Police: Teen girls' Facebook photos on porn site

The FBI can TAKEDOWN sites anywhere in the world, BUT, not this one?

2-17-2012 Massachusetts:

CHARLTON, Massachusetts (AP) – The FBI and Massachusetts police are trying to figure out who "hijacked" Facebook photos of teenage girls from more than a dozen high schools in the state and posted them on a website police say features child pornography.

Authorities on Thursday described the site as an anonymous bulletin board with links to pornographic content and photos of students from all 50 U.S. states.

The Massachusetts link displayed pictures of 17 teenage girls from Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School in Charlton and others from schools around the state, officials said.

The photos of the fully-clothed girls contained information that could be used to identify the teens, including town and school signs, Charlton Police Chief James Pervier said.

The site is hosted in Ohio but its servers are in eastern Europe — outside local and federal authority, Charlton Police Lt. Carl Ekman said.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers said the agency was reviewing the matter to determine whether any laws were violated, including privacy and anti-pornography laws.

Boston FBI spokesman Greg Comcowich said the site was running Thursday. He would not discuss any agency actions taken in its review. ..Source.. by USA Today

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Facebook data collection under fire again

8-25-2011 Global:

A German data protection agency is concerned Facebook is collecting data in violation of E.U. law

IDG News Service - A German privacy protection authority is calling on organizations there to close their Facebook fan pages and remove the social networking site's "Like" button from their websites, arguing that Facebook harvests data in violation of German and European Union law.

The Independent Centre for Privacy Protection (ULD), the privacy protection agency for the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, issued a news release on Friday saying Facebook builds a broad, individualized profile for people who view Facebook content on third-party websites.

Data is sent back to Facebook's servers in the U.S., which the agency alleges violates the German Telemedia Act, the German Federal Data Protection Act and the Data Protection Act of Schleswig-Holstein. The agency alleges the data is held by Facebook for two years, and wants website owners in the state to remove links to Facebook by the end of next month or possibly face a fine.

"The wording in the conditions of use and privacy statements of Facebook does not nearly meet the legal requirements relevant for compliance of legal notice, privacy consent and general terms of use," according to the ULD.

ULD officials could not be reached on Tuesday for comment. Facebook said in a statement that it firmly rejected allegations that it is in violation of E.U. data protection standards.

"The Facebook Like button is such a popular feature because people have complete control over how their information is shared through it," the company said in a statement. "For more than a year, the plugin has brought value to many businesses and individuals every day. We will review the materials produced by the ULD, both on our own behalf and on the behalf of web users throughout Germany."

Third-party websites use Facebook's "Like" button -- known generally as a "social plugin" -- as a means of promotion, letting their visitors share information they find useful through their own Facebook profiles. When a Facebook user clicks the Like button, it will result in a "story" within the user's News Feed on Facebook, along with a link to the website.

When the Like button is displayed on a third-party website, Facebook collects data including the user's computer operating system and IP (Internet protocol) address -- and, if the user is logged in to Facebook, their Facebook user ID. Facebook delivers information back to the website using the button, including the number of Likes. It also supplies demographic information, such as the percentage of visitors by gender, their age range, language, city and country.

Facebook retains logs of the IP addresses of logged-out members for 90 days before deleting them, which is an industry-accepted time frame, Facebook has said.

Facebook also allows advertisers to purchase campaigns using items that people "Like" as denoted on their profiles, something the company terms "Interests Targeting."

The move by the ULD is the latest problem for Facebook in Germany, which has undertaken close examinations of social networking services for potential privacy violations.

Earlier this month, Hamburg's Data Protection Agency (DPA) sent a letter to Facebook saying the social networking site should get users' consent before their biometric data, used to enable the automatic photo tagging feature, is stored.

Users can opt out of the feature, but the DPA claims that the process is unclear. The DPA contends that E.U. privacy regulations require that users give their consent before their data is stored, including the data used to enable tagging. Facebook said it rejects any claim it is not meeting E.U. law. ..Source.. by Jeremy Kirk

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Oak Park police charge boy who allegedly made sex-ranking list

5-20-2011 Illinois:

An Oak Park juvenile was arrested Monday for allegedly devising and circulating a list ranking 50 female Oak Park-River Forest High School girls by their sexual characteristics and alleged sexual behaviors.

“The subject was found to be responsible for an offensive list that was circulated at OPRFHS,” said Detective Cmdr. LaDon Reynolds. “Based on the evidence, the juvenile offender was charged with disorderly conduct and referred to (juvenile) court.”

The father of one girl targeted by the list confirmed Tuesday the arrest. His wife, he said, was contacted by Oak Park police Tuesday morning about the charges.

The list emerged in January and described the girls by explicit, derogatory nicknames and assessed their physical appearance, sexual desirability, sexual activity and other characteristics. It was posted on Facebook and hundreds of copies were printed and distributed at the high school during lunch period, before the school administration intervened.

“The school learned today from Oak Park police about the arrest of the former OPRFHS student...” according to a statement from OPRFHS spokeswoman Kay Foran.

This sad and troubling experience prompted the school to have very targeted and deliberate discussions with OPRF students, faculty, staff and families about the consequences and impact of bullying, cyber bullying and sexual harassment and about the remedies and supports available to those victimized by illegal and hurtful behaviors.

