Rich has been fined £300 by the University College London for ‘bringing the college into disrepute’ as his flirtacious website aimed at rating the attractiveness of students has apparently caused an ‘unwelcome distraction’ on campuses across the UK.
Fitfinder has been a phenomenon, attracting millions of visitors and serious interest from advertisers and investors. However, at the beginning of May, one week after launch, the Joint Academic NETwork (JANET), the UK’s education and research network blocked FitFinder from UK university networks over issues with the perceived level of distraction offered by the site. However, the ban was lifted within 24 hours following floods of complaints from students across the country.
Creator Martell has insisted, “It’s flattering to think that FitFinder is perceived as a threat to study time. But are students spending any more time on FitFinder that they would on, say, Facebook or Twitter? Not a chance.”
It’s interesting to note that you can access Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and all other forms of ‘distracting’ social networking sites from on campuses, which would mean perhaps it’s not just the distraction that’s the issue for UCL and JANET here. It looks like the institutions are taking issue with the nature of the website itself, which asks members to rate the attractiveness of fellow students.
Student Rights note, “It’s not right for universities to be blocking websites like this and/or fining students for entreprenurship – even if the site did start off as a joke. It’s clearly turned into something of a web phenonmenon albeit locally thus far and UCL and JANET should take a step back and focus on more serious issues on campuses across the country.”
A petition has garnered over 6000 signatures so far and can be signed by clicking here.
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