Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Facebook Rant Results in Disciplinary Action for Firefighter

by Warren Riddle on March 6, 2009 at 06:02 PM



Facebook offers members opportunities to not only remain in contact with distant friends and meet new people with common interests, but to also voice their opinions and describe in great detail the minutiae of their daily lives. For some reason, though, people can't seem to grasp the concept that they might be held responsible for their statements.

Mike Sabz, a firefighter for the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service in Cardigan, learned this lesson the hard way. Sabz recently posted an innocent (well, maybe not innocent), rhetorical question which upset his bosses enough that they took disciplinary measures. Sabz asked, "I mean how f------ hard is it to keep your car on the road and not set fire to your house???????" He probably shouldn't have added, "Selfish b-------!" Sabz's bosses learned of the statements after a woman read the comments and complained. Sabz, who was disciplined but not terminated, denied making the statements and said someone must have hacked into his account. Sure, buddy.



Sabz is certainly not the first to discover the ramifications of free speech on Facebook. Recently, Kimberly Swann of Essex, England called her job "boring" on her Facebook page, and her bosses fired her after reading the comment. There are several lessons to be learned here for uninhibited Facebook users. Perhaps the most obvious is to practice a little discretion. Also, update your privacy settings, and, if you wish to unleash your fiery wrath on your employers or clients, don't add them to your friend list! Duh. [From: The Sun]

Facebook Crime and Punishment

    Blackmail
    Sending any personal info or incriminating pictures to someone on Facebook is a huge mistake for many reasons. One of the worst possible outcomes is getting blackmailed for money, sex, or, well, anything these sickos dream up. Really, whether they're using a fake profile or not, it's a horrible idea. Read up on the story of an 18-year-old who blackmailed 31 male classmates after he posed as a girl and asked for nude pictures. That's lesson enough.

    Impostors
    Sure, it can be harmless to impersonate a celeb online or create a fake profile for a movie character. But seriously, there's a definite line you shouldn't cross when pretending to be someone else and it can lead to dire consequences for you. Maybe it's not as extreme as the Moroccan man who was jailed for 43 days after creating a fake Facebook profile of a prince, but you never know. Just steer clear of it.

    Self-Incrimination
    Do we really have to explain this? Just look up the shoplifter who posed with her stolen merchandise, the many photos of drunk underage teens, and, most recently, the album featuring a couple who killed and ate an endangered iguana in the Bahamas.

    Suicide
    Social networking sites has been blamed for a lot of things, fairly and unfairly, but in our opinion, the worst offense has been their indirect involvement in suicides. Obviously, there are a lot of factors responsible in each case, but there does seem to be links between social networking and a rash of suicides, and obviously tehre's the case tragic of Megan Meier, who killed herself after a classmate's mom impersonated a teen boy and harassed her over Myspace.

    Murder
    We've reported on numerous incidents of people getting in trouble because of their online behavior. Now, people are becoming victims because of what they're doing on the Web too. In England, a man was convicted of murdering his estranged wife after she changed her relationship status to "single." So, be careful of who can see your profile and what you're doing, no matter how harmless it seems.

    Nigerian Scammers
    Oh, you thought this only happened via poorly worded emails, right? WRONG. Once people got wise to their old ways, these con men are turning to social networking sites for new targets. This time, they're hacking into people's accounts and impersonating them to ask for money, usually with some weird sob story. You can check out a transcript of one of these conversations here.

    Cooperation
    Even if the law isn't on a case, a victim, his friends, or empathetic strangers might be. Since it's easy to get word out for anything online, people are using blogs, forums, and social networking sites to help track down criminals. In one such case, a vehicle thief was tracked down by a bunch of anonymous car enthusiasts after the victim posted his story on a forum. In the end, they identified the guy through his Facebook profile.

    Self-Incrimination
    Do we really have to explain this? Just look up the shoplifter who posed with her stolen merchandise, the many photos of drunk underage teens, and, most recently, the album featuring a couple who killed and ate an endangered iguana in the Bahamas.


Related Stories:

Tags: facebook, facebook face loss, Facebook firing, facebook profile cleaner, FacebookFaceLoss, FacebookFiring, FacebookProfileCleaner, fired, firings, privacy, social networking, SocialNetworking, workplace

Comments

44

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular