Facebook Site Prompts Sexual Assault Charges At College:
Every time I make a post about Facebook vigilantism, I hear the song “Ghost Riders in The Sky” by The Outlaws in my head.
Anyway, Facebook Vigilantes have struck again. This time, the vigilantism has crept over our northern border and is now taking place in the good ol’ U.S. of A.
At Lewis & Clark College, in Portland, Oregon, a male student who I won’t name was accused of a sexual assault against a female student.
Before even law enforcement caught wind of it, a Facebook group targeting him was made. It was later removed.
According to the Information Week article, the alleged victim went to the local media and as of the time of IW’s article had still not reported it to police.
Even to her own admission, the victim admits she initiated the encounter but then changed her mind.
Let’s just for a second say that her story is true. Personally, I’m not buying it, but let’s just say it is. By going public with the alleged aggressor’s name not only on Facebook but also in the media, she’s probably ruined any chance of him being prosecuted.
Let the law do its job, people. When you pull stunts like this, justice doesn’t get served, it gets turned away at the door.
Facebook vigilantes identify alleged cat killers:
The Royal Canadian Kilted Facebook Vigilantes have struck once more. I made that name up, by the way, with heavy influence from Ren and Stimpy.
Anyway, this time they’ve published the names of four teenage animal abusers…
In a case of vigilante justice, the identities of four teenage boys accused of killing a cat by putting it in a microwave oven in Camrose, Alta., were posted on a Facebook page on Sunday.
The names of the boys, who were charged with animal cruelty and other offences after allegedly breaking into a home on Dec. 29 and killing the cat, were quickly pulled from the website by police because the accused cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The names had been posted on one of several group pages condemning the boys’ actions and threatening violence, said Sgt. Tony Thomsen.
Now while I think these scumbag animal abusers should be hung by a certain body part, the Canadian Facebook Vigilantes have to understand that by posting the offenders’ names, not only are they possibly impeding the investigation, but they could be getting themselves in trouble as well.
Now, if I was some kind of unscrupulous person, I would remind the Canadian Facebook Vigilantes that the Youth Criminal Justice Act doesn’t affect Americans.
Suspect identified, threatened on Facebook:
Facebook may not be a hotbed of criminal activity like MySpace is, but it sure does have its share of dumbasses.
16-year-old Mike Woloshyn was fatally stabbed at a house party in Selkirk, Manitoba.
A memorial Facebook group was started so friends and family can post their thoughts and feelings on his tragic death.
Of course, the internet being what it is, someone had to go and ruin it.
The 17-year-old suspect in the stabbing was named on the Facebook group, which is a major taboo in Canada.
On a linked message board, the 17-year-old accused of killing him is named and users are told the accused “should get stabbed in prison” and anally raped.
The accused “deserves a kick in the balls and a shot in the face,” one user wrote on that message board, which has been shut down.
A photo alleged to be of the accused after a fist fight was also posted.
Thanks to posts like those, the Facebook group was shut down.
And here’s why you shouldn’t do things like that on Facebook in Canada…
A youth accused being named online raises issues of contempt of court and interfering with the administration of justice, said lawyer Jay Prober. Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, young offenders cannot be identified in the media, except under rare circumstances.
This isn’t the first case of Facebook vigilantism that I’ve posted about.
Let the law do their job, people. I want to see this scumbag put away as much as the next person, but don’t screw things up by pulling stunts like this.
Facebook settles New York child safety probe:
Not too long ago, I posted about New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo setting his sights on Facebook because of pervs approaching his office’s fake underage Facebook profile.
Well, Facebook has caved in to him…
The settlement involves no financial penalties.
Under the terms of the settlement, Facebook has agreed to begin addressing any complaint within 24 hours of being told of inappropriate content — involving such things as nudity, profanity or harassment — by a user or e-mail correspondent.
The company will tell the complaining party the steps it has taken within 72 hours when the complaint has been submitted via an independent e-mail.
In addition, the Palo Alto, California-based company has agreed to allow an independent examiner to oversee how Facebook handles such complaints. The attorney general will have a say in who gets hired as examiner. The examiner will report to the New York attorney general every six months over a two-year period on Facebook’s compliance.
If I were Facebook, I would have told them to shove it. The amount of crime that happens on Facebook compared to MySpace is almost negligible.
Oh, and look, our friend AG Roy Cooper from North Carolina has to stick his two cents in…
“This agreement is another step toward protecting children on social networking sites but we still have a long way to go,” North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a separate statement. “Our group of attorneys general will keep pushing MySpace, Facebook and other sites to do more.”
Yet, Cuomo and Cooper aren’t pushing parents to do more because, as I’ve said, parents vote and the AG’s don’t want to risk not being re-elected.
