The Hoofprint – May 13, 2010

Attractive photos, a convincing “About Me”, and some friends in common have led over 500 BHS students - in addition to dozens of Delano and Rockford students - to accept Kassidy Kava as a friend on Facebook.

There are a number of student-generated theories as to who created Kassidy Kava. Most of them claim that an authority figure has made a fake Facebook profile to monitor students. The most common misconception was that Assistant Principal Kris Thompson created the Kassidy Kava profile and was spying on student activities. Although there was no actual evidence to support this claim, it didn’t stop Facebook groups from arising to spread the rumors.

The stories of fake Facebook profiles being created are true, and Kassidy Kava is one of the fakes.

Working with the Buffalo Police Department, the staff of The Hoofprint confirmed that there is not a person named Kassidy Kava living in Buffalo or Delano, the home town and current address Kava lists on her Facebook profile. Also, no students by that name attends North Hennepin Community College, which she talks about attending in her “About Me” section. However, the purpose of Kassidy Kava is not to monitor students or their activities, and its creators are neither members of BHS nor of the district.

According to Jonathan Anderson, 24, the owner of Synergy Dance Club and Party Posse Productions, Kassidy Kava’s profile was used to promote events at Synergy Dance Club and not by a school administrator. The profile was used by a promoter of the club to gather hundreds of friends and to send out information about upcoming events. It doesn’t appear the profile was used for any other reason. Anderson said that more than 200 people use Facebook accounts to promote the club.

Synergy is a 16+ dance club that was created in June of 2008 by Anderson and his partner, Kristen Jacobsen, 19. It was at this time that Synergy popularized itself on Facebook and eventually began outsourcing its social media advertising to event goers and a staff of promoters. The profiles like Kassidy Kava’s are made by promoters of the club to get in touch with young adults in the Twin Cities area. There are more than 20 profiles like Kassidy Kava, most of which have the last names Kava, Anderson, Officer, or Jacobs. The fake profiles and other people working as promotors using their actual accounts invite friends to upcoming Synergy Dance Club events and encourage people to go. A special VIP status is offered for those who promote the envent and bring friends.

Some of the people behind the profiles list that the fakes claim to be cousins of Anderson. One profile, Kathleen Kava, includes the line, “The main reason [I joined Facebook] was because my cousin, Jonathan, wanted me to, so that I could help him promote his new club.” Like Kassidy Kava, she says she was home schooled and attends a local community college. She also lists neighboring cities as her hometown and current city. Some of the fake profiles link directly back to Synergy Dance Club and Party Posse Productions. Messages sent by these profiles are almost identical to other fakes and announce upcoming events at Synergy and encourage people to spread the word. Anderson says people claim to be related to him or Jacobs in order to lend credibility to their profiles and to have a reason for promoting the club.

Besides Synergy Dance Club perks like VIP access, the people who create profiles like Kassidy Kava’s also have access to the valuable personal information - such as home addresses, cell phone numbers, and e-mail address - of everyone who accepts their requests. People not only give away their personal information when they accept a friend request, but also the personal information of their friends who allow “Friends of Friends” to view their information.

Fake Facebook profiles have been turning up at other local high schools and have caused their fair share controversy. Benilde-St. Margaret's Preparatory School encountered a fake Facebook profile two months ago. The Benilde-St. Margaret's school newspaper, the Knight Errant, caught word of a fake profile that was friend requesting people from their school. Caroline Thomas, began requesting hundreds of BSM students to be her friend.

Knight Errant staff members became interested in fake Facebook profiles, and the incident stemmed the idea to make their own. They created a “Ben Erickson” profile, and over the course of two weeks the profile acquired 407 friends. The experiment was deemed a success and a story was written as an exposé on the student's unsafe social networking habits. Like at BHS, students at Benilde-St. Margaret’s also speculated that Administration used Ben Erickson to get students in trouble. Their story dispelled those rumors. It also demonstrated that many people have friends on Facebook who they've never spoken to before. The identity of Caroline Thomas was never discovered by the Knight Errant staff.

In addition to advertising Synergy on their own, teens can also get on the VIP list at the club by handing over their Facebook usernames and passwords to promoters of Synergy Dance Club.

