New website causing controversy on BU campus

BOSTON -- A new website which gives users a chance to rate the looks of female students against each other is stirring controversy on the Boston University campus.

The website is called RateBU.com. Users log on and vote for the hottest girl at school.

If the concept sounds familiar, it should: the founder of RateBU.com admits openly that the movie “The Social Network” gave him the idea.

“I saw the movie with some friends, realized I could make this too,” said Justin Doody, the RateBU.com founder.

But in the movie, Mark Zucerkburg gets in trouble for hacking into Harvard’s private server to access girls’ pictures. Dooty found a way around that by actually using the pictures posted on Facebook.

“Once you upload a photo, you lose the rights to it. It’s a very gray area of the law that hasn’t really been talked about yet,” said Doody.

“I just think it’s rude, the fact that anyone can add a picture. I blocked everything on my Facebook so that no one could go pull weird pictures of me. I just think it’s scary,” said Celia Hubbard, a Boston University sophomore.

The site is private to BU students, and many say this site is going too far.

“The girls who are on it don’t put themselves on it, and just random put pictures of them. I feel like it's violating to them,” said Gina Delisio, a Boston University junior.

“There’s been a few negative emails. A lot of them are anonymous, so they’re not even letting me reply to them. This one girl created a Facebook group against the site and I tried to join that to talk to them, and she just flat out rejected me,” said Doody.

Doody says he understands the concern and is working to make sure everyone is happy.

“I have been receiving some emails. Right now I’ve just been working on the site. I’m trying to decide if I’ll start taking these down when they request that. It’s basically brand new. I’ve just been overwhelmed,” said Doody.

There are already 3,000 registered users. The creator said he is going to add men to the website by the end of the week, and eventually he would like to see it at colleges all over the country.

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