Okay, maybe it’s not as bad as parents buying beer for their kids under age 21 or cigarettes for those under 18, but Microsoft Research Senior Researcher Danah Boyd examined why so many parents allow their children under the Facebook age limit of 13 to join the social network.
Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews. 
When 63-year-old Jerry L. Cannon received a 17.5 year sentence on Tuesday for using Facebook to solicit and distribute child pornography, he sobbed like a baby.
Facebook is rolling out what it calls two-factor authentication, an opt-in security layer that prompts users for an access code whenever they attempt to log on to the site from a new device.
According to a NY Times article today NY State’s Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, is pushing for a bill that will keep level 3 sex offenders from registering on sites like Facebook and Myspace. While I applaud the effort I wonder if the bill is just window dressing for an upcoming political season.
The bill proposes that higher level sex offenders must register an email address with their probation officer. States would then be able to share these email address and cross check them with the Facebook data base. Last time I checked getting an email address was a tad easier than picking up a hot dog at a 7-11.
Think about it. I have more email address than I can handle, look I just signed up for another one, its that easy. Currently both Myspace and Facebook bar any sex offender from registering on their sites and Myspace has a team of individuals that monitor new accounts looking for sex offenders.
Mr. Cuomo stated that he did not believe the bill would restrict the rights of any sex offenders but it will be interesting to see if anyone takes up the case when the law passes. The real problem is that creating a social profile is increasingly easy and incredibly difficult to control.
This is a problem I wish I had a solution for, it is something that can keep you up at night. What if we find an effective way to stop sex offenders from using Myspace and Facebook, won’t they just turn to Xbox Live and Playstation Home next.
If politicians and Corporate America are serious about halting sex offenders from using social networks sterner actions need to be taken. The problem then becomes, who sets these limits. Do Facebook and Myspace require a Social Security numbers or maybe a drivers licenses to register ? Do we want those companies having that kind of information. I don’t know.
The problem of sex offenders and the internet will not be solved by passing a bill that requires individuals to register an email address. I would love to hear if anyone out there can think of a solution to this problem. Let me know.
I recently posted a story out of Canada discussing the legal issues of posting the names of youths who have been accused with a crime in Canada. As I am an American my education in the realm of Communication Law has only extends to the laws of the United States where I helm my professional career. That being said I am forever interested in legal cases that pertain to Comm. Law anywhere in the world.
Read more
The Toronto Star just published an article focusing on a police injunction and a gag order. The sum of the article is that traditional media had been issued a gag order, a legal decree silencing the media for a short period of time based on investigations integrity, revolving around the death of a young girl named Stefanie Rengel, but several Facebook pages were published releasing the girl’s name.
If you want to read the rest of this article please visit The Social Times.
There was a ton of buzz surrounding the new NPR Podcast application that was launched with Splashcast yesterday. I think much of that buzz was attributed to Marshall Kirkpatrick’s reach in the tech blogosphere. The thing that I find funny is what creates buzz in the blogosphere is not what creates a hit on Facebook. I am willing to bet that this NPR application doesn’t reach more than a few thousand people when it hits its peak. It is simply a buzz worthy story for an application that will be just that: buzz worthy. I think many of us that are covering the applications have realized what really makes a viral application on Facebook. Unfortunately, the applications that will get the largest market share will not have the most feature sets. As I already mentioned, the applications simply play on human desires. The NPR application does not cater to that and as a result will not have widespread adoption. It did however generate a fair amount of buzz so maybe that’s the value. I personally found the application to be great in that I was able to listed to a lot of excellent NPR shows directly on my profile. The splashcast player has always been user friendly and I actually spent a fair amount of time having “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me!” playing in the background. If you are also an NPR fan then go grab the NPR application and show your support.
Thanks to a partnership with SplashCast Media, the immensely popular Rocketbook videoblog has been brought to Facebook. Rocketboom is a daily, three minute videoblog based out of New York City. Rocketboom covers everything from mainstream news to “quirky internet culture.” Show your support for the video cast by adding the daily show to your profile. This is just another example of new media integration with the Facebook platform. Congratulations to the Rocketboom team! If you are a Rocketboom fan then go add the Rocketboom application.
