
 Are there pictures of you on MySpace or Facebook that you wouldn’t attach to a job application? If so, you might see them during C.L. Lindsay III’s program, “Facebook Knows What You Did Last Summer,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, September 6 in Carter Hall. The program is sponsored by USI’s Activities Programming Board (APB). In preparation for his campus programs, Lindsay finds online images of that institution’s students and incorporates them into his presentation. He said showing the students pictures of themselves “really gets their attention.” There’s nothing inherently wrong with social networking sites, he said. Facebook and MySpace can be great tools, but the thing that makes them popular – that they seamlessly connect people with one another – is the same thing that makes them dangerous. He said most students are unaware of university policies that state that by using a university’s computer system, students give up their right to privacy. Whether or not universities acts on it, most reserve the right to monitor or access files, programs, email, or other accounts. “A lot of students feel incredibly betrayed when they find that out. Many don’t read the rules, and the rules are getting important and complicated. If you don’t know the rules that govern your actions it’s hard to operate within them.” Lindsay left a private law practice in 1998 to found the Coalition for Student and Academic Rights (CO-STAR), which offers college students free legal help. He is the author of The College Student's Guide to the Law: Get a Grade Changed, Keep Your Stuff Private, Throw a Police-Free Party, and More! He also will discuss the legal ramifications of buying papers online, cutting and pasting from the Internet, and downloading music illegally. He said the Recording Industry Association of America is “suing college students left and right now about piracy.” “I thank God every day that I didn’t have this technology when I was a kid,” he said, adding that his program could be subtitled: “Listen, don’t be stupid.” For more information, contact Adam Trinkel, APB president, at 812/464-1872 or go to www.usi.edu/apb. |
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