[Editor's note: The editorial originally posted online incorrectly stated that Ruckus e-mailed the university housing staff list. The Cardinal regrets the error.]
Facebook has once again compromised the privacy of its members. Last month, Facebook members were furious when the news feed feature displayed profile changes, relationship changes and other information to all of a user's friends. Facebook administration responded by upping security and options for privacy settings.
This time, an outside source infiltrated the system, making UW-Madison students the unwanted victims of spam e-mail.
An employee of Ruckus.com, an Internet music site designed specifically for college listeners, started the Facebook group ""If This Group Reaches 100,000 My Girlfriend Will Have a Threesome."" The group promised pictures and video of the threesome if it reached 300,000 members.
Unbeknownst to group members, the group was not started by a sex-starved college boy but a member of the Ruckus staff. Using UW-Madison student e-mails, Ruckus was able to e-mail students, claiming it had a partnership with the university.
UW-Madison's Division of Information Technology has denied this claim. While it is unfortunate that Facebook did not have the security to realize the group was serving an alternative purpose, we believe it is ultimately up to students to control their personal information on the Internet.
We encourage students to examine Facebook security settings and the controls that allow select information to remain private from everyone except friends or UW-Madison students.
It is important for students to be aware of their online presence, just as if they were walking down the street at night. Students need to be aware of their surroundings, and what unsuspected individuals could be watching.
