Over the past years, there have been a lot of controversial issues about one’s post in their cyber profiles. There have been cases of identity theft, harassment, or simply the key to ending someone’s career. People tend to post pictures or comments that can be demeaning to them or to others under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The thing with cyber profiles is that whatever you post on them, people will be able to see it weather your friends or not. The root of this starts the moment you add people you don’t know or how you choose to administrate the privacy settings. When creating a facebook profile you must agree to the terms and services of the web page where many people fail to comply.
To prove my previous statement stating how people add other people they don’t know, I’ve created a facebook profile with my computer. In less than five minutes I created the profile with detailed information. In less than 24 hours I had conquered the friendship of over a hundred people that I have never met before. Once I become friends I can get around the privacy settings and see more detailed information about who these people are. I have gained access to: their photos, education and work, philosophy, activities and interest, and most importantly, their contact information. This proves how easily they can set themselves up for scams by the simple click of a button. Only about three percent bothered to write a message back asking who I was. I believe people should be more cautious of who they add as friends in their cyber profile.
People have gotten in trouble for their actions on facebook. In the popular case of Key v. Robertson, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51092, a second year law student recorded the law school chancellor scratching the side of his head and posted it on YouTube. When paused at the right time, it looked like the chancellor was giving the middle finger. The student then took a screen shot of the video clip and made it his profile picture on Facebook. He got in trouble and he was given the option to post an apology but the student chose to fight back. Many people make decisions to feel accepted in which can lead them to trouble. There have been people who post pictures of them doing drugs, drinking alcohol, and even holding up a weapon. There is other people who think it’s a good thing to post gang related stuff that leads to really big issues.
You must always be aware of what you post on your profile and you should think about the consequences after your post. Facebook has lead to the death of Tracey Grinhaff and her husband Gary Grinhaff. Tracey had posted on her profile that she was "currently splitting" from her husband. She added: "Been married for 16 years but together for 26!!!! God that makes me sound old." That outraged her husband leading him to kill her and shoving her in the shed of the backyard. Cops found Gary’s body out in the woods where he committed suicide. This is a perfect example of how people post something without the consent of what will happen next. Sometimes people just feel like its right when they post stuff but later try to delete it but the damage has been done. This is why I feel people should think twice about what they do and they should follow the rules given on the terms and services at the beginning.
