The Perils of Facebook

So you're lamming it with your gangster fugitive boyfriend, just as you're about to give birth.

So you think to yourself, hey, this seems like a good time to snap a photo in front of an easily identifiable location. What could go wrong? Then your tiny brain says hey, why not be like millions of imbeciles around the world who post every minute detail of their lives on Facebook and get these online right away?

Oops.

One of Italy's most-wanted Mafia mobsters has been arrested after his blundering girlfriend posted pictures of them on Facebook.

Salvatore D'Avino, 39, was traced by detectives after they spotted the snaps of his heavily pregnant girlfriend Brada Hint in front of sign giving the name and location of a Spanish restaurant.

Italian police alerted the Spanish authorities who traced the couple to their hideout in Marbella on the Costa del Sol and arrested D'Avino.

D'Avino is said to be a member of the Giuliano clan of the Naples mafia which is known as the Camorra and had been on the run for almost ten years.

He was listed on the Italian police's top 100 most wanted and had several convictions for drug trafficking.

Italian police said he had also been arrested in Spain on drug charges and was said to be part of a plot to flood Marbella with more than 250,000 Ecstasy tablets.

Police said he had been hiding in Morocco for years and travelled to Spain by boat a few days ago and his Moroccan companion followed him under a false name as she was about to give birth.

Hint, 31, published several photos on Facebook of her outside upmarket Marbella nightspot Nikki Beach Club where the couple were staying and police swooped as D'Avino was filling up his car with petrol.

Clearly he's thrilled to know how things went down.

Marshall Angelo Mazzagatti, of the Naples police who led the operation said: "He couldn't believe it when police arrived and arrested him. He thought after nearly a decade on the run he was home free.

'When he asked how we had found him and we told him he was not at all happy with his girlfriend who is heavily pregnant and about to give birth.

'When we saw the pictures on Facebook we could not believe his girlfriend had been so stupid. It was very easy to track them down as she was stood in front of a restaurant sign in Marbella.'

"I Must Apologize For Not Being Absolutely Faultless Like He Undoubtedly Must Be"

On Monday this week, the MSNBC no-talent ratings albatross known as Keith Olbermann named Bristol Palin the "Worst Person in the World"...for being an advocate for sexual abstinence.

The irony - nay, the hypocrisy! - of an unwed teenage mother promoting such prudish behavior was simply too tempting for the simpleton to pass up.

To which the 'Pistol' replied:

Recently, a left wing commentator named Keith Olbermann attacked me for being a spokesperson for abstinence education and for being an Ambassador for the Candies Foundation, which promotes teen pregnancy awareness and prevention education. He went so far as to call me "the worst person" he knows, apparently, for my efforts to educate teenagers about the real world risks of premarital sex.

Accusing me of hypocrisy is by now, an old canard. What Mr. Olbermann lacks in originality he makes up for with insincere incredulity. Mr. Olbermann fails to understand that in order to have credibility as a spokesperson, it sometimes takes a person who has made mistakes. Parents warn their children about the mistakes they made so they are not repeated. Former gang members travel to schools to educate teenagers about the risks of gang life. Recovered addicts lecture to others about the risks of alcohol and drug abuse. And yes, a teen mother talks about the benefits of preventing teen pregnancy.

I have never claimed to be perfect. If that makes me the "worst person in the world" to Mr. Olbermann, then I must apologize for not being absolutely faultless like he undoubtedly must be.

To Mr. Olbermann let me say this: you can attack me all you want. But you will not stop me from getting my message out about teen pregnancy prevention. And one day, if you ever have a daughter, you may change your mind about me.

Bristol Palin

I guess Sarah is not the only Palin whose weapon of choice for slaying adversaries is the dreaded Facebook note.

h/t: The Right Scoop. Cross-posted.

Warning: Facebook Can Be Bad for Your Health

Especially if you're keeping up with your ex-girlfriend.

