Powerpoint vs. Privacy

Powerpoint vs. Privacy

I chose to present to the class the news article, "Duke Winces as a Private Joke Slips Out of Control," from the New York Times concerning a Duke University student's fake thesis. The fake thesis created by student Karen Owen created much controversy because the forty-two page PowerPoint presentation she created consists of details of her sexual relations with thirteen Duke University athletes. Her mock thesis was on “horizontal academics.” The PowerPoint was created as a joke to share among close friends. However, it quickly slipped out of control. One of the friends she e-mailed the file to shared it with another person, and that person shared it with multiple people, and so on and so on – it went viral. The scandalous mock thesis was featured on Deadspin, a sports blog, and later Jezebel, a blog for women. Then it appeared on the Today Show and then the New York Times.

“All the world’s a stage in the Internet age,” said Lee Rainie, the director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project. “This is just the latest of a long list of examples of how things that are often meant for small, private audiences have innumerable opportunities to become public events, because once they have left the creators’ screen, they can be shared, forwarded and posted.” (Seelye and Robbins, NYT)

The mock thesis brings to the foreground the obvious issue of privacy (and its invasion/violation). The PowerPoint created included the names of the athletes, photographs and other explicit details. Their sense of privacy has clearly been violated, but so has Karen Owen’s. It seems like anything and everything circulating the Internet is meant for amusement and entertainment. Private information is posted (most of the time willingly) without any real thought about consequences that could happen in real life. Is this a problem with the current generation of young adults? A problem strictly isolated to America? There’s no clear answer.

We should also ask why this was such a scandal. As we discussed in class, men exchange explicit details about their sexual relations without being shamed in public. Why was this made such a big deal? Perhaps it was due to the use and assistance of the Internet that made the sharing of private information public.