“This incident also has spurred us to review and augment our communications and educational outreach to students and families about these issues as we raise awareness and reiterate expectations of respectful behavior toward all,” stated Foran.

Reynolds said the Oak Park Police Department worked closely with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office to build the case.

The boy was processed and turned over to his legal guardian, Reynolds said.

In February the boy was expelled from OPRF and sent to an alternative high school in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, according to sources.

Dale Jones, father of one of the girls, said that while he welcomed the arrest, he was concerned that a disorderly conduct charge was not serious enough of a response for a “very serious offense that affected many people.”

Still, he said, “I’m gratified that the investigation continued, and that charges are being filed. I’m hopeful they consider additional charges as they gather more evidence.” ..Source.. by Bill Dwyer

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Oak Park police charge boy who allegedly made sex-ranking list

5-10-2011 Illinois:

An Oak Park juvenile was arrested Monday for allegedly devising and circulating a list ranking 50 female Oak Park-River Forest High School girls by their sexual characteristics and alleged sexual behaviors.

“The subject was found to be responsible for an offensive list that was circulated at OPRFHS,” said Detective Cmdr. LaDon Reynolds. “Based on the evidence, the juvenile offender was charged with disorderly conduct and referred to (juvenile) court.”

The father of one girl targeted by the list confirmed Tuesday the arrest. His wife, he said, was contacted by Oak Park police Tuesday morning about the charges.

The list emerged in January and described the girls by explicit, derogatory nicknames and assessed their physical appearance, sexual desirability, sexual activity and other characteristics. It was posted on Facebook and hundreds of copies were printed and distributed at the high school during lunch period, before the school administration intervened.

“The school learned today from Oak Park police about the arrest of the former OPRFHS student...” according to a statement from OPRFHS spokeswoman Kay Foran.

This sad and troubling experience prompted the school to have very targeted and deliberate discussions with OPRF students, faculty, staff and families about the consequences and impact of bullying, cyber bullying and sexual harassment and about the remedies and supports available to those victimized by illegal and hurtful behaviors.

“This incident also has spurred us to review and augment our communications and educational outreach to students and families about these issues as we raise awareness and reiterate expectations of respectful behavior toward all,” stated Foran.

Reynolds said the Oak Park Police Department worked closely with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office to build the case.

The boy was processed and turned over to his legal guardian, Reynolds said.

In February the boy was expelled from OPRF and sent to an alternative high school in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, according to sources.

Dale Jones, father of one of the girls, said that while he welcomed the arrest, he was concerned that a disorderly conduct charge was not serious enough of a response for a “very serious offense that affected many people.”

Still, he said, “I’m gratified that the investigation continued, and that charges are being filed. I’m hopeful they consider additional charges as they gather more evidence.” ..Source.. by Bill Dwyer

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Sex offender pleads guilty to networking

This is absolute bounder dash, nonsense, social networking sites ARE NOT OWNED by children nor are they designed ONLY for minors. The law is over-breadth, if anything, states should force social networking sites to build in blocking mechanisms for minor accounts.

2-12-2011 North Carolina:

DURHAM -- A second man among eight sex offenders charged last summer with participating in Facebook or Myspace pleaded guilty Friday, but two others will fight the charges next week, calling the law unconstitutional.

A state law passed in 2008 prevents registered sex offenders from maintaining accounts on commercial social networking sites. On Friday, Raquim Watson, 23, pleaded guilty to violating that law and will serve 18 months' probation. In 2008, he was sentenced to two years' probation for taking indecent liberties with a 14-year-old girl in Rowan County when he was 19.

With his latest charge resolved, Watson can return to N.C. Central University, his attorney Matt Cook said.


Another former NCCU student, Brandon Whitehurst, 22, will be in prison until this summer because his guilty plea on the social networking charge yielded him a probation violation on a prior incest conviction, resulting in a 16-month prison sentence.

So far, only Whitehurst and Watson have resolved their cyber-crimes. Two other defendants, Christian Johnson and Lester Packingham, are fighting a law they say violates their constitutional rights.

"The regulation does not just keep a registered sex offender from engaging in obscene speech with a minor," wrote Johnson's lawyer, Glenn Gerding of Chapel Hill, in a motion filed in December. "It prohibits any and all speech, however innocent, even if it's a religious conversation between the offender and his priest, or a discussion of family matters between the offender and his mother."

A judge is to hear the attorneys' motions next week. ..Source.. by JESSE JAMES DECONTO - Staff Writer

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No Facebook for inmates under S.C. bill

I can maybe understand preventing inmates using computers within a prison system from setting up such accounts, but I think this bill goes WAY OVER THE LINE! Stop someone in the general public from expressing beliefs, if those beliefs are those of someone within a prison? Religious, Political just where do they intend the limit is? Nothing like trying to isolate folks so they cannot reintegrate into society; the state way!

2-11-2011 South Carolina:

Inmates could not join Facebook or other social-networking sites, nor could their friends create memberships for them, if a new measure in the South Carolina Legislature becomes law.

South Carolina Democratic Rep. Wendell G. Gilliard and others introduced House Bill 3527 on Feb. 2. Under the measure:

“It is unlawful for an inmate to be a member of any Internet-based social networking website such as Facebook, Myspace, and Classmates. An inmate who joins an Internet-based social networking website or a person who establishes an account with an Internet-based social network website for an inmate is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than thirty days.”

