Oxford University uses Facebook photos as proof for disciplinary hearings

- LONDON - Just who do you want seeing your photos on Facebook, one of the fastest-rising of the world’s new social networking websites? If you’re a student celebrating the end of exams with traditional end-of-term high-jinks, the answer just might not include your college disciplinary committee.

Just days after a US beauty queen put her crown in danger, posting mildly risqué photos on Facebook which were promptly leaked to tabloid newspapers across America, students at Oxford University were ruing allowing their exam celebration photos to appear on Facebook, after receiving disciplinary warnings from the university.

In a move highlighting the implications for privacy of the wave of social networking sites being set up worldwide from Facebook to MySpace, Bebo and others the Oxford University student union Thursday urged students to change their security settings on websites they use after it was revealed that the university had gone through photos of post exam celebrations for disiplinary proceedings.

The Oxford University Student Union website warned: "We advise those of you with Facebook accounts to alter your privacy settings on Facebook to prohibit members of staff and faculty from viewing your profile and photographs."

The union added that while anti-social behaviour is never condoned, what it termed an invasion of the students’ privacy was also not acceptable.

A spokesman for the university confirmed that senior academic staff were looking at public pages on Facebook to find evidence of students involved in unruly behaviour.

"The university proctors have told the students that they are welcome to meet their friends after their exams but that students who create a mess in the street with food or alcohol, or who indulge in anti-social behaviour contrary to university regulations will be disciplined," he said.

And it is not just universities that are doing this. Employers are also known to search sites before they interview college graduates for jobs, according to reports.

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