No. Just. No.
You might have to read this to understand any of what I'm about to "present my opinion"(*coughrantcough*) about:
What You Say Online Could Haunt You
And if you really can't tell, I am being facetious, unless otherwise noted.
Why do people honestly think that things on the world wide web private? Do they not realize that any person with access to a local computer which has, at the very least, a cheap dial-up connection can see everything they ever post of themselves? People use these kind of websites so loosely, and they dont even bother to think about what they are posting. Ever. That is why I utterly loathe MySpace so much. Because everyone in the whole world uses it, and it just shows how many people out there aren't in possession of a very small, only SLIGHTLY vital thing called COMMON SENSE. Or a brain.
Time for some quotes from the article:
"As more and more students turn to websites such as Facebook and MySpace to chronicle their lives and socialize with friends, they also are learning that their words and pictures are reaching way beyond the peers for whom they were intended."
...No, really? I mean, if any ol' chap walking down the street can walk into an internet cafe and browse myspace, he can actually SEE WHAT YOU POSTED? What a concept. However, regardless of the fact that most human beings are endowed with what is called a brain, I would estimate that approximately 95% of people in this generation tend to be lax about putting it to any use.
"Students post pictures of themselves holding cans of beer and bottles of liquor - even when they're underage. They pose suggestively wearing little - sometimes no - clothing. Some appear to be smoking marijuana in bongs or joints, even holding firearms. They openly write nasty comments about each other or their teachers and coaches online."
Because these are obviously a free and protected expression of your political and/or religious opinions. Yeah, I rest my case.
""Facebook is for the students," says Purdue freshman Anthony Cometa, who recalls being outraged when he read in his school paper that police were getting training about Facebook so they could investigate complaints about students using the service to harass each other."
Yeah, and when a fellow student writes on their Facebook how they want to brutally maul you and kill you. Oh, but then there is the slight problem that you don't want the police to investigate that at all, now do you? Because that is "protected under his 'first ammendement rights'". Unless, of course, you change your mind at all? Of course, there is the slightest chance that the police investigating a threat to an individual is actually benefitial.
"You can only think: What if one of the big accounting firms comes across this, or a law firm or law school or graduate school?"
In a less facetious tone, I would wonder that too. I think I would probably find myself "Lol"-ing when a person is running for political office, and then the opposition finds old pictures they posted whilst a young, naive, and utterly braindead teenager of them doing something horribly illegal or offensive. No really. And this is the exact reason why I don't do things like this; one option I keep open as a possible career involves being a relatively public government figure. Of course, this requires a little brain work. I actually think about possible things that may happen as a result. I usually use my common sense to do that. Of course, it is quite taxing, taking an extra 10 seconds of my life to make sure I don't do something that I will severely regret in the future, but of course, it saves a great deal of grief later. And with that, I regress into my semi-facetious tone.
"And that is raising a new set of free-speech concerns...'As more students are suspended and disciplined, we're going to need some clear guidance from the courts...Right now, it is not clear just how far the authority of school officials extends.'"
Yes, because, of course, threats to people, obvious displays of flouting the law, evidence of criminal behavior, and flagrant slander are COMPLETELY protected by the first amendment. If people just wouldn't be so freakishly politically correct as to promote aforesead sentence, the world would be a better place. Period. The most frightening aspect of it all, though, is the fact that so many people today seem to believe that.
Well, I'm done for now. I'll probably have more later. For now, I need to make my livejournal pretty.
What You Say Online Could Haunt You
And if you really can't tell, I am being facetious, unless otherwise noted.
Why do people honestly think that things on the world wide web private? Do they not realize that any person with access to a local computer which has, at the very least, a cheap dial-up connection can see everything they ever post of themselves? People use these kind of websites so loosely, and they dont even bother to think about what they are posting. Ever. That is why I utterly loathe MySpace so much. Because everyone in the whole world uses it, and it just shows how many people out there aren't in possession of a very small, only SLIGHTLY vital thing called COMMON SENSE. Or a brain.
Time for some quotes from the article:
"As more and more students turn to websites such as Facebook and MySpace to chronicle their lives and socialize with friends, they also are learning that their words and pictures are reaching way beyond the peers for whom they were intended."
...No, really? I mean, if any ol' chap walking down the street can walk into an internet cafe and browse myspace, he can actually SEE WHAT YOU POSTED? What a concept. However, regardless of the fact that most human beings are endowed with what is called a brain, I would estimate that approximately 95% of people in this generation tend to be lax about putting it to any use.
"Students post pictures of themselves holding cans of beer and bottles of liquor - even when they're underage. They pose suggestively wearing little - sometimes no - clothing. Some appear to be smoking marijuana in bongs or joints, even holding firearms. They openly write nasty comments about each other or their teachers and coaches online."
Because these are obviously a free and protected expression of your political and/or religious opinions. Yeah, I rest my case.
""Facebook is for the students," says Purdue freshman Anthony Cometa, who recalls being outraged when he read in his school paper that police were getting training about Facebook so they could investigate complaints about students using the service to harass each other."
Yeah, and when a fellow student writes on their Facebook how they want to brutally maul you and kill you. Oh, but then there is the slight problem that you don't want the police to investigate that at all, now do you? Because that is "protected under his 'first ammendement rights'". Unless, of course, you change your mind at all? Of course, there is the slightest chance that the police investigating a threat to an individual is actually benefitial.
"You can only think: What if one of the big accounting firms comes across this, or a law firm or law school or graduate school?"
In a less facetious tone, I would wonder that too. I think I would probably find myself "Lol"-ing when a person is running for political office, and then the opposition finds old pictures they posted whilst a young, naive, and utterly braindead teenager of them doing something horribly illegal or offensive. No really. And this is the exact reason why I don't do things like this; one option I keep open as a possible career involves being a relatively public government figure. Of course, this requires a little brain work. I actually think about possible things that may happen as a result. I usually use my common sense to do that. Of course, it is quite taxing, taking an extra 10 seconds of my life to make sure I don't do something that I will severely regret in the future, but of course, it saves a great deal of grief later. And with that, I regress into my semi-facetious tone.
"And that is raising a new set of free-speech concerns...'As more students are suspended and disciplined, we're going to need some clear guidance from the courts...Right now, it is not clear just how far the authority of school officials extends.'"
Yes, because, of course, threats to people, obvious displays of flouting the law, evidence of criminal behavior, and flagrant slander are COMPLETELY protected by the first amendment. If people just wouldn't be so freakishly politically correct as to promote aforesead sentence, the world would be a better place. Period. The most frightening aspect of it all, though, is the fact that so many people today seem to believe that.
Well, I'm done for now. I'll probably have more later. For now, I need to make my livejournal pretty.