NY’s Cuomo subpoenas Facebook after company fails to respond:
First, it was Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal. Then it was North Carolina’s Roy Cooper. Now add New York’s Andrew Cuomo to the list of state attorneys general who just don’t get it. (Is there any politician from New York that’s not named Cuomo?)
Anyway, Mr. Cuomo has subpoenaed Facebook because Facebook did not respond to New York’s complaints that undercover investigators posing as teens were approached for sex.
Investigators set up profiles as teens and say they were quickly contacted by other Facebook users with comments such as (quote) “u look too hot……. can i c u online,” and (quote) “call me if u want to do sex with me.”
While entrapment accusations are thrown around willy-nilly these days, I still have to wonder what the fake undercover Facebook profiles looked like. Was it just a class picture type photo, or was it something more provocative?
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says he is concerned that Facebook’s promise of a safe Web site for children is not consistent with its performance.
As someone who chronicles crimes related to social networking sites, let me give you my opinion on something. This site used to be called MyCrimeSpace for a reason. It’s because most of the crimes happening on social networking sites occur on MySpace. Very few of those crimes actually happen on Facebook.
This sounds like Mr. Cuomo is trying to get a lot of press for doing nothing at all.
Facebook group made false assumption with released sketch:
The Riley County Police Department in the area of Kansas State University released a sketch on Friday of someone wanted for questioning in connection with a serial rapist that has been plaguing the area.
A Facebook group called “Catch Him 2007: We Need Your Help!” posted the sketch and stated that the person in the sketch was the actual rapist. One thing leads to another and someone finds a picture on Facebook that resembled the sketch and the guy’s name and picture were posted next to the sketch. Those postings have since been removed.
Not surprisingly, police are not happy.
While this individual might have resembled the sketch, Swartz said, sketches are not always perfect representations because they are based on descriptions given to a sketch artist.
“What I don’t want is people thinking this is the rapist and exclude other individuals that may appear suspicious,” Det. Carla Swartz said.
A concerned citizen’s best option is to refer to police information on issues like the alleged rapist, because students easily can cross the legal grounds of libel or harm the reputation of someone who is accused in a public forum, Swartz said.
Leave the sleuthing to the professionals.
Popular Web site is target of probe:
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is up to his usual misguided ways. This time, he’s focusing his wrath on Facebook.
Connecticut’s attorney general is scrutinizing Facebook, the popular social-networking site, for allowing convicted sex offenders to register, calling into question whether the company is doing enough to protect users.
The inquiry by Richard Blumenthal is designed to force Palo Alto’s Facebook to take a more aggressive stand against sexual predators after his office uncovered at least three cases of such offenders becoming members, a spokesman confirmed. In addition, Blumenthal’s team found that some of Facebook’s users had posted sexually explicit material that was not swiftly removed.
A whole three, compared to MySpace’s 29,000. Ooooooooh, Facebook really is a criminal haven.
Connecticut officials have contacted Facebook and asked it to remove the sex offenders’ profiles. Blumenthal plans to continue his inquiry.
A Facebook spokeswoman did not return telephone calls seeking comment. Chris Kelly, the company’s chief privacy officer, told the New York Times that he is not familiar with the Connecticut investigation but that the company receives many reports about sex offenders registering on the Web site. The profiles are usually removed within 72 hours, he said.
“We want to be a good partner to the states in attempting to address this societal problem,” Kelly told the Times. “We’ve worked with them for quite some time now, and we look forward to continuing our fruitful partnership.”
Facebook maintains more-stringent security rules than some of its competitors because of its early days as an online destination for students. Full user profiles aren’t visible to the general public, for instance, and can be seen only by people who have been confirmed as friends.
It’s bad enough that AG Blumenthal places the blame on MySpace instead of inattentive parents. Now he’s going after a site that has very little criminal activity. In the year and a half that I’ve been doing this site, the stories about Facebook pale in comparison to the stories about MySpace.
As I’ve said before, AG Blumenthal needs to concentrate on keeping sex offenders off the streets than off of MySpace or Facebook.
Anti-rapist Facebook site gone:
It seems that Facebook lynch mobs are all the rage now…
A Facebook group where Carman residents discussed two recent sexual assaults has been removed from the Internet.
The group’s creator took it down last week when a story about the group and its discussions appeared in the Winnipeg Sun on June 12.
About 135 people joined the group titled “Kiss my ass, Carman Rapist.” Facebook is a social-networking website.
Group members speculated about the identity of the suspect or suspects, naming at least two individuals. RCMP warned people the information could be harmful to people’s reputations and the ongoing police investigation.
This is why I don’t dabble in armchair sleuthing. There are people who are very good and professional at it, like Steve Huff. However, Steve and some others from the crime blogging community are the minority. Most armchair sleuths, if taken seriously, do more harm than good.