Two very different cases involving online cruelty are sparking debate about personal responsibility and what should be legal on the internet. A detailed list of a Duke alumna's sexual encounters has gone viral.
The 42-slide PowerPoint that has drawn widespread attention was meant to be shared between friends. In it, Karen Owen, Trinity ’10, vividly describes the sexual performance of 13 current and former Duke students, all of them varsity athletes and many of them lacrosse players.
After Owen sent the PowerPoint to a few friends, it eventually made its way across listservs at Duke and then onto sites such as Jezebel, The Huffington Post and CNN. At one point Thursday night, “Karen Owen Powerpoint” was the second most-searched term in the United States on Google. “Duke Powerpoint” was 10th.
Then, there is the case out of Rutgers University in New Jersey. 18-year old student Tyler Clementi commited suicide after his roommate used a webcam to stream video online of Clementi's sexual experiences with a guy. Clementi's roomate and another student now face charges.
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