Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Who's to Blame?
Yesterday I received several emails saying that someone on Facebook was submitting people's uploaded pictures to a public web site that I am not going to name because I don't want it to get any more hits than it's already received. It is almost completely dedicated to making fun of and humiliating SMU students. The cautionary, panicky emails specifically listed a couple of females who have turned over pictures to the site. The advice on the matter was to de-friend those girls if you were Facebook friends with them, go through all of your other Facebook friends, and make sure you personally know and trust all of them to see your page, especially your pictures.
The vicious site is intended to be similar to the ultra-critical celebrity blog http://www.perezhilton.com in that it posts pictures with very mean-spirited commentary. While Perez uses paparazzi pictures, this Dallas-oriented site encourages people to turn over photos so they can post them for the world to see and make fun.
Out of curiosity and fear, I took a brief look at the site. I saw many familiar faces, taken advantage of and essentially exploited in the name of the site-makers' self-proclaimed good fun. It was mortifying. There was nothing funny about it; fellow students' pictures were taken completely out of context and commented on by complete strangers for the world to see.
I'd always heard people, primarily career counselors and the like, tell students to be careful what you post. Now I understand what they were talking about.
But to whom can we attribute the blame? People willingly make their pictures relatively public by putting them on Facebook, but they never intended those personal pictures to go on any other site. Obviously, the people who hand others' pictures don't have any good intentions and are aware of what they're doing. The site contains the following line to avoid confusion: "By submitting photos you agree to express consent to publish and release liability from the owner." Although I don't understand how you can release liability from the owner, apparently this is how the site is getting away with posting the pictures.
I'm astonished that anyone could be malicious enough to turn over other people's property to be mocked on the Internet. I know I'm never looking at the site again. It's disgusting. I don't want to give it any more hits than it's already received, and I hope other people will do so as well. ¶ posted by Claire at 11:29 PM •
The vicious site is intended to be similar to the ultra-critical celebrity blog http://www.perezhilton.com in that it posts pictures with very mean-spirited commentary. While Perez uses paparazzi pictures, this Dallas-oriented site encourages people to turn over photos so they can post them for the world to see and make fun.
Out of curiosity and fear, I took a brief look at the site. I saw many familiar faces, taken advantage of and essentially exploited in the name of the site-makers' self-proclaimed good fun. It was mortifying. There was nothing funny about it; fellow students' pictures were taken completely out of context and commented on by complete strangers for the world to see.
I'd always heard people, primarily career counselors and the like, tell students to be careful what you post. Now I understand what they were talking about.
But to whom can we attribute the blame? People willingly make their pictures relatively public by putting them on Facebook, but they never intended those personal pictures to go on any other site. Obviously, the people who hand others' pictures don't have any good intentions and are aware of what they're doing. The site contains the following line to avoid confusion: "By submitting photos you agree to express consent to publish and release liability from the owner." Although I don't understand how you can release liability from the owner, apparently this is how the site is getting away with posting the pictures.
I'm astonished that anyone could be malicious enough to turn over other people's property to be mocked on the Internet. I know I'm never looking at the site again. It's disgusting. I don't want to give it any more hits than it's already received, and I hope other people will do so as well. ¶ posted by Claire at 11:29 PM •
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I know the site you're referring to and I was equally mortified by it. Perez Hilton is one thing, but making fun of (mostly) innocent SMU students? TRASHY!
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