A 28-year veteran of the Greenburgh (NY) police department was suspended without pay and relieved of duty earlier this week for posting an apparently racist image to Facebook. Greenburgh Police Chief Christopher McNerney told The Journal News that last week, members of the police force showed him a copy of the image posted by Officer…
Samir Chopra, a professor in the Department of Philosophy, Graduate Center and Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, posed an interesting question on Facebook this morning: [fb_embed_post href=”https://www.facebook.com/samir.chopra.7737/posts/10100282856185893/” width=”550″ /] The consensus of the comments is that since arrest records are public, there is nothing that prevents police departments from posting them to…
Sixteen months ago, David Byttow and Chris Bader created an app called “Secret” that was designed to permit users to anonymously share information with other users, friends, and contacts. The app and the concept of anonymous gossip proved popular: Secret gained as many as 15 million users in a fairly short time, and at the…
On April 2, 2015, the North Dakota House of Representatives spent roughly 90 minutes debating whether the state should add “sexual orientation” to existing state law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical or mental disability or status with respect to marriage or public assistance.” The measure,…
My 30th College Renuion was held at Amherst College at the end of May, and I had the honor of being asked to participate in a panel discussion about the risks facing teens today. Here’s the description from the College Web site: Protecting Vulnerable Adolescents: Cyber-Bullying, Sports-Related Concussions and Other Tough Stuff Saturday, May 30,…
Over at Slate, writer Amanda Hess (@amandahess) has a great overview of the issues arising from the use of social media content in the courtroom. These days, victims of workplace discrimination or horrific accidents or sexual assaults who seek damages for emotional distress or loss of enjoyment of life can now expect their online profiles…
On April 3, 2015, the Great Falls (MT)/Cascade County Crimestoppers posted the mug shots of one Levi Charles Reardon on their Facebook page. Reardon was wanted on charges of felony forgery and theft. The next day, the Crimestoppers posted an amusing update: Just under three weeks later, Reardon was arrested and appeared in court on…
A 27-year-old single mom gained unwanted national attention this week when a couple of impulsive Facebook posts cost her a new job before she even started working. Kaitlyn Walls, a resident of The Colony, Texas (a suburb north of Dallas), landed a position at a daycare center. Before heading off to her first day, she…
A tweet by an Edmonton social services agency set off a caustic Twitter exchange with the Edmonton Police Department, leading to the discipline of an unidentified officer. On Tuesday, the Twitter account for the Inner City Frontline Workers of Edmonton (@InnerCityYEG) responded to the planned hiring of 49 additional Edmonton police officers: Please no more…
[Updated] A 15-year veteran on the Vermont State Police is under investigation for comments that he made on his personal Facebook account, according to reports by local television stations WCAX and WPTZ. The department was alerted to the contents of Corporal Jon Graham’s Facebook feed after a concerned citizen re-posted various comments by Cpl. Graham…