The (Charleston) Post and Courier had reported on South Carolina inmates with Facebook accounts. One such story told of an inmate convicted of manslaughter who was able to post material from a cell phone in prison.

“This is an embarrassment to South Carolina that no lawmaker should tolerate," Gilliard told Post and Courier reporter Glenn Smith in a later story. “These inmates can use this to put people's lives in danger. We need to put a stop to this immediately."

A First Amendment advocate in Cleveland expressed concerns about the Gilliard bill.

“This bill strikes me as gratuitously cruel, essentially an effort to stifle basic acts of communication by inmates,” said Kevin F. O’Neill, a law professor at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law who has written about free-expression rights of inmates.

“But I think that a court would uphold it if the government can point to some inside-the-prison security concern that this bill is designed to advance. The courts have been receptive to regulations that are designed to prevent inmates from communicating — and thus cooperating — in concerted efforts to revolt or escape.”

The measure was referred to the House Judiciary Committee. Gilliard could not be reached for comment about the bill's chances of passing. ..Source.. David L. Hudson Jr., First Amendment scholar

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N.C. sex offenders fight ban on joining social networks

The principle in barring former sex offenders from social networks is based on the possibility that they may happenstance on a minor who may also have a account on the same social network, and communicate with them. Based on that well accepted theory which speaks to the Internet (Virtual World), what about telephones or any other virtual communication system.

However, laws prohibiting registrants from places where children might gather (i.e., school, playgrounds, day cares, etc.) in the physical sense, does not bar them from total communications with children. Why should the Internet be different?

My personal belief is that social networks have a responsibility to design their networks so that minors are -so to speak- corralled, segregated so that adults cannot communicate with them. Laws totally prohibiting registrants, are unconstitutional because they are not focused on the correct thing to protect children! Think about it...

1-30-2011 North Carolina:

RALEIGH, N.C. Registered sex offenders aren't allowed at schools, churches, shopping malls or other places where children may gather in the real world. But what about Facebook and other spots in the virtual world?

Two local lawyers say it's unconstitutional to bar registered sex offenders from such social networking sites, and they're seeking to overturn a North Carolina law passed by the state legislature three years ago.

In North Carolina last year, 75 offenders were charged under the law, which targets social networks such as MySpace and Facebook that allow minors as members. Eight men were charged by the Durham, N.C., police and sheriff's department last summer after an investigation determined that the men were maintaining accounts on the sites.

Two of those men - Christian Martin Johnson, 34, and Lester Gerard Packingham, 29 - are now challenging the Information Age statute.

"The regulation does not just keep a registered sex offender from engaging in obscene speech with a minor," wrote Johnson's lawyer, Glenn Gerding of Chapel Hill, N.C., in a motion filed late last month. "It prohibits any and all speech, however innocent, even if it's a religious conversation between the offender and his priest, or a discussion of family matters between the offender and his mother."

Packingham's lawyer, Lynn Norton-Ramirez, argues that the law keeps her client from communicating with friends and promoting his business on Facebook.

But North Carolina Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, who sponsored the law as a state senator, says there are other ways registered sex offenders can communicate.

"We do have the mail," he said. "We do have telephone."

Dalton said the Internet restriction is no different from a sex offender being prohibited from running a food vending cart on a school campus.

"When you are deemed to be a sexual predator, sometimes you do not have all the full rights of every citizen out there," Dalton said. "It's got a good public purpose. We don't need sex offenders engaging with minors."

But online communication is not the same as physical proximity, said Rebecca Jeschke, a spokeswoman for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization committed to Internet freedom.

"Speech is very well-protected under the Constitution," she said. "It's definitely a problem to say certain classes of people can't talk on the Internet."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation supports educating children about Internet safety while letting sites such as Facebook make their own rules, instead of the government imposing laws.

Johnson's underlying sex offenses were two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. He pleaded guilty to those after initially being charged with more serious crimes.

After serving his sentence, Johnson worked as a computer software developer, but Gerding said the law has kept his client from integrating his company's product with Facebook and MySpace.

"Mr. Johnson was unable to perform those work-related assignments," the attorney wrote. "(He) was ultimately fired from his job in part because of the restrictions and in part because of the charge in this case."

Gerding said the law is so broad that it prevents registered sex offenders such as Johnson from accessing websites such as Google or Amazon.com, because these sites allow a user to create a profile and to share information and photos with other members.

"That could include sharing a recipe on BettyCrocker.com, exchanging information about heart disease on MedHelp.com, or speculating about the University of North Carolina Tar Heels sports teams on (sports website) www.Scout.com," Gerding said. "JesusKlub.com and GodTube.com would be off-limits to a registered sex offender. He could not view inspirational videos, submit a prayer request, read a devotional or learn about the Bible."

But Dalton said he doubts the criminal justice system would try to enforce the law beyond clear-cut social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

"I believe that these cases show that the statute is doing exactly what it was intended to do," he said. "That will ultimately be up to a court of law."


Dalton said that if evidence shows an offender had no bad intent in accessing a site, a judge could consider that in meting out punishment. Still, Dalton said, that doesn't mean the law is unconstitutional.

Durham Assistant District Attorney Mark McCullough hasn't filed any response to the motions and declined to comment on the cases while they're still pending. A spokeswoman said state Attorney General Roy Cooper backs the law but can't comment on individual cases.

