So... who's following the Rutgers University case regarding cyber bullying?
Let me break it down for everyone, with my own personal je ne sais quoi.
It starts off with two Rutgers University male students sharing a dorm room #nohomo... wait wait, my mistake, one of the students was in fact gay. Tyler Clementi, 18 years of age at the time, roomed with Dharun Ravi. The controversy rears its head in Sept. 19th, 2010 when Ravi apparently activated his webcam as Clementi entered their shared room with an older man. Upon realizing that it was a date, Ravi disabled his webcam, and that was that. His defense was that he wanted to make sure that none of his belongings were being tampered with in his absence.
Well, this sounds harmless enough. How could this be considered bullying? Dorming with a complete stranger that was assigned to by housing officials, who wouldn't be slightly concerned with their personal belongings.
If it were only that simple. Two days later on Sept. 21st, 2010, Ravi apparently recruited help to strategically position the camera towards Clementi's bed and invited friends over to watch as Clementi had sexual interactions. One might think that Ravi enjoyed homosexual pornography? However, evidence of email correspondence to friends of Ravi, complaining about having a roommate who is gay clearly negates the possibility that Ravi was entertained with the sexual activity of his dorm mate. Now this is clearly invasion of privacy and despite Ravi's defense of him being immature and ignorant, this was clearly thought out, not off of a whim and Ravi even had an accomplice.
The results are that Clementi ended his own life a few days after this event. Such a tragic course of action.
I'm slightly torn between an idea now. Although I can agree that no one can really anticipate what a persons actions will be, is it feasible for people to sit down, thoroughly weigh all the options and outcomes, perform all checks and balances, and create a pros versus cons list before acting? Seems restrictive to me. And let me clear the air right now. Some of you might be thinking, "Exiled prince, what do you know about invasion of privacy?"
Truth is, this very same situation has happened to me before. First off, swap out a random older gentleman with my girlfriend at the time. Swap out the dorm room with by best friend's living room. Swap out the bed with a rug. Swap out Sept. 19, 2010 with the morning after my senior prom. And finally swap out the webcam with my best friend's own eyes. I know, identical right?
I do dumb stuff all the time. I try my best to consider other's feelings and incorporate them into my actions too, but sometimes those impulsive tendencies get the better of me. #No_filter... #Y.O.L.O
Here's a link to the most recent status for the trial, which I kinda summarized already:
http://news.yahoo.com/rutgers-summation-spying-tyler-clementi-innocent-mistake-131324932--abc-news.html
Tell me what your thoughts are. How do you feel after reading this? Get at me, O_Mega_Tron@twitter and omega_tron@instagram
Take a look at this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy
The laws behind privacy are so loosely drawn up and barely mentioned in the 4th amendment.
"the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures".[3]
Where does this case fall under? Does the video capture fall under "unreasonable searches"?
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