May 9, 2008
School Administrator Files Lawsuit Over Facebook Profile
A high-school dean of students and a Roman Catholic archdiocese are suing Facebook over a fake profile created with the dean’s name. They are trying to get Facebook to identify the creators of the phony page, the Indianapolis Star reports.
Facebook took down the profile in April but has declined to name its creators. Impersonating someone or using a false name is banned in Facebook’s terms of use.
This is not the first Facebook impersonation case, and some have noticed a rise in the number of Facebook users who are using aliases—either original or borrowed—on their profiles. Know of any cases of hijacked profiles on your campus? —Catherine Rampell
Posted on Friday May 9, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
Previous: Energy-Conserving IT Tool
Next: Researchers Create Sailing Robots
No, but I created one for my 5 year old son using an email account I managed from the University I work at (he has 36 friends on Facebook as of date, more than me)
— jason May 10, 10:08 PM #
I too am a high school administrator. In the past 2 weeks I have had to contact Facebook to take down obscene posts regarding my students. We have been able to track down the culprits, but at a public school, we can’t do anything to them. We have been fortunate in the fact that Facebook has responded and taken down the posts. My consulting firm, cmhcollegeconsulting.com, warns students about the dangers of Facebook, especially when colleges can see what they have written, and could take away their admissions. It is scary though, that there is not more accountability regarding who you are and what you post.
— Christine May 12, 08:09 AM #
Technology moves ahead independently of any advances (or declines) in morality, integrity, or soundness of judgment among those to whom technology is being made available.
Despite the measured “Flynn Effect” (worldwide increase in IQ scores as assessed), people seem to be getting dumber in the weirdest of ways__ they’re making more bad choices simply because they have more choices. Like what has happened on our roads, “cyberspace” has become a great place for people who are emotionally unstable and morally underdeveloped to do damage to society that they could never have done without it.
Too many options for the wrong kind of people!
— Ken May 12, 10:45 AM #
Christine, I’m very concerned about this issue, too. That’s why MY consulting firm, shamelessselfpromotion.com is working to end bogus blog posts.
— I.M. Shamelessselfpromoter May 12, 11:34 AM #
Ken, you hit the nail on the head when you said “too many options for the wrong kind of people!” It never ceases to amaze me that people seem to believe they have control over what they put out in cyberspace once they hit that “send” or “submit” button. It might be funny, except for the collateral damage to reputations and futures.
— L Wood May 12, 01:54 PM #