Once reserved for celebrities, online gossip websites are now gossiping about friends and neighbours and they are especially popular among college students.
One site is getting a lot of scrutiny because it allows anonymous posting of material that is often vulgar and cruel.
A 22-year-old college senior who we'll call Jennifer, says her reputation took a beating when the embellished sexual encounter she had with a fraternity boy was posted on the gossip website juicycampus.com.
It's a place where unidentified students can post the real names and phone numbers of their victims and say anything they want whether it is true or not.
"It's disgusting what's written. The language is extremely pornographic and degrading. It really angers me that the person who wrote this doesn't have to leave a name, they are completely anonymous," she said.
Topics being discussed on sites like these include "who's the sluttiest girl at Harvard," "secret gays at the University of Miami" or "fattest girl at UC San Diego."
The site warns once a posting goes up, no matter how malicious, it's not coming down, feeding the insatiable appetite for gossip.
But many schools are now fighting back. Pepperdine University's student government passed a resolution calling on administrator's to block the site from its campus computer network.
President Andy Canales says cyber bullying has been connected to 10 suicides over the past five years.
Juicy campus founder Matt Ivester sees things differently.
"Juicy campus can have a really positive impact on college campuses, as a place for entertainment and free expression," he told the Associated Press.
But lawyers say beware. While these sites are protected under federal law, individual users who think they're anonymous aren't and can face up to two years in prison under a new cyber stalking law if a posting is deemed harassment.
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