I think it is totally wrong however the students should have known better, they are only thinking of the immediate 'fun' aspect and not the ramifications on their future but it is wrong to be penalised because it is not detrimental to the University really and the students should grow out of it, but vetting people on their internet profiles doesnt make sense to me, alot of people have admitted this isnt a true representation of themselves(i would have no worries on this one) so how can the vetter be certain that the information they are getting is accurate. Seems like a bad idea to me..

This is actually a really complex issue where society is struggling to keep up with the rate of technological change.

It's one thing if it's your facebook site. You've put that information into the public domain. If you don't want people to know, don't upload it!

But what if photographic evidence of your "exploits" is on somebody else's site? How about an ex with whom you're no longer on good terms? And how long might the information be available to employers/college snoops/police?

I would hope that any semi-enlightened employer would see through this. The world is awash with people who've got drunk, smoked a bit of dope and had one night stands at college. Even our Home Secretary has admitted to smoking a bit of cannabis, and when challenged by John Humphrys this morning on BBC R4, she didn't convincingly deny that she might have had a few glasses of pop beforehand. I hope that society is becoming a bit more mature and acknowledging that this "experimentation" is a relatively normal part of young adulthood.

I don't think a sensible employer would put too much weight in facebook, except as a "truth check"- does it support the claims made on their CV? are they concealing a serious drug problem? etc. And would focus only on things that had potential to affect his/her future performance or bring the company into disrepute.

For the police etc, what is on a facebook page does become another piece of evidence that can be used to support a prosecution, or importantly put an innocent person in the clear.

As with any source, it can also (and rightly) highlight a hypocrisy in somebody's public statements compared to their private behaviour.

I guess the take-home lesson is that mobile phone cameras + broadband technology means that we should all think like we're celebrities. If you don't want anyone to know... don't do it!

There may need to be some interesting lawmaking to square what is possible with facebook against our rights to privacy.

Society needs to grow up a bit too- I bet everything you'll see on facebook has been going on for years, the only difference being fewer people found out.

I think it's fair-game for an employer to search for any publicly available information on their prospective employee, as long as it's done with a reasonable understanding that the info they find may not necessarily reflect accurately the opinion of the person in question.

F'r instance, if someone had a tongue in cheek blog that frequently lambasts real name companies for fictional happenings, and then goes for an interview at that company. I'd hope that anyone who found it would realise that it's jokey, and not a serious poke at the company.

On the other hand, someone running multiple dubious legality porn sites may not be an appropriate employee of a school.

I appreciate there are much finer lines involved, but, in short, if you don't want summat to come back and haunt you, don't post it online.