The Durham County Superior Court is scheduled to hear the motions in mid-February.

FORMER SEX-OFFENDER CASES:

Chapel Hill defense lawyer Glenn Gerding previously challenged a North Carolina law that called for a 300-foot buffer between registered sex offenders and any place where children might gather. Gerding said the law effectively banished registered sex offenders from churches or even public streets near child-care centers.

In December 2009, Orange-Chatham Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ruled the law unconstitutional.

But the law still stands outside Orange and Chatham counties in North Carolina, because the prosecution didn't appeal and it never went to a higher court.

Gerding had brought that case after his client, James Nichols, was charged with a crime for attending church.

Baddour acknowledged the state's compelling interest in protecting children, but he said, "there are less drastic means for achieving the same purpose."

Though he won that case, Gerding had been hoping to take it to the N.C. Court of Appeals so that a ruling like Baddour's would apply to cases all over the state.

"It's great for my client," Gerding said, but it does not bind a Superior Court judge in any other district. ..Source.. JESSE JAMES DECONTO - McClatchy Newspapers

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Teens apologize to alleged rape victim for online slurs

1-13-2011 Canada:

A group of B.C. high school students who made tasteless comments about a suspected rape victim online decided to write apology letters to the teen after meeting with her face-to-face.

After the 16-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted at a party in Pitt Meadows in September, photos of the rape circulated online and a Facebook group was formed casting doubt on the victim's story.

Members of the group claimed the girl voluntarily took drugs, lied to police and agreed to have sex with multiple men. Similar rumours about the victim circulated throughout the online universe, including suggestions from other partygoers that the victim had "asked for it" or deserved to be raped.

But at least some of the young people responsible for those insensitive comments have since relented, according to Seamus Nesling, spokesman for the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows school district.

Nesling told ctvbc.ca that the girl's school identified a handful of students responsible for the vicious online attacks, and brought them in for "restorative justice" through meetings with the victim.

"The goal is for people to look at what they did and have an opportunity to reflect on it," he said.

"Part of the process was for them to understand, for the person they were talking about, that this was the effect that this had."

By the end of the September, the students decided they needed to apologize for their harsh words, and opted to write letters to the girl.

"It wasn't like, ‘Oh you did a bad thing, and for your punishment you have to write a letter," Nesling said.

"It's more a case of, ‘What do you think you should do?'"

Police say that terrible things continue to be said about the victim online, but the girl's school is confident students are no longer spreading nasty rumours and innuendo.

"What the school is seeing is coming from other individuals in the community," Nesling said, adding that the school has reported some offensive online posts to the police.

Last week, RCMP released a statement from the teenager, who thanked anyone who "spread lies about her," or blamed her for the incident, saying "you have made me stronger than ever before."

Her parents also issued a statement, saying that their daughter continues to be tormented by her peers. She is now enrolled in just one class at the school, but is taking several courses online.

Three people have now been charged in the attack and for spreading images online, and Mounties say they do not anticipate any further charges.

Colton Ashton McMorris of Maple Ridge, 18, was charged last week with sexual assault, while 19-year-old Dennis John Allen Warrington of Langley was charged with making and distributing child pornography.

A 16-year-old boy was charged with the production and distribution of child pornography in October. ..Source.. Bethany Lindsay, ctvbc.ca

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Huron Township cops probe second sex complaint after teen's suicide

11-13-2010 Michigan:

Huron Township— A new sexual assault complaint is surfacing against 18-year-old Joseph Tarnopolski, who escaped prosecution for an encounter with a 14-year-old girl who later committed suicide.

Police are investigating a second "similar" complaint against the Huron High School senior, who saw felony charges against him for allegedly having sex with Samantha Kelly dismissed Wednesday after she hanged herself.


"We are doing our interviews. It is under investigation and will probably be presented to the prosecutor next week," said Huron Township Police Lt. Scott Carey. "It is a criminal sexual conduct report. It is of similar circumstances."

Meanwhile, fallout from the suicide of 14-year-old Samantha Kelly took new, sometimes vicious, twists Thursday, with hateful messages posted on social media sites meant to support her.

The new complaint against Tarnopolski was made Oct. 22. A day earlier, Huron High School students started taunting Kelly, a freshman, because she and her mother had given an interview that aired Oct. 20 on WJBK-TV (Channel 2). In the interview, the girl's story about having consensual sex was changed to accusing Tarnopolski of rape, school officials and police said.

Tarnopolski told television reporters that he had heard rumors of a possible second case but didn't know anything about it. His lawyer didn't return calls. ..Source.. by George Hunter and Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News

eAdvocate Note: You can read the whole story above, but what is important is the very last sentence, it reads:

"An outpouring of grief and Facebook pages supporting Samantha popped up on the social network.

Then the Internet trolls started posting.

Facebook moderators have deleted a number of hateful messages and pictures of naked children posted to a page entitled, "R.I.P., Samantha Kelly. You will be missed. We love you."

Other posts threatened Tarnopolski and his family. "

I would hope the police are following up on the Child Porn posted as well as the Threats! Has Facebook even reported it?

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Community angered after sex offender receives award

11-13-2010 Michigan:

ALBION, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – The Albion Chamber of Commerce has aroused some anger in the community by giving an award to a sex offender.