A reporter from The Hoofprint contacted Jacobsen via text message, asking about getting VIP access to the next event at Syngergy. Jacobsen replied, “ … for vip if u send ur login info for fb we invite all ur friends and put u on the list.”

What the teens don’t know is how promoters could be using their profiles in addition to sending out invitations. Promoters have the ability to comment on profiles, including the fake ones. According to Anderson, there are between 200-300 promoters for the club and he cannot keep track of their actions at all times. Anderson says that all promoters are told to send the same messages in response to questions.

Anderson said that between promoters and other profiles, Synergy Dance Club sends out over 50,000 event invitations and over 5,000 texts for each event. He said that the club accepts Facebook login information from teens because, “a lot of people who come week after week started to get tired of sending the invites over and over, and they asked me and some of the other head promoters to do it for them. But the vast majority still do it themselves.”

“One day I got a text message from a random number, and it said that I should come down to Synergy Dance Club and they gave me all their information,” said Junior Crystal Cashin. “They said if I went [to the event] I could get a VIP pass, but I had to respond soon because there were a limited number of VIP passes per event. All I had to do was tell them how many people I was bringing. I thought it was really creepy, and didn’t know how they got my number, so I didn’t respond. They texted me probably three or four times afterward and I never responded. ... It’s really creepy. If they want people to come to their club they shouldn’t be taking action like this. In a way, it’s sending a message that their club is unsafe.”

Both Anderson and Jacobsen, upon learning of the conflicts caused by the Kava account suggested that people should not add people they do not know personally on Facebook. While the creation of Kassidy Kava was not an intentionally harmful action, it disrupted BHS in several ways. It caused the misguided rumors and mistrust of an administrator to begin, which later lead to Facebook pages full of baseless accusations.

During The Hoofprint’s investigation into these profises used to promote Synergy, several of them, incuding Kassidy and Karina Kava’s were deleted. Synergy continues to use Facebook promotion as a major source of advertising.

Since its inception in September of 2004, Facebook has undergone many changes. It began by allowing Harvard students to own a personal profile and send messages to friends, but since then the social network site has added new aspects such as applications, groups and the infamous “like” button. Users nowadays are so focused on all these features that they hardly pay attention to their own privacy.

Facebook was founded by current CEO Mark Zuckerberg and was originally known as “Thefacebook.” At first, the web site was restricted to students at Harvard University, but it quickly expanded throughout the United States to universities and high schools. Even through its booming popularity across the nation, the social networking site still kept personal information relatively private.

Thefacebook Privacy Policy 2005 states: “No personal information that you submit to Thefacebook will be available to any user of the Web Site who does not belong to at least one of the groups specified by you in your privacy settings.”

The privacy policy statement was kept until 2007, when moderators made it more flexible. With more than 50 million members on the free social networking site, Zuckerberg and his colleagues felt that the privacy limits could be extended even more. The new privacy policy statement made it clear that personal information would be available to anyone in a user’s networks, and that their name and profile picture thumbnail would appear in search results.

“People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people,” Zukerberg told the Daily Telegraph Newspaper.

In November of 2009, Facebook once again altered it statement. This time, some of the default settings were set to al on the Internet--including those not registered on Facebook a--to access personal information without a user’s approval. In addition to the chance of having personal informat everyone on the Internet, Facebook also noted a month la information was considered “publicly available to everyone did not have privacy settings. This information included: gen region, networks, applications, and pages.

“When I first got a Facebook in April didn’t think [my personal information] co fast and I didn’t think people spent very m said Junior Kian Stack. “Now I realize that you put up is available to just about everyon through the school in a matter of hours.”

Currently, Facebook has hardly any lim information can stay private. With only the c general information (friends’ names, profile pictures, etc.) instantly with web sites and applications users connect themse

With all the privacy policy issues on Facebook today, many cases of sexual predators, stolen information, and fake personal information. People have easy access to users’ data and find where someone lives, what their phone number is, and ev on a Saturday night. Facebook users must be aware of the c putting their personal information up and must pay attention settings if they want to remain private on the website that teenage generation.

Like the old fashion crank telephone and mass media before it, the internet has brought forth new questions about dangers as well as benefits. In the past five years technology has advanced more frequently than in the last three decades. Change has become so rapid that people become increasingly mystified trying to keep up with it. The intense rate of change has the potential to better society and add convenience to everyday life, but it may also lead to significant disadvantages as it advances faster than the society that is using it.