Beware unhappy asthmatics: Italian doctors warn that Facebook could trigger an attack in some susceptible users.

Gennaro D'Amato and colleagues treated an 18-year-old man whose asthma attacks were apparently sparked by logging into Facebook and seeing how many men his ex-girlfriend had friended.

The man had been taking two inhaled steroid drugs several times a day to control his asthma. But when his girlfriend dumped him - and worse, unfriended him on Facebook - his condition deteriorated.

Using a new nickname, the man re-friended his ex-girlfriend on the social networking site. But the stress of seeing her photo on Facebook linked to so many new male friends was too much.

"The sight of this seemed to induce (shortness of breath), which happened repeatedly on the patient accessing her profile," wrote D'Amato of the High Specialty Hospital A Cardarelli in Naples, Italy and colleagues. Their letter was published Friday in the medical journal Lancet.

The man's worried mother measured his breathing patterns before and after his Facebook activity and found a 20 percent difference. After consulting a psychiatrist, the man decided not to log into Facebook any more. That stopped the asthma attacks. D'Amato and colleagues say social networks could cause psychological stress and trigger attacks in depressed asthmatics.

Chuckie Schumer Now Whining About Facebook

Every Sunday it's something with this guy. His most recent crusade was the national threat of carry-on baggage fees and he milked that one for a couple of weeks. Today he's moaning about Facebook selling user information to advertisers.

Sen. Charles Schumer slammed Facebook and other social networking sites Sunday for making money by selling users' private information to marketing companies.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging the agency to set up guidelines restricting what data sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace can provide advertisers and entertainment companies.

Last week, Facebook announced that the personal information, from hobbies to favorite foods, tied to their millions of members is now available to businesses looking for a target audience.

While users can "opt out" of Facebook's decisions by changing the security options on their profile, Schumer said the federal government has to establish new Internet rules.

So people are too stupid to opt out so we need some federal legislation.

Wonderful.

If this media hog wanted to set an example he'd walk the walk and close down his own Facebook page, where I notice he uses a photo of himself that must be at least 15 years old. Guess he's trying to look hip and youthful.

Facebook responded.

"We were surprised by Senator Schumer's comments and look forward to sitting down with him and his staff to clarify. Facebook's highest priority is to keep and build the trust of the more than 400 million people who visit our service every month. To do so, we've developed the most powerful tools of any major Internet company to give people control over what information they want to share, when they want to share it and with whom. Last week, we announced several new products and features designed to enhance personalization and promote social activity across the Web. None of these changes removed or reduced people's control over their information and several offered even greater controls. For example, we announced a new tool to give users much greater ability to restrict the information they share with applications and third party websites. We introduced new ways for websites to let Facebook offer personalization without the need for any user information to be shared with the site itself. We also announced a small pilot program with three well-known and respected partners - Microsoft, Pandora and Yelp - to provide additional personalization on their sites, based on information that is already publicly available. These partners were carefully chosen, reviewed, and are contractually required to respect users' privacy preferences. Additionally, they are required to provide an easy and prominent method for users to opt out directly from their website and delete user data if users choose do opt out. Facebook and its partner sites have also added new and easy controls to help users manage their experiences when they visit these sites. We think these programs will make surfing the web a smoother and more engaging experience for people who use Facebook while honoring the trust we've been given."

'People's Ignorance Has No Limits'

A lot of sick people out there.

POLITICIANS and Internet activists in Italy have denounced a page on the social networking site Facebook that calls for children with Down Syndrome to be used for target practice.

Police were trying to track down who set up the page, which features a photo of a Down Syndrome baby with the word "idiot" superimposed on it, and by late last night had attracted nearly 1700 members.

The page proposed what it said was "an easy and amusing solution" to get rid of "these foul creatures": use them as targets at shooting centres.

Equality minister Mara Carfagna, promising legal action against those responsible for the page, denouncing it as "unacceptable and dangerous".

A number of rival groups have already been set up on Facebook to denounce the original page, one of which had attracted more than 17,000 members.