His name is Ken Fourn and his neighbors found him on the sex offender registry. He spent time in jail after being convicted of second degree criminal sexual conduct.

Despite that, the Albion Chamber of Commerce honored him with the Good Neighbor award for his good deeds in the community.

Now people in that community are hot and taking shots at Fourn on Facebook.

Hundreds of angry Facebook posting have erupted after Fourn was awarded the Good Neighbor certificate.

Newschannel 3 spoke with Fourn on Friday about the controversy he's suddenly found himself in.

“If I had any inkling that it would disturb people that I received an award for helping out with the community band I never would have accepted it,” said Fourn.

The Albion Chamber of Commerce says Ken Fourn received the Good Neighbor award because “Ken and his wife Jan are responsible for more than 30 years of continued success with the Albion Community Band.”

However, people in Albion are furious because Fourn is a convicted sex offender. He was convicted in 1999 of second degree criminal sexual conduct with a child.

Fourn says the starting point for his award and his CSC charge are the same thing, music.

“I taught at the Spring Arbor College, had some students there,” said Fourn. “I taught the Jackson Symphony School of Music.”

Fourn says he also gave private lessons.

“One of my students took offense to a maneuver that I use to teach breathing,” said Fourn.

Fourn says that student was a ten-year-old girl.

“In hindsight the young lady probably was offended by the way I touched her,” said Fourn. “I had no idea that it would cause such a firestorm.”

Fourn was arrested and charged with CSC, he says his attorney advised him to plead no contest to the charges and he served two months in jail.

The Albion Chamber of Commerce says they will not take back Fourn's award, but in the future will do more research before handing out awards. ..Source.. WWMT.com

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Woman charged in Facebook crash: I'm the victim

9-9-2010 Michigan:

The 23-year-old Pontiac woman who police say caused a fatal crash after a fight on Facebook told police that she was the one being victimized, a detective testified Wednesday.

A hearing will continue Sept. 22 to determine whether Torrie L. Emery will be tried for second-degree murder in Oakland County Circuit Court.

Pontiac residents Alesha Abernathy, 21, died and Danielle Booth, 20, was critically injured when their car ran a red light July 21 and crashed into a truck on Woodward at Rapid Street in Pontiac.

Investigators say Emery and Booth had been arguing on Facebook about a man, and Emery started the chase when she spotted the women driving through McDonald's on Woodward in Pontiac. Emery's 3-year-old daughter was in a child seat in the back of her car.

Pontiac police Detective Paul McDougal testified Wednesday that Abernathy and Booth crashed as he watched them being chased by Emery at speeds of more than 80 m.p.h.

Emery sat emotionless in 50th District Court on Wednesday as McDougal described following the women's cars, then pulling Emery over after she sped past the crash.

"She jumps out of the car: 'I don't even know this girl. She's following me with my baby in the car,' " McDougal said in Judge Cynthia Thomas Walker's courtroom.

Witnesses Karen Holland and her son William Hall testified that they were stopped at the light at Rapid Street when the crash happened in front of them.

"I said 'Oh my God, she's not going to stop,' and it happened that fast," Holland said, adding that Abernathy's car fishtailed as though she was trying to stop at the red light before hitting the truck.

"There was really nothing we could do. We called 911," said Hall, the first person to try to help Abernathy and Booth.

Emery -- also charged with assault and child endangerment -- is being held without bond in the Oakland County Jail.

Abernathy's mother, Angel Abernathy, 37, of Waterford, said Wednesday that she was surprised to hear for the first time in Wednesday's hearing that Emery claimed to be the victim.

"It's disappointing because not only did she ruin her life, she ruined mine, (Alesha's) dad's, my mom and dad," Abernathy said. "Everybody lost. No one won.

Danielle's family -- they all lost. All because of some man." ..Source.. TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA, FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

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Mother Finds Internet Passwords On Website

Hummm, anyone see where "the mother" found any passowrds on a website? True, the alleged expert suggested that sometimes happens. Next, if someone HACKED a Facebook account, why would you call the local TV station? I'd be checking with Facebook first. And, the expert doesn't say one word about whether the home computer was protected at all, or with what. Expert?

7-17-2010 Global:

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- Channel 2 Action news found that Internet users’ sensitive personal information could be just a point and click away for anyone to see.

Stephanie Schuessler contacted the Channel 2 newsroom after learning someone hacked her son’s information through the social networking website Facebook.

“Some has breached ... his passcode,” she told Channel 2 Action News reporter Eric Philips.

Schuessler said someone hacked her 16-year-old's e-mail address through his Facebook account, then changed the security questions on his e-mail account so he couldn’t verify the e-mail address belonged to him. She said the hacker began sending out messages from his account.

“It’s identity theft on Facebook,” Schuessler said.

Philips received a tip that hackers have been storing personal information, including e-mail addresses, passwords and usernames for social networking sites, e-mail accounts and commerce sites, including Netflix.

Internet expert Uday Banieree said hackers use spyware to lift that information directly off your computer.

Banjeree said they deposit the information on public sites that have unlimited storage.

Banjeree said you should keep your security software up to date. He said you can check to see if you’re information is compromised by putting your e-mail address or user name into Google. If your information shows up on a foreign website, he said it’s possible you’ve been hacked. ..Source.. wsbtv.com

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Facebook takes down 30 prisoners' pages after victim taunts

2-12-2010 United Kingdom:

Jack Straw, the justice secretary, says the offending pages brought to the attention of Facebook had been removed within 48 hours

Thirty Facebook pages have been taken down because prisoners were using them to taunt their victims, Jack Straw, the justice secretary, has revealed.

The minister said the 30 offending pages brought to the attention of Facebook had been removed within 48 hours. Ministers were seeking to identify "better methods" of preventing the "deplorable" abuse of victims via social networking sites, he added.

Straw was speaking after a meeting with Ofcom's Chris Woolard, Facebook's European director of policy, Richard Allan, and members of Families United to talk about the issues around prisoners' access to social networking sites.

He said he was "reassured by the co-operation which we're receiving from Facebook" as he called today for a longer-term solution "to this very modern version of the old problem of victim harassment".

"It's not that people at Facebook have a different sense of morality from us," he told the BBC. "They have the same sense of morality but they have to police hundreds and thousands of their sites, so what we have to do is set up a better system with Facebook.

"So essentially if they get a notice from us that this site is improper then all they have to do is not make a judgment about it, but press the delete button. That's what we are working towards."

Straw said ministers were also looking to "raise the stakes" against prisoners who use Facebook, which is against prison rules.

Prisoners are only meant to have access to the internet for educational purposes and under close monitoring.

Straw said it might be possible to change the rules under which prisoners are freed on parole and temporary licence, to make it "explicit" that they cannot make use of sites in this way.

Ministers are also looking at ways to stop inmates using smuggled mobile phones to access webpages and abuse their victims, said the minister.

Legislation is under way to make the possession of a mobile phone in prison without authorisation a criminal offence, and body orifice scanner chairs are now located in every prison in England and Wales.

"We are getting much tougher about people smuggling telephones into prison and using them. I'm afraid we're dealing with crooks. Devious, manipulative people who actually have no respect for their own bodies so they push these mobile telephones into their body orifices."

Straw also said there is evidence that the families of some prisoners have been involved in updating sites.

Last month, it emerged that one of Britain's most notorious gangsters used Facebook to threaten his enemies while serving a 35-year sentence in a maximum security prison.

Colin Gunn, an underworld boss who helped plot the murder of two grandparents, sent messages to 565 "friends" after being transferred to a prison where he claimed officials had a relaxed attitude to social networking.

"I will be home one day and I can't wait to look into certain people's eyes and see the fear of me being there," Gunn wrote in one message, according to the Sunday Times.

Jade Braithwaite, who was convicted of killing 16-year-old Ben Kinsella, used the same website to boast he was "down but not out".

He also said he wanted a remote control so he could "mute or delete people when I need to". Facebook later took down the offending page.

Straw said today: "Facebook's rules already ban harassment and intimidation, fake profiles and the sharing of login details with anyone. They will remove profiles where it is reported to them these rules have been breached. We will not hesitate to use existing law to tackle those cases where offenders seek to taunt or harass victims and their families." ..Source.. Hélène Mulholland and agencies

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WHISTLE - BUT DON'T TWEET - WHILE YOU WORK

10-6-2009 National:

A Majority of Companies Prohibit Social Networking on the Job, CIO Survey Reveals

MENLO PARK, CA -- Workers who want to share the latest news with Facebook friends and Twitter followers will need to wait until after hours or risk violating company policy, a new survey suggests. More than half (54 percent) of chief information officers (CIOs) interviewed recently said their firms do not allow employees to visit social networking sites for any reason while at work.

The survey was developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of information technology (IT) professionals on a project and full-time basis, and conducted by an independent research firm. It was based on telephone interviews with more than 1,400 CIOs from companies across the United States with 100 or more employees.

CIOs were asked, “Which of the following most closely describes your company’s policy on visiting social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, while at work?” Their responses: ..For remainder of study.. by Robert Half Technology

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Secret Service investigating Facebook poll on Obama

This makes me wonder if the FBI should be investigating MANY blog posts suggesting a similar fate for former sex offenders?

9-29-2009 National:

(CNN) -- The social networking site Facebook on Monday pulled a third-party application that allows users to create polls after a site member built a poll asking if President Obama should be killed.

The U.S. Secret Service, the agency assigned to protect the president, has launched an investigation, agency spokesman James Mackin said.

"As is usually the case, our vigilant users reported it to us first," Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt told CNN. "The USSS [Secret Service] sent us an e-mail late this morning PDT asking us to take it down. At that point, it had already been removed, and we let them know."

Schnitt said the application "was immediately suspended while the inappropriate content could be removed by the developer and until such time as the developer institutes better procedures to monitor their user-generated content."

Facebook allows third-party developers to create applications -- such as polls and quizzes -- which are then made available to Facebook users, who use the applications to create specific content. Users may choose to make their content available to the general population of Facebook or limit it only to their friends.

In this case, Schnitt said, the user made the poll asking whether Obama should be killed available to the general public.

The possible responses to the poll were "yes," "maybe," "if he cuts my health care" and "no."

Schnitt said the poll "appears to have been posted over the weekend." ..Source.. by CNN

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What Parents Don’t Know About How Their Kids Use Facebook, MySpace

8-13-2009 National:

Parents of teenagers know how important texting and social networking sites like MySpace, Bebo, and Facebook are to the over-13 set. But if we think we know what our kids say and do on the sites, we're kidding ourselves. My 13- and 14-year-old nephews kindly remind me more often than I'd like of my cluelessness, and a new survey confirms that I'm not the only parent who has no idea.

Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that tracks children's use of media, commissioned a poll of teenagers and their parents this spring. It turns out that teens are way more active online that most parents realize:

* 49 percent of parents said their child was 13 or older before starting to use the Internet
unsupervised. Just 14 percent of teenagers said they were that old.

* 23 percent of parents said their children log onto social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace more than once a day. But 51 percent of teenagers said they check in more than once a day.

* Just 4 percent of parents think their children check social networking sites more than 10 times a day; 22 percent of teenagers said they're online that often or more.

* When it comes to "sexting," or posting explicit photos, 2 percent of parents believe their child had posted naked or near-naked photos or videos of themselves or others. But 13 percent of teens admitted they had done that.

As one of those parents who needs to wake up and smell the latte, I'd better ask my nephews for more in-depth instruction. Sexting is just one worry. The survey, which polled 1,013 kids in the seventh to 12th grades and 1,002 parents, also found that 39 percent of the teenagers had posted something they later regretted and that 28 percent shared personal information online they normally wouldn't have shared publicly. Nothing posted on the Internet is ever truly private, and it's there forever, so it's not hard to imagine college applications being derailed by derogatory comments about teachers (which 54 percent of teens say they had posted) or hacking someone else's social networking account (as 24 percent of the teens said they had done).

Ah, but kids need to wise up, too. Only 14 percent think their parents know their Facebook or MySpace password; in fact, 51 percent of parents said they do. And 82 percent of parents check their child's online profile regularly, while barely one quarter of children think they're being watched. Tip to observing parents: Monitoring children's social networking activities is essential to helping them become safe and wise users of the Web, but hacking into their accounts or using monitoring software isn't the way to do it, according to an article by my colleague Lindsay Lyon on Mastering MySpace Dangers. Instead, explain how even privately posted photos or information can become permanently public, and don't be afraid to set rules on how your children use social networks. One clever idea: Ask the kid to help you build your own Facebook profile.

Social networking is here to stay. I'm greatly enjoying becoming part of communities I've found on Twitter and am even getting used to Facebook, though I use it more for professional networking than for keeping up with friends. And I'm facing up to having to add teaching my little girl to have a healthy life online to my long list of parental responsibilities. ..Source.. by Nancy Shute

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Study: Facebook use fuels jealousy, hurts relationships

Study is here:

8-11-2009 National:

Facebook posts on current and past relationships can prove tempting to partners

Computerworld - Worried that your relationship is going south? Maybe it's time to get off Facebook.

A study released by the University of Guelph in Ontario shows that the Facebook social network increases jealousy in users' romantic relationships.

The study, which was published in the latest issue of CyberPsychology and Behaviour, concluded that the more time people spend on Facebook, the more jealous they get.

"Facebook gives people access to information about their partner that may otherwise not be accessible," said Amy Muise, a Ph.D. student in psychology who conducted the study with student colleague Emily Christofides. "This may include details about their partner's friendships and social exchanges, especially interactions with previous romantic or sexual partners."

The simple availability of information -- whether it's a girlfriend's posts, or photos and details about her friends and exes -- seems to increase a person's desire to search for even more information, say researchers.

"It becomes a feedback loop," Christofides said. "Jealousy leads to increased surveillance of a partner's Facebook page, which results in further exposure to jealousy-provoking information."

The study, which surveyed 308 Facebook users between the ages of 17 and 24, noted that most said they were aware that poking around their significant other's Facebook page would increase their jealousy. However, the users also said that they simply couldn't withstand the temptation.

"It fosters a vicious cycle," Christofides said. "If one partner in a relationship discloses personal information, it increases the likelihood that the other person will do the same, which increases the likelihood of jealousy."

Facebook usage seems to be tough on college students in general.

Last spring, an Ohio State University study found that college students who use Facebook spend less time studying and have lower grades than students who don't use the popular social networking site.

And last December, the same OSU research team released a study showing that the desire for popularity is pushing people to disclose more and more personal information on Facebook.

The earlier study showed that 76% of people surveyed were concerned about their personal privacy yet still revealed a lot of information, such as birthday, e-mail address, location and photographs.

Muise said that study revealed that a person's desire for online popularity is directly related to how much information they post online.

..Source.. by Sharon Gaudin

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Facebook, MySpace may cause kids to commit suicide, warns Archbishop

8-2-2009 United Kingdom:

LONDON - Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace may drive kids to commit suicide, warns the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols says that the "transient relationships" such sites are making teenagers to develop leave them unable to cope when their social networks collapse.

According to him, the Internet and mobile phones were "dehumanising" community life.

His views came after a 15-year-old schoolgirl killed herself by taking a fatal overdose of painkillers last week, after being bullied on Bebo, another networking site.

The Archbishop of Westminster also expressed his concern about the loss of loyalty, and the rise of individualism in British society, which he said threatened to undermine communities.

He said that the decline in face-to-face meetings and conversations over the phone was weakening relationships

"I think there's a worry that an excessive use or an almost exclusive use of text and emails means that as a society we're losing some of the ability to build interpersonal communication that's necessary for living together and building a community," the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

"We're losing social skills, the human interaction skills, how to read a person's mood, to read their body language, how to be patient until the moment is right to make or press a point.

