My class was just on the cusp of the facebook.com craze. When a group of Harvard students started it in February 2004, it seemed destined to be another minor form of procrastination like Google Earth and Candystand. According to Nielsen/Net Ratings, it is now the ninth most visited site on the Internet, used by nearly 5 million college students in the United States and has just recently gone global. Chris Hughes, a Facebook spokesman, said that three-quarters of users sign on at least once every 24 hours, and the average user signs on six times a day.
For those of you out there who are unclear as to what Facebook is (and this must mean that you are either a parent or a professor), I'll quickly explain. When my father was in school, the facebook or "pig book" as it was affectionately referred to by salivating senior boys, was a book of headshots of incoming freshmen that was used largely as a portable campus directory. The idea, however, has now morphed into a collegiate institution that largely predominates social networking on campus. In short, the website is an online directory that connects people through schools across the country and now even includes high schools. With a college or, now, high school email account, students are given their own pages on which they can post their interests, campus activities, classes and photographs.
There are dangers lurking behind this seemingly innocent collegiate pastime however. The New York Times recently wrote that because of its popularity, "the site has become a flashpoint for debates about free speech, privacy and whether the Internet should be a tool for surveillance."
Many of us innocently put up photographs, funny quotes and stories, and assume that there is not someone pouring over our weekend escapades in search of bad behavior. Apparently, this is not the case.
I'm sure, like me, many of you were surprised to read the Feb. 10 and March 9 'Prince' articles "Who's reading your Facebook?" and "Public Safety admits use of Facebook," that noted how Facebook was being used for purposes not entirely benign or "collegial." The articles said that potential employers often checked out your profile to gauge your character before making application decisions. More notably, while the deputy director of Princeton's public safety, Charles Davall, had originally said that "Looking at students' private information ... [is] not the way we conduct business," he has now admitted that "There are times when we use [Facebook] to follow investigative leads ... It is an effective tool for us, almost like going to Google."
All we need now is a wagging finger and a good fist pound, and we'll have a veritable Rafael Palmeiro on our hands.
Facebook is a public forum, and I acquiesce to the view that I have waived my right to privacy, but is it too much to hope that Princeton is not a police state? My email is in a public domain, but I have blind faith that the University is not screening emails that include in the subject line: party, kegs, fun. Are Public Safety officers soon going to be downloading my screename to see what type of nefarious activities my weekends consist of? By looking at our Facebook accounts, Public Safety is setting a terrible precedent for student-university relations and crosses a line that we should all be wary of in a world that increasingly relies on unencrypted technology. As Davall himself even noted before he went all 1984 on us, "It's like Big Brother watching you and we really don't operate that way."
So, what is the solution? As my generation comes of age in the time of internet, constant surveillance and wiretapping, should we be resigned that privacy is now a mere fantasy and that even our youthful, collegiate indiscretions shall be held against us? If, like me, you are still holding out hope, I urge all of you to follow these easy steps: Open your Facebook profile page, and click on the My Privacy link. Under Profile and Princeton, click edit settings and uncheck both faculty and staff. Hit save.
A number of Public Safety officers have also made their own Facebook accounts and profiles, and some have listed themselves as undergraduates. Be sure to block the following people from reading your information: Maleci Malec, Alvan Flanders, Michele Aversa, Marvin Leach, Michael Septer, Paul Krzewinski, Alan Lawson, Rob Adams, Donald Reichling, Charles Davall, John Bacon, Martin Krzywicki, Barbara Loman, Earl Biddy, Matthew Burd, John Barbour, Fred Brown and Brian Clemens. Sadly, while Batman did go to Princeton, Bat Man is a Public Safety officer.
Perhaps Davall should better spend his weekends at the movies. I hear the Orwellian "V for Vendetta" opening tomorrow is supposed to be incredible. Chris Berger is a history major from New York City. He can be reached at cberger@princeton.edu.
