Novel, But Not Unreasonable, Defense

They say the best phishing comes from the best social engineering; that the most identity theft comes physical, not digital, means.

That's Tony Harris' defense -- his girl friend used his password to frame him with a lewd Facebook post. Now Harris is suspended from Calvin College.

If he can document it, I'll believe him. Privacy is a fickle thing on Facebook. The new TOS changes certainly reinforce it. I've regaled CoSIDA with tales of friends turned enemies who outed photos and copy, notably the walk-on player who walked-off and exposed all the Facebook pages of one team in a BCS conference.

The Chroncle has the story today, and it's a read worth your time. Almost without exception, the schools that are getting away with Facebook-based discipline are faith-based; however, if you say something suitably embarrassing -- particularly athletes -- you can at least get tossed from the team.

One of the key quotes:

However, Mr. de Haan said, reprimanding students for unbecoming use of social media is not unusual at Calvin. The college’s "Policy on Responsible Use of Technology" forbids “any use of Web life (Facebook, MySpace, etc.) that is contradictory to the principles of the college codes of conduct.”

That's a good policy line that others might want to consider. In the policy I'd drafted three years ago for the women's athletic department -- used as a template by numerous other schools -- the heart of the disciplinary part essentially was extending team rules on-line. If you can't do it in real life, why do think it's OK in Second Life?

More and more, the lines blur between what is virtual and what is reality. Wild Palms, anybody?