Juicy Campus

I was watching the local news on channel 12 like every well educated person should, and I saw CT Attorney General Richard Blumenthal going on about how terrible an effect this new website (here - Juicy Campus), can have on people. It's simply a no registration anonymous posting site, where people can literally post anything they want about anyone they want, and the site claims complete anonymity. Curiosity got the best of me, so I logged on to this site to see how crazy it really is. Basically, it's a hotspot for coward idiots who want to rip on people. An example...



Now, I have no idea who David Knoeckel is. I don't know if these are David Knoeckel's two best friend messing with him, or maybe it's actually David Knoeckel himself. But maybe it really is some jerks who despise David Knoeckel enough to permanently tag his name on the internet as "quite possibly the horniest guy at UNC."

I decided to throw my own little bash out there and see how easy this thing really is. I went to the website, and clicked "New Post." I came to this screen:



So I typed in my bash, even daring to throw in a little crazy Virginia Tech stuff.



I doubt you can actually read that. It says, "I hate jerks. They suck. You know what, Joe Shmoe is a jerk. In fact, I plan on murdering Joe Shmoe. Tomorrow, in his bed, with a pitchfork. Police, that's where I'll be."

So I had my sample down, and I hit 'submit' and went back to the main page. Behold...



That whole process took me all of two minutes. For a first time user, that's not bad.

Now that we've figured out how to work the thing, what are the legal ramifications here? Well, it's freedom will be it's downfall, whether in the public or private sector. I wouldn't want my name plastered all over the site like poor David Knoeckel, but I tend to doubt he'll be hurt in the least in the long run. A google search on his name returns no obvious relevant results, and somehow, I don't think an employer is going to take such a simple online toy seriously enough to block his application.

Students can use Facebook and Myspace as freely as they use Juicy Campus. I know from experience; I have used both sites. The difference is you have at least some control over who actually sees the content, especially on Facebook, as accounts can be blocked off from the public eye. Also, statements on both social networking sites are retractable and names go along with them. Statements on Juicy Campus are completely anonymous and non-retractable.

Certainly, the site is in no way illegal, it is simply a "because I can" use of the First Amendment. No person will take the site seriously. At some level, I tend to think a solid portion of the names tagged up there were done as practical jokes. I suspect the real world knows this, too, and a site such as this is not and will not be taken seriously. So, why not let the thing live, and kill itself on its own?