2008 Woodie Awards
Facebook can lead to charges, students find
Jacqueline Cieslak - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: Metro
Greg Soukup woke up early on the afternoon of April 4 to find two police officers standing in the doorway of his dorm room. One of them was holding a can of spray paint.
"Been busy?" the officer asked the UI freshman.
In the moments that followed, Soukup learned that photos he had posted on Facebook at around 10 a.m. of graffiti on UI property had led the police to pay him a visit.
"They didn't really tell me much about it, but they referenced the site," he said. "I was like, no way - Facebook?"
Soukup is now facing charges of fourth-degree criminal mischief - the graffiti damage shown in the photos he posted will cost $200 to $500 in repairs. Since April 4, he said, he has changed his privacy settings on Facebook and removed more than half his photos.
Like Soukup, students all around the world are beginning to face disciplinary actions as a result of evidence they post online. Universities in Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as most universities in the United States, have been forced to confront the online activities of their students.
And how could they not? With more than 70 million active users and more than 14 million photos uploaded daily, Facebook is quickly becoming the go-to site for information on students' lives. More than 37,000 users are registered in the UI network alone.
"As a policy, we don't get on Facebook to look for violations," said Greg Thompson, Residence Life manager at the UI. "But we do confront policy violations as we come across them."
Some students at the UI have experienced this policy firsthand. UI freshman Christine Augspurger, along with three of her friends, was fined $200 when Facebook photos showed her in a dorm room with alcohol at the end of last semester.
"I know the alcohol policy, but to have someone turn you in through Facebook and not even warn you or tell you, it really sucks," she said.
Augspurger said the photos were online for about 30 minutes before she and her friends decided to take them down, but that was enough time for someone to e-mail them to a hall coordinator.
"Been busy?" the officer asked the UI freshman.
In the moments that followed, Soukup learned that photos he had posted on Facebook at around 10 a.m. of graffiti on UI property had led the police to pay him a visit.
"They didn't really tell me much about it, but they referenced the site," he said. "I was like, no way - Facebook?"
Soukup is now facing charges of fourth-degree criminal mischief - the graffiti damage shown in the photos he posted will cost $200 to $500 in repairs. Since April 4, he said, he has changed his privacy settings on Facebook and removed more than half his photos.
Like Soukup, students all around the world are beginning to face disciplinary actions as a result of evidence they post online. Universities in Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as most universities in the United States, have been forced to confront the online activities of their students.
And how could they not? With more than 70 million active users and more than 14 million photos uploaded daily, Facebook is quickly becoming the go-to site for information on students' lives. More than 37,000 users are registered in the UI network alone.
"As a policy, we don't get on Facebook to look for violations," said Greg Thompson, Residence Life manager at the UI. "But we do confront policy violations as we come across them."
Some students at the UI have experienced this policy firsthand. UI freshman Christine Augspurger, along with three of her friends, was fined $200 when Facebook photos showed her in a dorm room with alcohol at the end of last semester.
"I know the alcohol policy, but to have someone turn you in through Facebook and not even warn you or tell you, it really sucks," she said.
Augspurger said the photos were online for about 30 minutes before she and her friends decided to take them down, but that was enough time for someone to e-mail them to a hall coordinator.
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 11
lm
posted 4/14/08 @ 4:08 AM CST
well he sure seems like a genious to post that stuff, i untag photos of me in anything compromising and/or ask them to be taken down because we're told these days that your being monitored by people you may not even know. (Continued…)
Leif
posted 4/14/08 @ 4:14 AM CST
If those students had the brains to consult lawyers they wouldn't be paying any fines and they'd be paying legal fees that are less than the fines. There is ALWAYS deniability on the internet when regarding pictures. (Continued…)
Pat
posted 4/14/08 @ 8:52 AM CST
I do wonder what he considers the stupidest decision - defacing property, taking photos of himself doing it, or posting evidence of it.
Some faculty members to look at facebook pages before writing letters of recommendations and some employers look at these pages before they hire interns or employees. (Continued…)
Michael
posted 4/14/08 @ 9:09 AM CST
How about just not be stupid in the first place and not do something that will likely come back and bite you later?
S
posted 4/14/08 @ 9:39 AM CST
Greg Soukup could have argued that it was ART, but then again, it was probably just scribbled vandalism or the fake gang sign work of a wigger (remember those?). (Continued…)
LizzAlum
posted 4/14/08 @ 11:29 AM CST
The trend of being an idiotic public nuisance needs to be addressed. Thankfully that's what these officers are doing. The only problem is that alot of young people will find being caught even cooler - something to brag and laugh about. (Continued…)
Spook
posted 4/14/08 @ 12:14 PM CST
Public idiots are not limited to now. There was a moron in 1976 who stole a human foot from a human anatomy lab. This person then hung the foot from the railroad underpass next to the EPB. (Continued…)
Amanda
posted 4/25/08 @ 10:55 AM CST
Another very important thing that college kids don't realize -- potential employers can also look at your Facebook... and more often then not, they have the means with which to see everything that was ever posted online (even if you took it down) and they can get through your personal privacy settings. (Continued…)
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