"People's ignorance has no limits," Manuela Colombo, the president of a support group for families with Down Syndrome children told ANSA news agency.

Police action to get the site shut down might take some time according to some experts, because Facebook is based in Palo Alto, California, and the procedure might entail a lengthy legal process.

Critics will probably be scolded and told they don't have a sense of humor.

Facebook Seppuku: 'Impress Your Friends, Disconnect Yourself'

Mired on Facebook with no hopes of getting out? Commit Facebook seppuku!

A DARK-humoured new website offers despairing Facebook users a way out of the social network with a ritual suicide for their virtual identities.

"Impress your friends, disconnect yourself," is the slogan on www.seppukoo.com, a site that aims to subvert Facebook by offering its millions of users a glorious end and a memorial page to match.

"Rather than fall into the hands of their enemies, ancient Japanese samurai preferred to die with honour, voluntarily plunging a sword into the abdomen," the website says. This form of ritual suicide was known as "seppuku."

Since I'm not on Facebook and have no desire to be I'll be keeping my identity.

What I'm also interested in is cell phone seppuku, for all those people who cannot carry on a brief conversation without pecking away on their phone, as well as the morons who continue to yak it up while driving.

Willing victims can commit "Facebook seppuku" in five steps - first they log into the website using their Facebook details.

They then choose a memorial RIP page templates before writing their last words, which the site promises to send to all their Facebook friends when they have taken the final step.

Once the user has made that fatal final click, his or her Facebook profile is deactivated.

But in what might be seen as a bit of a cheat, virtual life goes on after the ritual suicide.

Friends can write testimonials on the memorial page or help the user rise to the tops of Seppukoo's ranks by also committing virtual hara kiri.

'American Politicians Have Used Facebook to Get Votes, Like the House Slave Obama'

Such a charming bunch. Frankly, it wouldn't take much effort for these maniacs to win over a certain segment of Obama voters. They already have most of the nutroots on their side anyway. Why alienate your American base of support by insulting The Messiah?

Online jihadists have already used YouTube, blogs and other social media to spread their propaganda. Now, a group of internet Islamic extremists is putting together a plan for "invading Facebook."

"We can use Facebook to fight the media," notes a recent posting on the extremist al-Faloja forum, translated by Jihadica.com. "We can post media on Facebook that shows the Crusader losses."

"We have already had great success in raiding YouTube," the poster adds. "American politicians have used Facebook to get votes, like the house slave Obama."

Groups like al-Qaida were pioneering users of the internet — to train, share ideas and organize. But some observers, like George Washington University professor Marc Lynch, see a reluctance to embrace Web 2.0 tools like Facebook. "One of the biggest problems for a virtual network like AQ today is that it needs to build connections between its members while protecting itself from its enemies. That's a filtering problem: How do you get your people in, and keep intelligence agents out?" he asks.

Dumbest Lineman Ever

Meet Buck Burrette, total dumbass.

A UT football player is kicked off the team because of a racial comment he wrote on Facebook, a social networking site. Back up center Buck Burnette is originally from Wimberley and played in seven of the last nine UT football games.

Burnette's Dad talked with CBS 42’s Katherine Stolp on the phone on Thursday. He says Buck is devastated and never meant to hurt anyone. The comment Burnette left on Facebook was a racial slur directed toward President-elect Barack Obama. The sophomore's profile has since been deleted along with his dream of finishing his career as a longhorn football player.

Hours before buck Burnette's Facebook profile was deleted, he sent out a last message, "clearly I was in the wrong for saying what I did and I apologize for being a sore loser."

And what did ol' Buck have to say?

"all the hunters gather up, we have a #$%&er in the whitehouse"

Classy, Buck.

WTF is wrong with people? It's bad enough to be a racist asshole and say stuff like this. But beyond belief, he's dumb enough to put it on the Internet.

Good grief.

Have a nice life, Buck.