Anti-MySpace Friday Fun
Let’s have a bit of fun and pick on MySpace today. No secret I am not a fan of social networking. Here are two more reasons why parents should not be fans either, and why they should be closely monitoring what their child does on MySpace…
For the first story my only reaction is: ridiculous. For the second story, at least these parents were concerned and playing the role of the enforcer. Their child went behind their backs. This should be the lesson to NOT trust your teens!! You think they are truthful? If the Bennett’s had PC Pandora, they would have head the head’s up ahead of time… I’m not faulting them – I’m just saying that others should learn from the events.
PC Pandora can play a vital role in keeping kids safe online in the current net world. It will arm parents with the knowledge of what their child does and who they are talking to online. Whether it is online predators, cyberbullying, illegal downloads or internet-based addictions, parents need to know. Without that knowledge, both the parents and kids don’t stand a chance. Check out our PC Pandora monitoring software and be a powerful 21st century parent!
Police: Debate over MySpace page fuels stabbing
June 26, 2008
DOVER, N.J. – Police say an 18-year-old in Dover stabbed her boyfriend’s 12-year-old niece in a squabble over MySpace.
Police say Stephanie Torres found the 12-year-old erasing a comment on her page Wednesday.
Police say Torres used an inch-long folding knife that hung from her keychain to stab the girl three times.
The girl, identified by her grandmother as Stephanie Usche, had wounds to her neck, arm and rib.
Torres, who has been charged twice in the past with assault, is charged with aggravated assault and weapons possession charges.
MySpace linked to Vermont girl’s disappearance
Friday, June 27, 2008
BROOKFIELD, Vt. – An Amber Alert was issued yesterday for a 12-year-old girl who disappeared after being dropped off at a convenience store where she told family members she was going to meet a girlfriend.
But police believe Brooke Bennett lied about meeting the girlfriend and may have been bound for a meeting with an unknown individual she had communicated with through MySpace, an online social networking site.
Bennett, of Braintree, was reported missing around 9 p.m. Wednesday, about 12 hours after her uncle and cousin dropped her off at a Cumberland Farms store in Randolph.
She told family members she was going to meet her friend and then go to visit a sick relative of the friend at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., according to Vermont State Police Capt. David Covell.
“It is the family members’ opinion that that was a ruse to the family to get to that location,” said Covell.
Surveillance camera footage from the Cumberland Farms store showed Brooke being dropped off by her uncle and cousin, according to Covell. The footage, which police would not release, showed Brooke walking away from the store by herself, headed toward the village of Randolph, they said.
She hasn’t been seen since.
A family member searching for her yesterday in Brookfield – near her uncle’s home, where she spent the night – found items belonging to her near Route 65 that were similar to what she had been wearing, prompting an intensive search by police and dogs in the area of the Floating Bridge.
Police haven’t identified the person she was communicating with, but Vermont State Police computer experts were analyzing the computer in a bid to learn more, authorities said.
The girl established her first MySpace account under her father’s supervision, but he later pulled the plug on it a couple of months ago after they learned about some of her activity on it, according to the father, James Bennett, 41, of Bethel.
“We told her when we set it up there that’s things you’re not gonna do,” he said. “We had a little respect problem after a month or so, so we shut it off. There was an issue, and we decided it was not appropriate for her to have it. We changed the password so she couldn’t use it,” he said.
She later set up an account from another computer, which Bennett said he didn’t know until a week ago.
