Presenter talks about social networking sites, privacy

Lane noted that photos of young adults participating in a wide range of controversial behavior have become commonplace on the so-called social networking sites, and that users of the services give up rights to privacy regarding the information they post.

“At some point, any constitutional right can be waived,” he said. “The bottom line for social networking sites is that there is essentially no right to privacy for material that you put online.”

Lane said entities ranging from law enforcement agencies to jealous love interests are using social networking sites as an investigatory tool, and that a number of large businesses have hired employees to specifically surf sites like MySpace and Facebook in an effort to screen job candidates.

He advised social networking site users to limit access to their information as much as possible, publish a minimum amount of identifying information, to use careful consideration selecting photographs, and to always think about how they are being portrayed online.

Lane spoke and fielded questions from students and professors for more than an hour in Memorial Hall.

Despite the pitfalls of social networking, Lane said the Internet isn’t without redeeming values.

“We talk a lot about how the Internet is speeding up the growth process,” he said. “It’s exposing kids to things at a much earlier age than I was exposed to them. It should also hopefully inspire a more rapid maturity, and a more rapid sense of responsibility. If you’re going to use this powerful tool, you need to know what the consequences are.”

The next Galaxy Series event will be a performance by “Ballet Folklorico ‘Quetzalli’ de Veracruz, a folk music dance group from Mexico. Tickets for the event, which will be Thursday, Sept. 13, at Memorial Hall, may be obtained by contacting the CSC Box Office: boxoffice@csc.edu or (308) 432-6360.