Word: facemash
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...witnessed with the failing of facemash, students demur at the prospect of losing their right of privacy. As the College plans to give students the choice of opting out of the facebook, it would be ideal if students could choose from varying degrees of inclusion. For privacy issues, some might wish to have their picture and personal information available to only a portion of the community—perhaps only those in their House or class—a request that is easy enough to accommodate with reasonable coding...
Alas, such self-important dreams were not to be. No matter how suited the site’s particular brand of judgmentalism seemed to Harvard students, the same campus that ardently embraced Friendster this summer quickly and rightly condemned the facemash as hurtful and demeaning—not to mention illegal under a number of University regulations. The thrill of rating our fellow students and the chance at being named the third-hottest guy or girl in all of Leverett House were not, in the end, as powerful as the urge to protect privacy and defend ourselves against the potential...
Much of the trouble surrounding the facemash could have been eliminated if only the site had limited itself to students who voluntarily uploaded their own photos. Instead of the shock of seeing your awful first-year image broadcast to the world at large for open competition, such a site would have brought joy to attention-seekers and voyeurs alike. A site that allows us to succumb to the guilty pleasure of judging our friends and enemies in an e-Darwinist free-for-all would be acceptable—and hilarious—so long as its targets all choose...
Given the harsh reception that met its IPO, however, it seems unlikely that the facemash will “pull a Napster” and rise from its electronic grave. And perhaps that is for the best: As midterm season puts us at the mercy of our TFs on a daily basis, it’s starting to become apparent that we may already have enough arbitrary judgment in our lives. Being humiliated for “creative” choices in our short-essay answers is bad enough. Being humiliated for our “creative” Freshman...