The University directory is under attack. OK, phrasing it that way may be a little extreme, but two of our student senators would like to, in the words of George Clooney, render it useless. As reported in this newspaper, Wally Hicks and Toby Piering of the ASUO drafted a letter to the Office of the Registrar asking that the default setting for students’ directory listings exclude their phone numbers and addresses (“Student information availability disputed,” ODE Apr. 17).
The reason for this directory change, according to the article, is to protect students who don’t know their information is online and available to anyone who chooses to look them up. Interesting that these senators would choose to cater to the ignorant.
First off, students currently have the option to completely opt out of the directory, to remove pieces of information they don’t want to share or to leave their entry as it is.
Anyone who has a real problem with his or her information being public can do something about it. So I just don’t see the purpose in taking everyone’s information off and requiring the rest of us to log in to DuckWeb, navigate our way to our directory information, and ceremoniously state our openness to communication by un-checking the address and phone number boxes.
I grew up with my name, phone number and address in the phonebook, and aside from some telemarketers, nothing ever came of it. What is the big deal about people knowing where you live?
Now I have never been stalked, and forgive me if I offend someone who has been, but it seems to me that if someone really wanted to harm an unlisted person they could just as easily follow him or her home in order to learn where they live. As far as identity theft goes, I believe the real problem is loose use of Social Security numbers, the abundance of pre-approved credit card applications and other mail that should be shredded and Internet phishing scams. The Federal Trade Commission’s consumer Web site on identity theft (http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/) posts many precautions you can take to prevent identity theft, but getting an unlisted number is not one of them. So what is the big deal?
The student directory is an appropriately named resource. It is extremely useful. At the Emerald, we use the directory all the time to get in contact with students and faculty. As a student, I use it to contact classmates and group members. The directory is great when you lose someone’s phone number, or need to meet at his or her house and you don’t know where you’re going. One time a boy even looked me up to ask me for coffee. The directory is great.
But if the only information available were a university e-mail address that the student may or may not use, the system would be a lot less useful. I have yet to see how an address and phone number are “potentially harmful” information. I would rather see the University work on stopping the spam I’ve been getting on my University e-mail account, which after almost four years of great protection I started receiving this winter.
But back to the directory. What I would call “potentially harmful” information isn’t on there now. A class schedule would make it easy for a stalker to follow someone, but it’s not available in the directory. A social security number would make identity theft easier, but student numbers were changed from Social Security numbers to 950 numbers a few years ago, and even those aren’t in the directory. A Web link to a student’s server space could possibly be an invasion of privacy, depending what the student chose to store there. That’s not available in the directory either.
But what is not on the directory really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that a valuable resource may be at risk because a few people think it is dangerous. FYI: Piering only lists his name, nick name and e-mail address. Hicks did not show up at all in the directory.
In a time of Facebook and MySpace when users publish much more personal information than phone numbers, this plan seems kind of stupid. Piering and Hicks are both on Facebook, where I can learn that Toby Piering has a poker club and there is an entire group devoted to the pointless e-mails sent by Wally Hicks. But a phone number and address listing, now that is personal information.

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