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Colleges warn of sites devoted to networking: Facebook and MySpace.com can help students seek out classmates, but school officials cite the risks of posting potentially incriminating information online.(Reading Eagle (PA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Aug. 20--With about two weeks to go before beginning his freshman year at Penn State Berks, Christopher W. Rhein is turning to the Internet to kick off his college career. The 18-year-old Pine Grove resident uses Facebook, an online networking site for college students, to search for members of his class. Even before moving in, he already has 11 friends at Penn State Berks. "I think the traditional way of meeting people is still better," Rhein said. "But I like that I can check who from my class has signed up." Of 2,100 full-time students at the local campus, more than 40 percent, including Rhein, belong to the PSU Berks Facebook group. But officials at Penn State and other colleges say networking sites raise concerns about students' safety and reputations. The sites allow students to post information that makes them more vulnerable to online predators, officials say. The schools also are warning students about the impression the photos and text posted on the sites could give to others, such as future employers. Some colleges now discuss Facebook and MySpace.com, another networking site, when talking with incoming freshmen about the problems of unlocked doors, cheating on assignments and other risky behaviors at college. Officials at the schools say they will not discourage students from using the Web sites, but rather caution them regarding the potential consequences of what they post. At Penn State Berks, Kenneth E. Green, the information technology trainer, spoke during a recent meeting with parents of incoming students about how much information can be found online. "Up until recently, most students did silly things and pranks in college," Green said. "However, there weren't cell phone cameras taking pictures and making a permanent record of it." The discussion of online sites was added this year to the annual session for parents. Web sites are causing more and more students to lose a potential job and allowing strangers to find their contact information, Green said. "Some of these things can come back to haunt them," he said. "We're not going to stop the phenomenon, but we can teach them to use it more wisely." Green said some students think they can remove incriminating pictures but do not realize some search engines can bring up cached Web sites -- old images of sites that have been changed or no longer exist -- reincarnating the embarrassing information or images. Others may put a location on their profile that is specific enough to allow anyone accessing the site to find the student, endangering their privacy, he said. Parents at the session learned how the security features on Facebook work and what features can be included on a profile. Green will give an extended talk to freshmen over the Labor Day weekend. This fall, Alvernia College will be offering a similar talk for students for the first time. Edgar J. Hartung, a criminal justice professor and former FBI agent, will talk to freshmen about personal safety, including responsible online practices. "These kids are going to start to make resumes, they will be talking to employers," Hartung said. "Some of them don't realize how dangerous the information they put out there can be." While Albright College and Kutztown University do not have plans to address online dangers specifically, Albright will include the subject in the standard freshman orientation. "There are disadvantages to being too open online," said Barbara J. Marshall, Albright associate vice president of college relations and marketing. "We try to make students aware of the consequences." At KU, public safety officials do not monitor the sites regularly but will look at them if they relate to a particular case, said Matthew Santos, assistant director of university relations. Despite the colleges' precautions, the popularity of the Web sites probably will not diminish, Rhein said. "I don't think they care what the school is going to say -- they're going to do what they want to do anyway," he said. "Maybe if they bring up the employer issues, later down the line, it might have an effect." Copyright (c) 2006, Reading Eagle, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |