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Facebook Bullies Charged After being tracked down by their victim...


(Dec. 8 2010) -- When 18-year-old Ally Pfeiffer found a Facebook profile impersonating her and replacing her photograph with a picture of a cow to mock her weight, she cried.

Then, though, the Connecticut teen fought back, found the IP address for the bogus page and helped police trace the cruel behavior back to Sarah Johnson and Jeff Martone, her former classmates at a Bristol, Conn., high school. And now, Johnson and Martone, both freshmen at the University of Connecticut, have been charged with criminal impersonation and second-degree harassment.

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Pfeiffer said she's speaking out about her experience because she hopes it will prevent other young people from going through the pain she did. "If I help one teen or if I make one bully think twice before doing something I would feel 100 percent better," she said in an interview with NBC's "Today" show this morning.
Both Martone, 19, and Johnson, 18, have admitted to creating the fake Facebook profile, which listed Pfeiffer's "likes" as "being fat," "whales," "Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream" and "not running." Pfeiffer said she and Johnson were close friends in high school. "When I first saw the page, I was completely devastated. I didn't know who had done it at this point and was questioning why they chose me, why they'd say those things about me," she told WFSB.com.

But Pfeiffer, a freshman at the University of Hartford, said she didn't want to let the cyberbullying ruin her life. "Some of my friends would have hung themselves over this," she told the Bristol Press. "So I'm just glad that [Martone and Johnson] got a stable person trying to take a positive approach to dealing with it rather than someone who could have taken different action."

Cyberbullying has gained increased scrutiny since the death of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi earlier this year, who killed himself after his classmates allegedly posted a video of him having sex with another man.

Jeremy Weingast, Martone's attorney, said his client is sorry for the pain he caused. "Jeffrey is very remorseful and sorry for the entire incident and apologizes to Ally," he said in a statement.

Johnson and Martone were released on $2,500 bond and are scheduled to face a court hearing Dec. 23. Both charges are misdemeanors.

Acknowledgements: 2010 AOL Inc. AOL New

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Missing Kiwis safe and well - mother of one of the men...

Three Kiwis missing in Indonesia since a tsunami hit the Mentawai Islands are safe and well, says a mother of one of the men.
There were fears for the safety of David Machin, 24, Ben Gavin-Young, 23, and Ryan Irissarri, 24, as they had not made contact with their families since the tsunami struck last week, reports the New Zealand Herald.
Ben's mother, Cheryl Gavin-Young has said that an Indonesian boat has seen her son and his friends sailing off the west Sumatran coastline, still on course.
Apparently the Indonesian sailors spoke with the trio and told them people were looking for them.
The Indonesian crew then contacted Ryan's mum, Joanie Irissarri, to tell her the good news. She had previously been in contact with boats in the area.
Mrs Irrissari also said another boat had been in touch with authorities in Malaysia, telling them they had also seen the Kiwi adventurers and they were fine
.
"It's awesome," said Mrs Gavin-Young. "The whole family feels very reassured.
.
Acknowledgements:  MSN News

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BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Teachers could soon be fired if they friend students on Facebook.



According to the Boston Herald, the Massachusetts Association of School Committees has released a new policy on social networking.



Right now, this policy is merely a suggestion to school districts.



But, if adapted, it would force schools to bar teachers from friending students on Facebook.



Additionally, teachers could not give out their cell phone number to students.



And it asks administrators to "periodically" check the internet to make sure these rules aren't violated.



If they are, the teachers could be fired or disaplined.



Some schools in the Eastern part of the state are considering the policy.



We asked residents here in western Massachusetts what they think about this Facebook crackdown.



"That's good. Yeah, I think that's real good. When I was in high school there was a lot of young teachers, and vunerable girls. I think they're like preying on them to be honest with you," said Garrett Moylan of East Longmeadow.



"I think it's the kind of thing that depends on a case by case situation. My wife is a teacher and she has her own policy not to allow her students to be her friend until after they graduate," said Anton Nickel of New York City.



The Boston Herald reports that opponents of this policy say it's "too-big brother like."

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Are social network sites as safe as they claim. How private is our privacy?








Fifty-seven per cent of us think social network sites are private. Almost half of all New Zealanders now use online social networks - but most of us are hugely concerned about the information children are sharing on the internet.



A Privacy Commission survey issued today reveals nearly 45 per cent of Kiwis have online profiles - most on Facebook - which is up from 32 per cent last June and 14 per cent in August 2007.



But the rush to social networking coincides with greater concerns over online privacy, especially for children.



Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff told the Herald a surprising number of people - 57 per cent - believed social networking sites were mostly private spaces.



She said there was an illusion of privacy on sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Flickr, but personal details or pictures could be easily accessed by anyone.



A high percentage of social network users were children, and Ms Shroff encouraged vigilance in protecting them on the internet.



"The internet offers a huge amount in terms of entertainment, education and ability to communicate with others, but there are risks too," she said.







"When children are online they can and do give away a lot of information about themselves, without necessarily being aware of the consequences."



Ms Shroff cited cases of identity theft of children as young as 10 which resulted in online abuse on Facebook.



"[Children] can risk themselves and their families by revealing personal and intimate information, which enables harms such as identity crime, stalking, text bullying and invasion of privacy in various ways."



Last Thursday, 19-year-old Cody Rae Allen of Gisborne pleaded guilty to forgery and criminal harassment after setting up a Facebook page to harass a teenage girl who spurned him.



In a survey by the internet safety organisation Netsafe, 25 per cent of secondary school students said they had been aggressively sexually solicited online.



Children sharing personal details online was the greatest concern among people surveyed by the Privacy Commissioner's office - 88 per cent said they worried about the information their children revealed online.



Seventy-nine per cent were concerned about the security of personal information held by overseas businesses.



Netsafe operations manager Lee Chisholm said any personal information put online should be considered public and permanently accessible.

Ackowledgements: MSN -  NZ Herald

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Is this how the Brits treat their staff - by a Facebook message...


A 16-year-old UK girl who lost $21 while on an errand found out she lost her job when her manager posted a message on her Facebook page.



Chelsea Taylor was sacked from her Saturday job at a cafe via a heavily misspelt Facebook message, the Daily Mail reported.



Chelsea had been given $21 to go out and buy biscuits for the staff of Cookies, a cafe in Leigh in northern England.



When she lost the money she was notified of her dismissal with a Facebook message from manager Elaine Sutton.



"I had to tell the owner bout u losin that tenner coz obviously the till was down at the end of the day," the message read.



"she wasn't very pleased at all and despite me trying to persuade her otherwise she said I have to let u go."



Chelsea's mother Nicola said the Facebook dismissal was "appalling and heartless".



"I just can't believe they didn't even have the decency to tell her over the phone, let alone in person," she said.



"And to have the message all misspelt with capital letters and apostrophes missing is simply disrespectful and sets no example to other employees."



When Ms Taylor told Ms Sutton she lost the money she offered to replace it but the offer was declined.

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