Facebook

Changes made to Facebook’s terms of use is finally generating some buzz. The “new’ terms of use has actually been in place since February 2009, and the real issue at hand is not what was added, but what was removed. Facebook has always had an “irrevocable, perpetual” license to use your “name, likeness, and image” in essentially any way, including within promotions or external advertising as long as your account was active. However, with minimal consent, Facebook has omitted that clause, effectively giving them an eternal license to your private information. Now, they can use your content forever, for any purpose, without your permission.

Here are some other Facebook snafus:

Facebook & Personal Information
As their Privacy policy says, “We may use information about you that we collect from other sources, including but not limited to newspapers and Internet sources such as blogs, instant messaging services, Facebook Platform developers and other users of Facebook, to supplement your profile.”

In the past, Facebook has broadcast user’s private information in ways users didn’t expect. For example, their privacy policy also says that they may use your information “without identifying you as an individual,’ and that they “do not provide contact information to third party marketers without your permission.” Everything else is fair game. In addition, Facebook isn’t responsible if a third-party application abuses your personal information.

Facebook & Liability
From the Facebook terms of use, “Under no circumstances will the Company be responsible for any loss or damage, including any loss or damage to any User Content or personal injury or death, resulting from anyone’s use of the Site or the Service, any User Content or Third Party Applications, Software or Content posted on or through the Site or the Service or transmitted to Users, or any interactions between users of the Site, whether online or offline.”

Under the terms of use, multiple disclaimers and limitations on liability contain provisions preventing you from suing Facebook for just about anything. This includes viruses and other malicious software that are trolling the internet.

Facebook & Money
While the pursuit of revenue doesn’t make Facebook evil, it is a business – not a charity. Don’t forget that money is their primary motivator, not sharing or creating community.

In relation to the use of personal information, Facebook may sell any information they compile to third-parties as long as they do not disclose contact information and individual identity.

In relation to the use of individually published images, take for example, you are an aspiring photographer who has published your own work on Facebook – Facebook has the right to republish that material fo

Stop The Violence Campaign

Although it is typically envisioned as occurring between partners, domestic violence is any emotional, physical or sexual abuse by a household member. Rather than being isolated events, domestic violence tends to recur and increase in severity over time.

Oftentimes, victims wrestle with feelings of fear, loyalty, guilt and shame. Furthermore, victims who are financially dependent often live out their lives in fear, unaware that help is available. We want to change that.

Our Stop The Violence Campaign goals are simple. We want to spread valuable knowledge about domestic violence to raise public awareness of the damage that DV causes and erase common misconceptions about domestic violence. It is important to ensure that victims understand their options and identify that they are in an abusive relationship. Although we can never erase DV from the the face of this planet, the role of the apathetic bystander is not one Laws.com wants to take!

Today, more and more communities are responding to the needs of these victims, and more and more victims are reaching out to them for help. Although Laws.com has already aligned with premier organizations across the nation to increase DV awareness, we still need your help!

To learn more about how you can join Laws.com in the fight against domestic violence, contact me at Michael.Foti@Laws.com to discuss being listed or featured on our site.

Remember, Laws.com is run as an independent not-for-profit site, as we sell no ad space or memberships, and all our services are provided to you for free – this is a way for us to promote your cause, not make money.

Policing is About Change

Community policing is becoming an increasingly common approach in policing today. Community policing alters the fundamentals of policing. It holds that the police should work closely with residents, that they should emphasize crime prevention, as opposed to law enforcement, and that they should decentralize the decision-making authority to rank-and-file officers.

Community policing programs takes many different forms. Some emphasize quality-of-life issues, while others focus on serious crimes. Others primarily address drug-related crime.

One of the most well known community policing programs is the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS). Implemented at a limited level in 1993, a year later the CAPS program had spread throughout the entire Chicago-area as well as neighboring suburbs.

The CAPS strategy lays out a rational plan for community policing. It is based on the premise that officers should be permanently assigned to neighborhoods to enhance their knowledge about the community in which they work and to allow the officers and the neighborhood residents to get to know each other on a personal level. Under CAPS, the police department requires officers to meet with neighborhood residents to get to know one another on a personal level.

The bottom line is, community policing exemplifies the fact that the current form of policing is not the only one that is possible. The idea that police do not and cannot change is a myth. Community policing is simply one of many emerging schools of thought in criminal justice today.

Myths About Policing

Policing is surrounded by many myths and stereotypes. The most enduring of these myths is that the primary role of police is crime fighting. This view of policing assumes that police devote most of their efforts to enforcing the criminal law by: patrolling to deter crime, investigating crimes, and arresting criminals. It’s something I like to call the “CSI effect” – after the popular TV series.

The truth is, the CSI-type crime fighter is not an accurate depiction of what police do. The typical police officer rarely makes a felony arrest and almost never fires a weapon in his or her entire career.

This particular myth endures for many reasons. For one, the entertainment media play a major role in popularizing it. Networks offer crime-related stories because they offer drama, fast-paced action, and never-ending violence. Think about the last Hollywood cop movie you watched and try counting how many car chases and firefights break out in a little over an hour.

