“Even one tweet or one Facebook post leaves a digital footprint forever,” he said. “There are many consequences to what you do online … and we have a generation that grew up with this technology and to a large extent, they have not considered what the consequences down the road could be for what they say right now.”
Kassa said that although Clementi’s suicide proved horrifying for many in higher education, the privacy violation could motivate college decision makers to create stringent privacy policies that are reinforced with persistent marketing campaigns.
“It’s sad that it takes such a tragic event to garner such attention, but we all owe it to him and his family and others who experience this invasion of privacy to make a stand and learn something from it,” he said.
Meanwhile, more than 66,000 Facebook users had joined the group, “In Honor of Tyler Clementi,” as of Oct.1. Many railed against the unsolicited video posting that set off the deadly chain of events.
“This went beyond bullying,” a woman posted on the Clementi Facebook page. “This was a pure invasion of Tyler’s privacy.”
Another Facebook user wrote, “I wish your privacy had been respected. … I can only hope for justice and that your death will bring more awareness for the other kids out there struggling.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
- Lawmakers to colleges: No more social media prying - April 25, 2013
- Number of college applications affected by social media triples - October 9, 2012
- Gates Foundation supports college readiness apps - September 28, 2012
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