Student Arrest Tells A Cautionary Tale
By Matt Griesmyer
In this day and age, we are comfortable with our lives to the point that we publish personal information over various networking sites. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other social networking sites allow you to share brief glimpses of your life with friends, family and complete strangers.
On March 10, two such postings made by a University of Houston-Clear Lake student ended with the student being taken into custody by UHCL police, under advisement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The posts were made by a student in the Digital Media Studies program.
The student, who’s name The Signal staff has chosen to withhold pending proof of guilt that he made any actual threats, made two postings to the networking site Twitter, intending them to be a joke and a metaphor of him studying for mid-term exams.
“I’m planning a one-man invasion,” said the student on his first post. “I have a strategy. Watch out University of Houston library, I’m coming!!”
“Target changed. I’m now in the library of UST,” said the student on his second posting. “No one knows I’m here except for a few key contacts. I initiate my attack in T minus 30s.”
The comments were innocuous enough to his friends, but to the FBI, all threatening and potentially terrorist comments must be taken seriously.
Paul Willingham, chief of police at UHCL, explains that the comments made were serious enough.
“It was like saying bomb at an airport or fire in a movie theater,” Willingham said.
When using networking sites, it is important to realize that all information posted online is a public forum, meaning that anyone can view the information. This may be countered with the security and viewing options that some of the sites offer, but this does not stop the government from viewing.
Since 9/11, the United States Government has been legally monitoring Internet and e-mail communication to assist in identifying and preventing terrorist actions against the U.S. and its citizens.
Ashley Packard, associate professor of Communication and Digital Media Studies for the School of Human Sciences and Humanities at UHCL, teaches classes including media law and communication ethics. Anonymous is one of her students.
“He never thought about the danger associated with it,” Packard said. “They [users of networking Web sites] don’t think anyone but friends read their postings.”
Thinking before you type is an important thing to remember while online. The use of tracking programs used by the government picks up on certain words and flags them for investigation. In this particular instance, response time was fairly quick.
“From the time of the Internet posting to the call I received from the FBI was about one hour,” Willingham said. “The call was from a covert agent in the division of the FBI which monitors Internet traffic.”
In using a multi-faceted tool such as the Internet, it is vital to realize that everything posted can be recalled by anyone.
“Any embarrassing thing can come back to haunt you,” Packard warns.
Anonymous was taken into custody and banned from campus pending a meeting with Willingham, the Dean of Students, and other staff members. The case is going to fall under state law as opposed to federal law. Under federal law, the case would be in the hands of the national government; but under State law, the school retains the rights to drop the charges. Anonymous was released March 11 on bond.