“I feel that there are always positives to technology,” said English teacher Joel Squadroni. “It allows learning in many ways and allows us as adults to connect with the way students learn as well. The negative of it is that people get too engaged and forget about the learning that should be happening while relying on technology too much.”

With over 400 million active users, Facebook is used world wide, along with social networks like Twitter, Flickr, various online chat rooms, and web based word processors. This leaves hundreds of internet companies involved with cloud-computing, and with over 1.5 billion internet users accessing these sites daily, many people are putting their trust in these companies. User agreements from these sites basically have users sign over control of their data and their privacy. These companies benefit from the work you do. Cloud-computing is where an internet company user trusts all their information in the hands of that company whether you label it as private or public. When trusting these companies people are likely to have no idea where their information is being held, what happens to their data in the case of as disaster, and who truly has access to their information.

“It’s scary knowing that almost anyone, anywhere can find some way to get my information online,” said Senior Ashley Michalko. “I really started thinking about it this year when applying for colleges and I think that I will always be far more cautious with what I put online.”

No form of technology is completely perfect, every time someone logs onto a site they risk having their privacy completely violated. For example, in the last two weeks several companies have had major security breaches, such as Facebook users discovering their private conversations being accessible to everyone on their contact list for a period of time. Trust has become the biggest issue in the cloud computing world, being that none of the companies involved can give their users 100% certainty.

“I definitely hate the fact that anyone can access the stuff I put online,” said Senior Lee Bystrom.”But, realistically, it’s something we all just have to accept if we want to use the sites.”

Even after deleting your browsing history, pictures or information that has already been put out on the web, It will always be accessible in the ‘Clouds’ of cyberspace. The dangers that come with having the convenience of the internet also come with requirements to be cautious about anything you put online.

Facebook acts as a catalyst for the spread of information

1) Phishing for your information: Cybercriminals often send deceptive messages that lead you to a website where you are asked to give your financial-account details and passwords, social security numbers and anything else that would be useful in stealing your identity.

2) Malware and Spyware: Fraudsters also collect information through malicious Web sites to download programs through security holes in your computer software.

3) Social Networking sites: Posting your address, phone number, maiden name and personal information on Social Networks could increase your chance of identity theft.

4) Photo and video sharing: Don’t post pictures or videos that you wouldn’t want the entire world to see, many sites make your images public unless you take action to restrict access.

5) Histories of Your Web Use: Delete your browsing history, what you type into search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL can be traced and very revealing.

6) Cloud computing: By using Web-based e-mail, instant messaging and document services like Google Docs, your data is stored far away in an internet “Cloud.”

7) Electronic medical data: Hospitals and doctors offices are moving toward electronic records, using Web-based services like Google Health and Microsoft’s HealthVault.

8) Public Wi-Fi: Wireless hotspots in cafes, airports and hotels make laptops more useful than ever, but it could also open the door for a hacker to pilfer your personal data.

9) Cell phone privacy: As on the web, government agencies are eager to collect information by tracking how and where we use our cell phones. They gather demographic and behavioral clues from our use of the web and zoom in on physical locations, revealing GPS data.

10) Targeted advertising and cookies: Marketers collect personal information such as sex, age, and location to trigger interests in their advertisements. By clicking on these side bars, you can be tracked as you search the web.

“Don’t talk to strangers.” This is a common phrase that parents tend to burn into their childrens’ minds at a young age. They do so to make sure that children are aware of the potential danger and consequences that could follow such actions. As children grow into teenagers they tend to have more general freedom and less parental supervision of activities. So what happens when strangers attempt to interact with teenagers online, where it seems potentially harmless?

Online Safety reports that 71% of teens have established social networking profiles and 69% of them regularly receive online messages from people they do not know. Of those, 40% will usually reply and chat with the person. “I think it’s just annoying and a waste of my time when people I don’t know message me,” said Senior Jesse Ernster. “I think they just do it for money, promotions, or sick intentions.”

While the majority of strangers may not necessarily be dangerous, online predators do exist.

Being Girl states that of the 45 million kids under age 18 online, one in five has received an online sexual offer. Two thirds of these offers were aimed at teenage girls.

