Menstuff® has information on the internet connections through
MySpace/Face Book/etc.
Kids Posting Pictures on
MySpace
Parents of MySpace hoax victim seek
justice
Teacher Suspended for Gun Pictures on Facebook
Kids Posting Pictures on MySpace
Have you seen them? Are they appropriate? Did you allow them to post pictures of themselves for millions of people to see and comment about?
Having your personal pictures of yourself online is as popular as Myspace itself. Perhaps it’s probably time you log into their account and take a look around. Look at their site and go to a few of their friends sites. Hopefully everything meets your approval and everything is appropriate. However, if the pictures are not appropriate or you have a problem with them then you need to start your journey into becoming a better Internet parent. If you have reviewed their site then you are on the right road.
Start with setting the rules about posting pictures then you need to cover rules about sharing information, talking to people they don’t know, meeting people they don’t know etc. you can use the family internet safety contract found on TheParentsEdge.com as a guide or use it as is to setup the rules and guidelines in your home.
Lay down the law, follow up and NEVER allow the computer in the
bedroom.
Source: By Richard French
Teacher Suspended for Gun Pictures on
Facebook
Need more proof? Check out the case of Betsy Ramsdale, a teacher in Madison, Wisconsin, who was recently suspended after photos of her with weapons appeared on her Facebook profile.
Ramsdale was pictured pointing a rifle at the camera, and therefore, at whomever was taking the picture. A "concerned staff member" at the school found the photo and brought it to the administration, which promptly placed the teacher on administrative leave. Ramsdale did remove the picture, so unfortunately we can't show it to you today, but like the unnamed teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina who was suspended late last year, it's a little too late.
Again, if you don't know how to make your Facebook profile
private, just click on "Settings," then "Privacy Settings," then set
everything to "Friend Only."
Source: www.switched.com/2009/02/06/teacher-suspended-for-facebook-gun-pictures?icid=200100397x1217997979x1201234348
Parents of MySpace hoax victim seek
justice
”But when adults are involved and continue to screw with a 13-year-old, with or without mental problems, it is absolutely vile,” she told the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, which first reported on the case.
Tina Meier said law enforcement officials told her the case did not fit into any law. But sheriff’s officials have not closed the case and pledged to consider new evidence if it emerges.
Megan Meier was described as a “bubbly, goofy” girl who loved spending time with her friends, watching movies and fishing with her dad.
Megan had been on medication, but had been upbeat before her death, her mother said, after striking up a relationship on MySpace with Josh Evans about six weeks before her death.
Josh told her he was born in Florida and had recently moved to the nearby community of O’Fallon. He said he was home-schooled, and didn’t yet have a phone number in the area to give her.
Megan’s parents said she received a message from him on Oct. 15 of last year, essentially saying he didn’t want to be her friend anymore, that he had heard she wasn’t nice to her friends.
Megan seemed upset
The next day, as Megan’s mother headed out the door to take another daughter to the orthodontist, she knew Megan was upset about Internet messages. She asked Megan to log off. Users on MySpace must be at least 14, though Megan was not when she opened her account. A MySpace spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.
Someone using Josh’s account was sending cruel messages. Then, Megan called her mother, saying electronic bulletins were being posted about her, saying things like “Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat.”
Megan’s mother, who monitored her daughter’s online communications, returned home and said she was shocked at the vulgar language her own daughter was sending. She told her daughter how upset she was about it.
Megan ran upstairs, and her father, Ron, tried to tell her everything would be fine. About 20 minutes later, she was found in her bedroom. She died the next day.
Her father said he found a message the next day from Josh, which he said law enforcement authorities have not been able to retrieve. It told the girl she was a bad person and the world would be better without her, he has said.
Another parent, who learned of the MySpace account from her own daughter, who had access to the Josh profile, told Megan’s parents about the hoax in a counselor’s office about six weeks after Megan died. That’s when they learned Josh was imaginary, they said.
Creator of fake account not charged
The woman who created the fake profile has not been charged with a crime. She allegedly told the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department she created Josh’s profile because she wanted to gain Megan’s confidence to learn what Megan was saying about her own child online.
The mother from down the street told police that she, her daughter and another person all typed and monitored the communication between the fictitious boy and Megan.
A person who answered the door at the family’s house told an Associated Press reporter on Friday afternoon that they had been advised not to comment.
Megan’s parents had been storing a foosball table for the family that created the MySpace character. Six weeks after Megan’s death, they learned the other family had created the profile and responded by destroying the foosball table, dumping it on the neighbors’ driveway and encouraging them to move away.
Megan’s parents are now separated and plan to divorce.
Aldermen in Dardenne Prairie, a community of about 7,000 residents about 35 miles from St. Louis, have proposed a new ordinance related to child endangerment and Internet harassment. It could come before city leaders on Wednesday.
“Is this enough?” Mayor Pam Fogarty said Friday.
“No, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s
something, and you have to start somewhere.”
Source: today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21882976/page/2/
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