Facebook is bringing Prosecution to the Foolish

When you talk on a cellphone, it is always possible that someone can hear

your conversation. Obviously what you post on Facebook and elsewhere

can also be observed by others - people forward things; things considered

private are viewed by others.

OMG! Nobody told the bomb squad it was a joke.

Four New Jersey teens had some Facebook fun"?" Sunday night,

talking with one another online about how they were going to

destroy their high school.

But come yesterday morning, Belleville HS was swarming with cops,

police dogs, FBI agents and the Essex County Sheriff's Bomb Squad,

who evacuated the school and searched it for evidence of an impending attack.

They didn't find anything incriminating.

"At this point, we think it was just talk," said Belleville Police Deputy

Chief Mark Minichini. "But we took it very seriously."

The teens -- two 16-year-old girls, one 17-year-old girl and

a 17-year-old boy -- triggered the emergency by writing about

ways they could blow up or set fire to the school, authorities said.

The teens were charged with making terroristic threats, creating

a false alarm and conspiracy.

Ranting and raving on Facebook can have dire consequences. A University

of Michigan student found police waiting for her when she showed up for a

class -- she had voiced her anger after being dumped and said she would like

to stab that person. Threats posted on Facebook are reported and can be

prosecuted under harassment-type laws.

Some find themselves rejected when applying to graduate school or even to

college and the cause, rarely admitted by the schools, revolves around a

posting on MySpace or Facebook that produced a negative impression

of the candidate. Examples go on and on.

The answer is old fashioned. Do not post or email anything that you do not

want to see as headlines in the local newspaper. If you write anything while angry,

save it and read it 24 hours later before you decide to post it. Then the wise

choice is probably to use the delete key.

The other often forgotten part of posting involves the impression you create by

using poor English or making errors in spelling and/or homonyms. What may be

acceptable as a Twitter is not acceptable when characters are not limited.

When you Twitter, it is a considered by some groups as a status change. I was

quite surprised to see something a relative Twittered show up on a totally

unrelated network group. It appeared as if this person had changed jobs, when

in reality, she was just remarking about where she was visiting. Never hit send

until you read what you are posting to be sure it is what you want to say.

Postings, unlike paper, remain available seemingly forever. Some sites are

being created specifically to allow you to find things from decades ago.

Words that are spoken can never be totally obliterated and

apparently neither can postings. Discussion Boards that are part of courses

on Blackboard or other school-type systems are limited to those enrolled

in the class and not open to public view. Thus what is posted on a

class discussion board which is limited to class members will not be

viewed by the general public.

But remember that what you put on Twitter or MySpace or Facebook

can be viewed, even if you select the privacy choice. Anything that

you post can always be copied and sent to others.

Negative comments can have unintended consequences.

A good rule of thumb that remains true is:

if you cannot say something nice, say nothing.

Wishing those of you who are in school a great spring semester.