“I think they seek teenage girls because it’s easier to find people online instead of in person,” said Senior Alex Kramer. “It’s like they want to be unseen until they have all the details they want.”

In the past it has been thought that online predators trick teenagers into talking to them by posing as a teenager themselves, but in fact this only happens in 5% of social networking related crimes. In reality, teenagers are aware that they are talking to unknown adults online and simply do not take necessary privacy precautions.

“I think it’s important not to add anyone you don’t know,” said Junior Ashley Johnson. “What do strangers care what you did last weekend or whatever? They have no reason to know about your life.”

With so many technology advances, privacy and online identity are harder to maintain than ever before. However, precautions can be taken, such as periodically resetting privacy settings on social networking sites.

“People need to realize that they’re taking a risk by putting information online,” said Spanish Teacher Nancy Eiynck. “They should lock the information that they can and not put too much unnecessary information out there.”

Through online access and mobile devices students today have more information at their fingertips (24 hours a day 7 days a week) than ever before. The web is a great resource for learning, but also creates risk and can easily be used in an irresponsible manner. As a school we provide technology safeguards while working within our network, but once a student leaves our “walls” we cannot protect them in the same way.

“It is our hope that students use the skills they develop to make good decisions in the future. This is the best way we can help keep our students safe as they work outside our protected network.”

With the constant technological improvements to the Internet and new software, it can become increasingly difficult to determine what is real. Tools such as Photoshop allow magazines, websites, and newspapers to alter photographs and distort reality. Those capabilities require people to be more diligent in questioning the truths presented to them.

In 2003, Jayson Blair lost his job with The New York Times for fabricating stories and adding false details to increase dramatic effect. Other journalistic photographers have been fired for using PhotoShop to retouch their pictures. Sometimes, even the people we trust most to be accurate are misleading us.

The social networking site Facebook enables anyone to create a page that represents who they are. Unfortunately, it also allows anyone to falsely represent themselves, such as the makers of Kassidy Kava, a confirmed fake Facebook profile. Over the last month, 670 users, many of them students at BHS, accepted her friend request. However, after students interacted with her, they began to question the truth of the profile and Kava’s existence. After realizing nobody could confirm they knew her, the Facebook group “Who the heck is Kassidy Kava?!” formed and 226 people worked together to find the reality of the situation.

Many suggestions were offered as to the true identity of Kava, misguidedly resulting in an accusation of a Buffalo High School administrator. Another Facebook group was formed called “Kassidy Kava = Mrs. Thompson... if you didn’t know :|" causing 150 people to join. Posts on the group wall criticized Thompson for allegedly attempting to pose as a high school student and monitor Buffalo High School students’ actions on Facebook.

Though one person cannot be blamed for the circulation of this rumor, we feel the situation demonstrates the need to be careful about posting harmful material without proper evidence. Situations like these remind us how easy it is to accept what large groups of people suggest without asking questions. We advocate better internet safety practices and behavior from students, and hope that in the future more students will ask more questions and make sure proof is substantiated before drawing conclusions.

It’s always a little crazy in the Administration office. Last week, that craziness took a little different twist. Typically, I work with students to problem-solve their crises; last week, the crisis was mine.

When I first started hearing comments from students about me making Facebook friend requests as a covert attempt to bust parties, I was slightly amused because it seemed so ridiculous. As the rumors spread, however, I got a taste of the power of the internet to quickly accuse, judge, and convict someone of something they hadn’t done.

Thankfully, students and staff were skeptical of the friend requests and did some research to identify the actual source of the friend requests and invitations to parties. I thank those people who put in the time and effort to get to the bottom of the story. I also thank those who defended me at the lunch table and online.

Several students have asked me if I‘m mad at the kids who were part of the high school rumor mill. My answer is no, I’m not mad. We all make assumptions. We have all been on both sides of the situation—spreading rumors and being the target of them.

My hope is that we have all learned something from this experience. The internet is an integral part of all our lives. We bank, shop, research, and socialize via the web. Our teachers explain how to research on the internet, yet nobody teaches us how to protect ourselves on social networking sites.

Unfortunately, not every fake account is for marketing. As parents and teachers, we encourage acceptance and tolerance. Unfortunately, we should also teach you a little skepticism. Be smart about what you post and whom you friend. Remember when you click the agreement to join and use a site, you have handed over the rights to all your information.