"Too much exclusive use of electronic information dehumanises what is a very, very important part of community life and living together," he added.

Nichols further said that social network sites were leaving children with impoverished friendships.

"Facebook and MySpace might contribute towards communities, but I'm wary about it. It's not rounded communication so it won't build a rounded community," he said.

"If we mean by community a genuine growing together and a mutual sharing in an interest that is of some significance then it needs more than Facebook," he added.

Stressing that the sites were contributing to a trend for teenagers to put too much importance on the number of friends they have, he warned that it could eventually lead to suicide.

"Among young people often a key factor in them committing suicide is the trauma of transient relationships. They throw themselves into a friendship or network of friendships, then it collapses and they're desolate," he said.

He continued: "It's an all or nothing syndrome that you have to have in an attempt to shore up an identity; a collection of friends about whom you can talk and even boast. But friendship is not a commodity, friendship is something that is hard work and enduring when it's right." (ANI)

..Source.. by Simple Thoughts

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DOD may ban Twitter, Facebook, other social media

7-31-2009 National:

Security issues prove difficult

The Defense Department is considering banning Twitter, Facebook and other social-networking sites for security reasons.

Wired's Danger Room blog reported that the reason for the latest proposed ban is that the sites may give hackers easy access to military networks.

“The mechanisms for social networking were never designed for security and filtering," said an unnamed source at U.S. Strategic Command in the blog entry. "They make it way too easy for people with bad intentions to push malicious code to unsuspecting users. It’s just a fact of life."

Strategic Command has asked the rest of the military for feedback on a social-media ban, Wired's blog reported.

“The answer is somewhere between” full access and a total bad, said DOD spokesman Bryan Whitman, quoted in a Navy Times article. “We’re working through this challenge of how do we operate in this environment — because these are important communication tools — and at the same time, provide the necessary protection to our systems [and] ensure the necessary operational security and private security concerns that any organization would have.”

The potential ban comes at a time when the DOD has overcome some of its initial reluctance and begun to embrace social media. The Armed Forces Press Services reports that the Army, for just one example, has been using MySpace effectively for recruiting. ..Source.. by Defense Systems

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MS- Cheerleader sues school, coach after illicit Facebook log-in

7-28-2009 Mississippi:

A high school cheerleader claims a coach forced her to give up her Facebook account login information, only to see her account's contents shared widely with school officials, resulting in extensive disciplinary action. She's now suing everyone involved.

At this point, you would think that most users would be aware that they should keep embarrassing information off of Facebook. Everyone from potential employers to the press regularly check users' accounts on the service, looking for evidence of illicit or debauched behavior, and a number of jobs have been lost due to the information found there. Still, many fail to exercise discretion when using the service, people in positions of power are catching on, and there continue to be problems that result from the blurring of boundaries between public and private.

In what may be the latest example, a suit was filed in Mississippi that alleges a school official—more specifically a teacher acting in her capacity as a cheerleading coach—demanded that members of her squad hand over their Facebook login information. According to the suit, the teacher used it to access a student's account, which included a heated discussion of some of the cheerleading squad's internal politics. That information was then shared widely among school administrators, which resulted in the student receiving various sanctions.

As we noted when Bozeman, Montana attempted to obtain login credentials from anyone applying for a municipal job, it's easy for anyone to view pictures and text that a Facebook user has chosen to make public simply by signing up for an account with the service. By demanding login credentials, authorities gain access to materials that users have chosen to keep private. Whether this is done because people intend to get access to private data or because they are simply unfamiliar with how Facebook operates isn't always obvious, and probably varies from case to case.

According to this suit, the student's login details were requested during school hours, and the teacher accessed the account the same day. The account included the contents of a discussion between the student and a fellow member of the school's cheerleading squad about its internal politics, which was then allegedly shared with other squad supervisors and the school administration. The student was then "publicly reprimanded, punished, and humiliated" due to the contents of that discussion.

The student was allegedly forced to sit out of various school activities and had difficulties arranging her academic schedule to avoid taking classes from any of the individuals who were both coaches and teachers. Her parents claim that attempts to discuss the problem with school administrators brought them no relief.

The Student Press Law Center has more detailed account (via TechDirt) of the events, in which it reports that several other students asked for their logins simply deleted their accounts using their cell phones, preventing this sort of intrusion; the schools apparently have a filter that blocks access to its Web interface from school computers. It also suggests that the initial search of the Facebook accounts was done with the intent of finding pictures of the students smoking or drinking.

In any case, the suit alleges that the school's administration and staff, along with five John Does, violated the student's Constitutional rights to privacy, free speech and association, and subjected her to cruel and unusual punishment. There are also charges of causing emotional distress, defamation of character, and civil conspiracy. In general, courts have concluded that public school students have some constitutional rights, but only a subset of those afforded to the general populace. It may be that the student's lawyers are aiming broadly in order to find some area of constitutional law in which the student is clearly protected.

In any case, the message should be clear: either through malice or cluelessness, people in positions of authority are increasingly demanding complete access to users' personal accounts and, in moments of weakness, many users appear to be giving it to them. If there's information you're not comfortable sharing with the world, Facebook, Twitter, and similar services aren't the place for it. ..Source.. by John Timmer

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