And he did nothing wrong, didn't use false information (as a noteable person recently did on a similar site), didn't violate Facebook's Terms of Agreement which says nothing about the alleged policy that former registered sex offenders are not allowed to have accounts; he did nothing wrong!
5-29-2009 Ohio:
AKRON -- A convicted child molestor had his Facebook profile deleted Friday as the social media site enforced its policy restricting access to convicted sex offenders.
____, 48, served 14 months of a four-year sentence for sexual battery and telephone harassment after admitting to inappropriate relationships with six male students while he was a counselor at Firestone High School. He was released from prison in July, 2000.
____ is a tier three sex offender, the most serious classification, which requires him to register his whereabouts every 90 days for life.
Earlier this year, Facebook adopted a new policy prohibiting sex offenders from having profiles and deleted the profiles of more than 5,000 known sex offenders.
Anchor Eric Mansfield learned of ____'s Facebook profile when a Channel 3 viewer sent ____'s name to Eric as a "friend suggestion"; Eric contacted Summit County Sheriff Drew Alexander who ordered an immediate investigation.
"This is a major concern," said Sheriff Drew Alexander. "It's a major priority. Anybody that's assaulted anybody. We will be on top of this before the day is over."
Alexander dispatched a deputy to go to ____'s North Akron home and talk to him about the profile, which appears to have been created in the last few days and included basic information on ____'s education and family.
See Eric's complete story tonight on Channel 3 News at 6. ..Source.. by WKYC
Comments from News site:
NO Social Networking site has any exclusion statement
in their Terms of Agreement, they use verbal unwritten policy
to entrap people then bar them from their site.
===============================================
____wrote:
They should re-open Alcatraz, populate the waterway surrounding the island with Great White sharks, and place all sex offenders there for life.
____wrote:
I know from experience that there are numerous people's children online that don't have clue at to what they're doing. And furthermore the parents don't know anything about what the children are doing either.
Mr. REPORTER just made a call. Wouldn't you call someone? We teach our children to run from strangers yet we don't teach them the basics of online strangers.
I don't know Mr. ____, but if he was found guilty of a crime and being the worst type of offender for that crime, i'd be the first one to call!
Does anyone know if he had underage children on his facebook page? This actually is very news-worthy. It will help some parents to understand that they can't just throw their child onto the computer without some kind of supervision!
____ wrote:
I agree strongly with ____'s first two paragraphs. This story reads like a self-aggrandizing pat on the back by and for Mr. ____. Generally, I have a lot of respect for the guy's reporting, but occasionally he goes a little Carl Monday on us. I believe this is one of those occasions.
Am I the patron saint of sex offenders? No. I appreciate the importance of keeping tabs on creepy dudes, especially in situations where they might have access to the vulnerable. I take the danger seriously and I understand the need for precautionary measures.
BUT. I've been a Facebook user since 2005 and I've never been notified of a sex offender exception clause in the TOS. I believe it exists, but this is the first I'm hearing of it and, were I a sex offender, I'd be violating it just like Mr. Bennett. FURTHERMORE, Facebook isn't MySpace. Anyone who has actually used the site knows that it's nearly impossible to get in touch with someone who doesn't want to hear from you, and anonymity is highly unusual. I don't get the impression Mr. ____ was using an alias.
I don't even think Facebook should have that clause. But that's not really my point here. In my opinion, Eric Mansfield's heroic deputygram to Mr. ____ isn't protecting anyone on Facebook, and certainly isn't newsworthy.
No disrespect.
____wrote:
he shouldn't have done it if he wasn't willing to face the consequences. why defend him? do you like molesting, too?
____wrote:
Does Facebook's enrollment process and TOS (Terms of Service) ask a new subscriber if they are a convicted sex offender?
If ____ is properly registered with the Summit County Sheriffs office, then a visit to his home by deputies (prompted by the media) borders on harassment.
Isn't WKYC's calling the Summit County Sheriff about a Facebook profile somewhat akin to the guy who recently called 911 when his McDonald's Happy Meal was incomplete?
May 29, 2009
OH- Exclusive: Facebook bans Akron sex offender after nearly 'friending' WKYC
February 20, 2009
Facebook has removed 5,500 (HONEST) sex offenders since May
Facebook like MySpace remove accounts of persons who earlier had a sex conviction, who have committed no current wrongdoing in society or on their website. If anything this makes Facebook and other sites doing same, more dangerous for any children having accounts. The reason is quite simple, these sites can no longer track such persons to see if they are trying to talk to accounts of minors. These acts by Facebook will likely cause such former offenders to go underground (setting up false accounts) and then there is no way to track them.
2-20-2009 National:
RALEIGH, N.C. — Facebook has removed more than 5,500 convicted sex offenders from its social networking Web site since May, Connecticut's attorney general said Thursday.
Richard Blumenthal said the world's largest social networking site, which claims to have more than 175 million active members, reported to his office that 5,585 convicted sex offenders were found on the Web site and removed between May 1, 2008, and Jan. 31, 2009.
"The message in this number is Facebook has an equal stake in solving this problem of protecting children," said Blumenthal, who along with North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has led an effort remove sex offenders from the social networking Web sites.
"They have an equal stake in the predator problem and its solution."
Earlier this month, rival networking site MySpace announced it had removed 90,000 sex offenders in a two-year period.
Last year, the attorneys general got both sites to implement dozens of safeguards, including finding better ways to verify users' ages and putting limits on older users' ability to search the profiles of members under 18.
Chris Kelly, Facebook's chief privacy officer, said the convicted sexual offenders on the site were found through user reports, working with local law enforcement agencies and using the national sex offender registry.
He said Facebook's focus on members using their real names and identities helps discourage sex offenders, and even more is being planned to prevent them from registering. Earlier this month, Facebook officials said policy dictated that no convicted sex offender be allowed to keep a Facebook page.
Kelly said the company has pitched a proposal to attorneys general around the country to develop a real-time system cross-checking available outlets and "block any registration from the get-go."
"Our policy has been to remove convicted sex offenders when they are reported or identified through any means," Kelly said. ..News Source.. by MARLON A. WALKER
