Gossip Website Exemplifies the Dangers of the Internet
By Olivia Lapeyrolerie ’11
News Reporter
Our society has a serious obsession with gossip. Rumors are slowly but surely taking over our lives and conversations. Whether it is about a dear friend or a favorite celebrity, we cannot seem to get enough gossip. It seems that everyone has spread or taken an active interest in gossip, whether it was malicious or not. But what happens when everyone is talking about you?
Unfortunately, this happens frequently. With the arrival of a new website, gossip has been easier to spread. A recent Duke graduate started JuicyCampus.com this August. On the website, students can write anonymous posts about others at their college. Initially, JuicyCampus.com was limited to discussions of Duke, but it became so popular that it was expanded for students at other universities. The website is now accessible for students at fifty prominent colleges, including Yale, Berkeley, and Princeton. Students have been embarrassed by topics such as “Top Ten Sluts on Campus” or links to their illicit porn videos.
School administratiors have tried to prevent students from accessing and posting on JuicyCampus.com, but the site is protected under the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Administrations have attempted to obtain the names of malicious commenters; however, Juicy Campus will only track names or IP addresses if a post is threatening. But college students seem to have realized that JuicyCampus.com does more harm than good: many petitions are circulating to keep people from logging on to the website.
Most recently, the Attorney General of New Jersey is suing JuicyCampus.com, citing a violation of people’s human rights. The website’s staff claims that under the terms of agreement, it cannot be held liable for postings made by its visitors. The staff further notes that it has identified JuicyCampus.com as a gossip website and that its posts are not necessarily truthful. Many laws that protect the Internet also protect the website. Instead of succumbing to the negative media attention and closing the website, Juicy Campus is attempting to turn the situation into positive press.
I think this story should serve as a wake-up call for all teenagers. The Internet is a force to be reckoned with. Our parents were right. We realize how powerful the web can be when we hear about people being personally attacked online. I believe that Internet gossip is worse than spoken gossip, because spoken gossip takes time to spread and can potentially be flame out. Internet gossip, however, can be circulated in a matter of minutes, and it might never go away. As you sit at your laptop, the power to ruin someone’s life is right at your fingertips.
I believe that some people who comment on JuicyCampus.com have serious problems. Some of the rumors may be true, but why would anyone want to publicly humiliate someone so viciously? Most importantly, I think these posters are cowards. They have to be protected by the anonymity of the Internet to express their true feelings. Not even a year ago, these people were using Facebook’s Honesty Box, an application that allows users to leave anonymous messages on others’ pages. They have now moved to JuicyCampus.com. What will be next? Why do people revel in seeing others humiliated?
Other articles about JuicyCampus.com note that victims have many concerns about the site’s content. Students want to know if the rumors will affect their future job opportunities—what if a potential boss reads something about them? The fact that I do not always have control over what is put on the Internet scares me beyond belief.
I believe that JuicyCampus.com has to be stopped. Despite the Internet laws protecting the website, it is immoral to allow people to gossip anonymously about others on the Internet, especially when the victims cannot defend themselves. I predict that the situation will get worse: posts will get meaner, people will be threatened, and hopefully the site will eventually be deleted. But how can we allow the youth of America to use the Internet as a tool to harm others? The Internet is an amazing invention, but its content must be regulated for the sake of our future.
