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Reporting by Andre Francisco, C.J. McFate and Kathy Duan. Multimedia production by Jason Plautz. Copy editing by Emily Vaughan.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot you can do about it, except to protect yourself in the future.

The infiltration of the Northwestern network on Facebook surprised many. Lauren Cohn had more than 200 Facebook friends, yet there is no record that she ever attended NU. This could be viewed as a minor issue, but there could be some serious repercussions for those of you who had a few too many drunken pictures posted.

Some have proposed that legal action be taken against the creator of the account. The problem with legal action, however, is that there is hardly any to be taken. The only law “Lauren Cohn” broke was in her agreement with Facebook. The terms of use for the site clearly state:

“You [the user] agree not to use the Service or the Site to… impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent yourself, your age or your affiliation with any person or entity.”

Legal action, however, would not be cost effective or beneficial for Facebook. According to U.S. Legal, lawsuits for breach of contract are, as civil actions, intended to replace any losses that the breach may have caused, essentially restoring the injured party to its original position. Although Facebook could sue whoever created the account, it would gain nothing from the hassle.

Others who read about Cohn thought that the perpetrator could be charged with entrapment. This also fails to pass muster. Entrapment is not a charge, but rather a defense, used to help a jury ignore evidence in a trial. If a Northwestern student was punished for something Cohn “saw” on Facebook, the student couldn’t plead entrapment.

Entrapment only applies when someone “is induced or persuaded by law enforcement officers or their agents to commit a crime that he/she had no previous intent to commit,” according to Black’s Law Dictionary. So if Lauren saw you drinking at a party, she didn’t make you do it – you’re still guilty.

Or, take it from them.

Following Facebook’s growing popularity and the resulting overuse of user information, Facebook senior product manager Ezra Callahan posted a warning on the company’s blog on Feb. 15. He warned about the following “questionable” behaviors that are beyond the reach of Facebook’s privacy-protecting capabilities.

“1. Posting phone numbers on group and event Walls. It’s an effective way to give your number to your friends, but it’s also a good way to give it to people you don’t know.

Lots of people create groups on Facebook about lost mobile phones. In theory, these are an easy and efficient way to recover a lot of lost numbers. In reality, with people posting their phone numbers on the group Wall, these groups provide an unfortunate example of people putting private information into the public realm.

The stuff you post in global groups and events can be visible to anyone on Facebook. If you get invited to a group or event about a lost phone, by all means, give your friend your number, but use a Facebook message.

2. Accepting random friend requests. Friending is a privacy setting on Facebook. That sounds weird, but it’s true – when you become friends with someone, you’re exposing your whole profile to them.

Now it’s not like you’ve got your social security number in your profile or anything, but it’s still a good idea to think about whom you let see your information. We never tell people when you reject a friend request, so you shouldn’t feel bad about declining those from people you don’t really know.

3. Sharing your password. Imagine the horror of logging in to your account and seeing all your photos removed, your profile info wiped out, your friend list emptied, your messages deleted – all by an angry ex or a hurt friend. It’s not a pretty picture.

Telling your significant other or best friend your Facebook password may seem like a safe thing to do, but passwords are meant to be private for a very good reason. Every day, our Customer Support team receives emails from people who get betrayed by someone that knows their Facebook login info. Don’t let this happen to you.

4. Posting pictures of people doing illegal stuff. We hate to see stories about people getting busted for stuff they post on Facebook. But a little bit of common sense can go a long way when it comes to posting photographic evidence of an infraction or crime.

Under 21? Probably best not to post a picture of that keg stand from last weekend. Not in Amsterdam? Probably better to keep pictures of any illegal substances off Facebook. Not a big fan of wearing clothes? Probably worth leaving out the full frontal shots.”

Except that officials at her high school and Northwestern say they have no record of her.

“You know, I’m not seeing a Lauren Cohn,” said Martha Conger of Northwestern’s Office of the Registrar. “There’s no Lauren Cohn at the university.”

Corky Kapp works at Watkinson School in Hartford, Conn., the high school Cohn lists in her profile. Cohn did not attend Watkinson last year, Kapp said.

