Hard Lesson in Privacy

Internet privacy has become one of the hot topics, especially among teens and their parents. 

But, Old Saybrook High School might have gone a little too far to get their point of personal protection across, the New Haven Register reports.

At a recent freshman assembly on Internet safety, students saw their friends' actual photos, Facebook updates and tweets posts. The photos were all innocent but, needless to say, the students weren't too happy about the perceived invasion of their online privacy.

So, they used to Twitter and called the school "corrupt." 

“They told us we were going to watch something about Internet safety, and they said they personalized the slide show, ” a freshman named Kayla told the Register. “I kind of thought, it’s like if you put it online, anyone can see it, but then at the same time, it’s like kind of not fair for the police officers to put that on display without their permission and without them knowing.”

Even though students were mad, administrators said they got their point across. 

While they didn't intend to upset students, they wanted to prove just how easy it can be to find personal information online.

“The point was to help kids understand what they’re putting out there. Here are some respectful and appropriate pictures of each other, so let’s keep it that way,” Principal Oliver Barton said. “I think, in retrospect, for a kid to hear about the presentation who wasn’t there and then get really concerned about it, wasn’t something we had anticipated.”

The Old Saybrook High School Resource Officer put the slideshow together by accessing accounts that had publicly available information, which added up to a pretty sizable population.

“Kids are putting up pictures of parties they attend — people are seeing these pictures. We try to educate them about that. ...,” Police Sgt. Kevin Roche said. “The pictures were used just as a learning tool. Did he get their permission first? No. If he did, that would have taken away shock value of what pictures are out there.”

Officials hope the exercise will prompt students to make their profiles and accounts more private and consider the kind of content they post online. Despite the students' anger, it seems to be working.  One student said that kids are now warning each other about potential invasions of privacy, even if it is from the school. 

Administrators said they are talking to students who were uncomfortable with their photos being used.

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