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 Poking Lands Lady in Jail

by Terrence O'Brien on October 9, 2009 at 02:16 PM

Woman Arrested For
Facebook has added a couple of verbs to our collective vocabulary. There's the common "Facebook," which means to message someone or request them as a friend, despite sounding more like something you'd say to somebody before punching them (e.g. "I'll Facebook you!"). And then there's to "poke" -- a gentle way of prodding acquaintances or initiating contact with someone you don't know, despite sounding like a form of sexual assault.

Since that latter function's inception, we've been waiting for someone to get in trouble for poking people on Facebook -- and not just because we're juvenile and enjoy the double entendre. Finally we got our wish. The Tennessean is reporting that a Hendersonville, Tennessee woman, Shannon D. Jackson, was arrested for "poking" an unidentified woman and, in doing so, violating a court order that prohibits Jackson from "telephoning, contacting or otherwise communicating with the petitioner."

The violation, a class A misdemeanor, could result in almost a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

We've seen plenty of arrests thanks to dumb things posted on Facebook, but this is the first time (we know of, at least) that someone has been jailed for poking. A truly historic day indeed. [From: The Tennessean]
http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=495386&pid=495385&uts=1255108328
http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf
Facebook Crime and Punishment

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.

Tags: arrest, facebook, facebook face loss, FacebookFaceLoss, law, poke, privacy, social networking, SocialNetworking, top

Comments

29

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