“I can completely assure you she did not graduate from here in 2007,” said Kapp, a program assistant in Watkinson’s college counseling center. “We have a very small class and I work very closely with all the students. There was no student here by that name.”

The Facebook profile of Lauren Cohn suggests how easy it is for anyone to create an account and gain access to other people’s profiles and photos. Some Northwestern students are concerned someone may use the profile to bust them for drinking or other policy violations. Her number of Northwestern friends has dropped rapidly over the past week, from 189 to 143.

Freshman Kameron Rezzadeh fears officials might use false Facebook accounts to view student profiles. He said he tells others about profiles he finds questionable.

“I just do my part in terms of spreading the word because I don’t want my friends to get in trouble,” Rezzadeh said.

Messages to Cohn’s account were not answered.

Northwestern officials declined to comment on whether they use or would consider using a false Facebook account to gain access to students’ information. But in general, they said, they would not rule out using information found through Facebook, or other Web communication, in disciplinary matters.

“The police make every effort to maintain the overall safety of the community, and there may be times when that requires investigative methods the students do not agree with,” said Daniel McAleer, assistant chief of university police. He declined to specify what methods police use.

Facebook isn’t the only resource police would consider using, he said. Messages from other sites, such as Evite, are another.

“If somebody sends an [online] invitation with many recipients and some of those recipients happen to be administrators… how do you ignore that?” McAleer said.

NU’s new director of judicial affairs, James Neumeister, has not been here long enough to comment on the school’s policy about the use of online information for disciplinary actions, he said. But he said that such use can’t be ruled out.

“If someone told us there was information on Facebook that pertained to an ongoing investigation or case, we would consider it,” Neumeister said.

When asked for an interview, Mary Desler, associate vice president and dean of student affairs, declined to comment on disciplinary issues in general.

All someone needs to create a Northwestern Facebook account is a university e-mail address.

Northwestern students should be careful about the information in their Facebook accounts, said Wendy Woodward, director of technology support services at NUIT.

“Anyone can go and set up a Facebook account in the Northwestern network,” she said. “I think students need to be aware that the information they post online is accessible. I have not worked with the administration…but I can’t speak to what it may or may not do with that information.”

Information can be extracted not just from individual profiles, but from events on the Facebook newsfeed – or the Northwestern network page – that usually include the date, time and location of parties.

Since its inception in 2004, Facebook has logged college events and activities, legal and otherwise. As early as 2005, university administrators and authorities have used this window to access posted information.

“As long as the administrator is on the site legitimately, they are permitted to see those on their network,” said Malorie Lucich, a Facebook representative, in e-mail. “We encourage users to restrict their privacy settings if they do not want others seeing their profile.”

In 2005, four students at Northern Kentucky University were fined, cited for code of conduct violations and put on probation after a residential assistant showed administrators Facebook pictures of them drinking from a keg in a university residence hall.

“We had a keg on campus and we didn’t get caught,” said Shingi Zinyemba, 23, one of the students involved. “Two months later, Facebook comes out, and we posted the pictures from that night. It’s stupid because they didn’t catch me [drinking] but I still got in trouble.”

Groups can also be a dangerous place to share. Rezzadeh points to the “New Student Week: We’re Here to Party” group created by Mark Palmer, an individual whose profile is now inaccessible.

In that group, the “Who Blazes?” thread features 70 posts about marijuana use, referencing paraphernalia, plans of when and where to smoke, and how to get marijuana. There’s even a debate over the merits of a bong versus a piece.

Since residents of university housing at a private school like Northwestern don’t enjoy the same privacy rights as they would in a private residence, a posting of that nature may be a justification for room search.

“We just need probable cause to check out a room,” said Rawson Liang, a community assistant at 1835 Hinman. “[Facebook postings like that] are more than enough grounds to at least knock on the door and see what’s up.”

Zinyemba’s experience leads him to advise a degree of caution when making photos and other information accessible on Facebook.

“The best advice I have?” he said. “Just watch your step.”