The dangerous trend of posting personal information on MySpace

By Megan Bakker
The Collegian

ANY COLLEGE STUDENT worth their weight in textbooks knows about MySpace. In the two years it’s been in existence, MySpace has rapidly become the social networking site for college and high school students to hook up with friends, friends of friends, or anyone across the world who shares a common interest. And now, the rest of society is figuring it out, too.

Case in point, as reported in New York Magazine: On 22-year-old Leslie Miller’s first day at her new job, her boss already knew about her favorite bands and her interest in interpretive dance. Miller hadn’t told him any of this information. So how had he found out? By looking Miller up online.

I have one simple question: Would Miller have gotten the job if her boss hadn’t liked what he saw on her profile?

Under federal Justice Department guidelines, anything posted online is considered public, and fair game.

However, the ability to choose friends and block comments leads to a false sense of privacy on sites like MySpace, and the similar Facebook and Friendster. But blocking comments is not the same as turning access off all together. Hey girls: That creepy guy who randomly asked you for sex one day? Yes, he’s on your ignore list. But he can still read what you write. And view your pictures. And, if you were stupid enough to post contact information (such as your full name, phone number, e-mail, or the name of your school), now he’s got that, too.

The simple truth is anyone can search and view pages on MySpace. Anyone. While these sites do have options to restrict who can and can’t view profiles, limiting access to a small pre-screened group of friends, few people do so. After all, how can you meet new people if they can’t find you? I’ve got a better question: How would you feel about a prospective employer finding you, and seeing that photo you posted of yourself drunk and wrapping the cat in duct tape? Still think you’d get the job?

Employers and creepy guys aren’t the only ones looking, either. According to Newsweek, even cops are starting to get in the game. And MySpace is cooperating, contributing to nearly 150 investigations per month.

In Florida in January, cops charged a teen with second-degree murder after he boasted on his MySpace about it.

This March, in Pennsylvania, detectives arrested 10 graffiti artists after they posted their artwork in their profiles. Earlier this month, two boys uploaded video of themselves firebombing an abandoned airplane hanger in Novato, Calif. Police found and arrested them, as well. To date, there’s a 20-member, 24/7 law enforcement team that works with nearly 800 agencies to surf the site and, if necessary, subpoena private messages and registration information.

The moral of this story is simple: Don’t kiss and tell. Specifically, don’t do anything stupid or illegal and then post on a public Web site about it.

Either set your profile to private or restricted access, or don’t post anything you wouldn’t want the world to know. Or post it anyway. Just don’t be surprised during job interviews when people start asking if your cat got out of the duct tape unharmed.

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