Is ‘JuicyCampus’ worth the squeeze?

Always Anonymous ... Always Juicy ...” This is the slogan of JuicyCampus, a Web site that encourages students to leave anonymous posts to campus-specific boards. As the name suggests, the site was created with the intention of being a forum for the spread of rumors and gossip among college students. It has caught on at many universities and is especially popular with campus greeks. Unfortunately, posts have taken the form of personal attacks and even death threats. The site is now full of speculatory remarks about the sexual histories, physical attractiveness and plastic surgeries of specific students. \n Controversy has arisen regarding how or if slander and libel laws apply to this scenario. While the rules of the site technically forbid defamation, tracking down IP addresses for legal action against these anonymous posters is complicated. Whether universities should ban this site from their networks has also been called into question.\n As columnists in the digital era, we know first-hand how online anonymity can bring out the worst in people. Being able to say what you want while escaping accountability makes cruelty easy and guilt negligible. But we are a nation of free speech, even when it comes in the form of second-rate slander. The existence of sites like JuicyCampus is unfortunate, but it is a small price to pay for the freedom that the Internet has given our society to express a breadth of ideas.\n While current legal opinions don’t hold the internet service provider responsible for content posted, there is certainly no legal obligation for schools to block the site. And if students have been assured that their comments are anonymous, it wouldn’t be right to go through the process of tracking down their IP addresses to take legal action against them. While universities would be well within their rights to ban students from using their resources for this kind of degradation, we have a feeling that this would do little to solve the problem. Drawing lines regarding the Internet is futile, as people will always be able to find a way to post the things they want to.\n This kind of “baby-sitting” would not really get anywhere near solving the real issue at hand. We already know that we should think before we talk, especially when it comes to the vastness and permanence of the Internet. And we realize that thinking and courtesy have not always proved to be our strengths over the past hundred thousand years. However, the freedom granted to us by the Internet is still relatively new, and we are hopeful that once people get used to the veil of anonymity and realize the ineffectiveness of childish slander, they may come to realize its potential for good. Perhaps JuicyCampus will lead to the discovery of a college Watergate, or it may allow students to express frustration with some other form of censorship. Maybe we’re dreaming. But if we’re unhappy with the outcome, it’s most likely a symptom of our current moral state rather than a problem specifically posed by this Web site.