Dean addresses concerns about dangerous website posts

Those who think they can hide behind a shroud of complete Internet anonymity when posting on… Those who think they can hide behind a shroud of complete Internet anonymity when posting on websites like Juicycampus.com should beware: Anonymous doesn’t always mean that no one can find out who posted what and when.

At last night’s Student Government Board meeting, Pitt’s Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey explained that threats and posts about other kinds of illegal activity can be traced back to those who wrote them.

After receiving e-mails about gossip websites, Humphrey attended the meeting to address those student concerns. She said that students should know that police and the FBI can trace who posts on the site, even if websites like Juicycampus.com advertise anonymity.

Humphrey added that at Loyola Marymount University in California, police arrested a student for posting threatening information on the site.

According to the school’s student newspaper, the Loyolan, a 21-year-old student was apprehended by police and charged with suspicion of making criminal threats after he allegedly threatened to “shoot and kill as many people as I can,” in a post on Juicycampus.com.

She suggested that any Pitt students who feel threatened by posts on Juicycampus.com or other sites should report the problems to police and the owners of the website.

During the meeting SGB members also highlighted recent work they’ve done with the Pitt police.

Board president Sumter Link met with Pitt police Chief Tim Delaney after Link received questions from students concerning campus safety in the wake of the recent shootings at Northern Illinois University.

He said that he learned the Pitt police force is a member of the National Tactical Officers Association, a group that connects SWAT teams to police law enforcement teams.

He also said that campus police have regular training on SWAT-type procedures to “make the response time more immediate” in the case of a shooting situation.

Link said that some student procedures for such an emergency are listed on the Pitt police website at police.pitt.edu.

Other more specific procedures cannot be disclosed for security purposes.

Board member Ryan Very said he planned to meet with Pitt police officers to work on advertising more police services.

He said that advertising the services that the Pitt police offers could help students, who, he said, seem concerned that the police at Pitt are not being used as an adequate resource.

SGB Notes