We are lucky this one was only a marketing scheme.

When the 2:20 bell rings, school’s out and personal time begins. Whether time is spent with friends, in an activity, on homework, or at work, students are away from their school lives. Social networking is changing everything, blurring the lines of our private social lives with rules of school.

“One thing I love about Facebook is the information that you can get out to kids,” said Social Studies Teacher Tracy Hulley. “We put some stuff on facebook about Prom. You want to try to keep up with technology, but you have to really follow rules around it, as a teacher.”

On the outside Facebook is perhaps one of the best, if at least fastest, ways of sharing info for school. Within seconds an entire classroom can receive an assignment in a user friendly manner. This generation has made technology so central to their lives that it makes sense to put schoolwork where it will receive attention. The BHS yearbook uses a Facebook page to share pictures, and Science Teacher Barry Voigt, of Maple Grove Junior High, uses Facebook as a class homepage. On the other side of that coin, however, is the fact that when you post things, your friends aren’t the only ones seeing your content.

“I heard students say, ‘Oh my god, it’s so personal! Teachers shouldn’t be commenting on that, they shouldn’t be doing that,’” said Art teacher John Gunderson, “There’s something called the World Wide Web, anyone in the entire world can see it. Therefore anybody can see it and it doesn’t matter who you are, it’s not private.”

Some people don’t feel like teachers should be friends with their students on Facebook, for example, it would be taking their professional relationship into a more personal relationship when they comment on pictures, statuses, and write on walls.

“I’d feel like it’s an invasion of privacy,” Sophomore Jordan Swanson. “I would lose a little faith in technology and a lot in humanity.”

With students “friending” teachers, barriers between private life and school life begin crumbling. Teachers will see not only comments and photos that you have posted, but what your friends have posted as well. Up for interpretation now is “Where does the teacher’s job end?”

“[BHS] has no set policy,” said Principal Mark Mischke. “Teachers already use Facebook for a variety of things. With so much happening in students’ lives we can’t realistically use it as an investigation tool. However if a teacher sees something illegal occurring they will probably report it, on a case by case basis. It’s all gray area. If something is reported we will follow up on it, and investigate it to the fullest.”

It’s up to both staff and students to create a professional learning environment. More important than anything is that students are learning. Being friends with staff can create a supportive environment for students, but as soon as that compromises academic integrity, then it’s time to stop the “friending”.

“I think some teachers use it very well, and there are other ways for us to communicate with kids, with Moodle, and our websites, and I think we can do that on a more professional basis than Facebook.” said English Teacher Joel Squadroni, “I think with Facebook we have to be careful, it’s just not as professional for a student-teacher relationship.”

Reason #1 Facebook creates a false sense of security in sharing personal information. Reason #2 Facebook uses your personal information and the work you do to make money. Reason #3 Online bullying takes place on Facebook everyday. Reason #4 Facebook can be easily hacked, and your personal information may be shared. Reason #5 Depending on your privacy settings, your friends may be able to give out your information. Reason #6 Facebook makes it difficult for you to truly delete your account. Reason #7 It distracts you from school, work, and time with friends/family. Reason #8 Colleges and employers often look at your Facebook before accepting you. Reason #9 Once posted, your photos and data aren’t really yours anymore. Reason #10 People aren’t always who they say they are.

Reason #1 It keeps you connected with school and friends and gives you the ability to network. Reason #2 Facebook helps establish your relationship status, interests, and likes. Reason #3 It keeps you in touch with long distance friends or family. Reason #4 It makes you feel good when others like your photos or status. Reason #5 It’s entertaining, with various games and applications. Reason #6 Facebook is the fastest way to get local news. Reason #7 You get to meet your roommate before you live with them. Reason #8 You can easily share photos and videos, and tag friends in them. Reason #9 It gives you an opportunity to get to know people before actually meeting them. Reason #10 It’s free.

Change all of your personal information settings so it can only be viewed by you and never “Friends of Friends”.

Only accept friends that you personally know.

Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want your parents and future colleges and employers to see. Nothing on Facebook is truly private.

Facebook constantly changes the way it uses your information. Check your privacy settings frequently.