While recent stories in the national press have warned students that posting too much information online about their private lives might derail job opportunities, a group of local students found out about Big Brother the hard way.
About 26 minors - the youngest 14 - were given tickets Sept. 8 for underage drinking because of a MySpace.com posting.
Ten of the minors attend classes at this college.
Business freshman Tina Barron posted an invitation for a farewell party on her MySpace.com page.
She posted the party timings and location on the message boards, and the boards even mentioned the use of alcoholic beverages at the party.
The problem was all but two of the invited were under the legal drinking age.
Having set her MySpace page to private browsing, Barron expected only her friends would be able to read the party-related information.
The party was set to take place at Antonian Inn and Suites near New Braunfels Avenue and Interstate 35.
Barron said they even changed rooms after check-in, to make sure their noise would not disturb anyone.
The San Antonio Police Department managed to access her MySpace account and observed it for an undisclosed period of time.
The SAPD report states the officers waited and observed the minors until they managed to confirm the presence of alcohol and then moved to apprehend the minors.
Barron said the detectives barged into the room and displayed their badges and ordered everyone to display their identifications.
Of the 28 people present at the party, only two were older than 21 years of age, and they were released once their identification was confirmed, the SAPD police report stated.
One of the minors cited was Adriana Peña, a staff writer for The Ranger.
Barron complained that the police report exaggerated the amount of alcohol at the party.
SAPD will not comment on the methods used to acquire the information, but according to the police report, the investigator was working with the vice unit and researching MySpace.com when he came across a posting about a party at "Antonian."
"Personally, I find it troubling that the police would be toddling on such sites to look for information," said Patrick Filyk, president of American Civil Liberties Union of Texas San Antonio Chapter.
He added he did not see any violation of Barron's privacy.
"I don't see it. As a lawyer who studies the Constitution and the law, I do not see any breach of constitutional rights."
Filyk talked with his staff and discovered that they browse Myspace.com with little expectation of privacy.
"It is an issue concerning your generation of what is private and what's not," he said, "and it's going to be up to your generation to decide what are going to be the expectations between your government and private citizens."
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