The news media are equally guilty of popularizing this myth. Crime stories are frequently and prominently displayed on the most popular news channels. The nature of crime draws sympathy, excitement, and anger. For all the rubber-neckers out there, it offers the dramatic visuals of an arrest being made.

Even the police themselves are guilty of perpetuating the crime-fighter image; however, because it does not present an accurate picture of what the police do, the image does cause a number of serious problems. Most importantly, it ignores the order maintenance that consumes most police time and effort. In turn, this effects the public’s perception when evaluating police performance. The end result is a public that suffers from inflated expectations of the ability of police to solve crimes, when in fact only 20% of all reported index crimes are solved.

The reality of policing is that the police play an extremely complex role in today’s society. As the times change, the police will evolve to best accomplish their role. As Herman Goldstein, the ‘father’ of problem-oriented policing, put it “anyone attempting to construct a workable definition of the police role will typically come away with old images shattered and a new-found appreciation for the intricacies of police work.”

MADRE

“I want to thank MADRE for your support. Preventive medicine, nutrition, and maternal health care… These are things we never had before.” – Health worker in Jucuaran, El Salvador.

MADRE is setting the model for smart feminist activism by working in partnership with women in local, regional, and international organizations to advance social justice by meeting urgent needs and creating long-term solutions. Their ultimate goal is to achieve an egalitarian world in which women participate effectively in all aspects of society.

MADRE’s work in needy countries such as Aghanistan, Nicaragua, Iraq, Colombia, Kenya, and Sudan focuses on three areas: peace building, economic and environmental justice, combating violence against women, and improving women’s health. By partnering with organizations at various levels across the world, MADRE has succeeded in achieving a broader range of goals than most organizations would be able to handle.

In Afghanistan, one in three women experience physical, psychological or sexual violence; every 30 minutes, a woman dies in childbirth; 87% of women are illiterate; 70% of girls have no access to education; and 44 years is the average life expectancy rate for women. In response, MADRE created the Afghan Women’s Survival Fund to enable women who are threatened with violence to escape to safety.

In Iraq, Islamist political forces are hell bent on dismantling women’s legal rights. The result has been a double-edged blade in which women face oppression from both internal and external forces. Extremist militias have waged a systematic campaign of violence against women in which they beat or kill women for dress or behavior that goes against Islamic tradition. Even in their homes, women have faced a sharp rise in gender-based violence within families, this includes domestic battery and “honor killings.” MADRE fights the good fight by working with the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq to meet the needs of women fleeing from violence and it’s program Underground Railroad for Iraqi Women offers women who are threatened by death, such as an honor killing, the means and support to escape danger and begin to build a new life.

The above examples are especially graphic examples of MADRE’s work, but they don’t just save women from imminent danger: in Kenya and Nicaragua MADRE provides clean water and in Sudan and Nicaragua the organization holds programs to teach farmers to promote economic independence.

Get involved in the fight, learn more about MADRE and how you can help by visiting their website. If you choose to donate, know that every individual donation helps, as 76% of donations are from individuals, and that $0.91 of every $1.00 donated goes to actual program services. In addition, you can pick and choose what program area that you would like to donate to.

Wisblawg

A self-proclaimed ‘information detective’, Bonnie Shucha is not your average librarian. She is the sole contributor to Wisblawg — the University of Wisconsin Law Library Blog — and the fact that her personal profile appears under ‘About Wisblawg’ is a testament to the work she has put into making the site as successful as it is today.

For the constituents of Wisconsin who have been flocking to Wisblawg as their go-to resource for regional legal news and information, as well as the students who go to her with questions regarding their research, Shucha is more than just an ‘information detective’. She is an integral and invaluable asset to the Wisconsin and UW community. For those who care, her articles are a refreshing break from the monotone of national media outlets. To law school students on the grind, she is nothing short of a godsend.

Rather than skimming major news outlets and summarizing articles of interest, Wisblawg’s Bonnie Shucha puts a focus on providing unique content that piques the interest of legal buffs and laymen alike. Whereas most blogs spawn from an oxymoronic mixture of topical interest and perennial boredom, challenge and curiosity is the fuel that drives Wisblawg.

Aside from the obvious satisfaction that comes with maintaining a website for an institution as esteemed as the University of Wisconsin Law Library, Shucha enjoys the smaller frills that such an opportunity provides.

“I like the challenging questions – the ones that require me to dig into the information crevices that only librarians know,” says Shucha on Wisblawg.

Visit Wisblawg by clicking here.
To learn more about Bonnie Shucha (or to ask her for help!), click here for her personal profile and contact info.

Tony Hickman

A 25 year old man by the name of Tony Hickman has been accused of fathering a young teenage girl’s child. The sexual abuse had been going on for over a year before the girl, the daughter of one of Hickman’s friends, became pregnant. Initially, Tony Hickman denied ever having sex with the girl, but DNA testing has showed that he is indeed the father. Hickman was arrested for his alleged crime on Thursday of last week and was charged the next day. He is now being held at the St. Clair County Jail and bail has been set at $200,000.

What is especially strange about this case is that the mother of the teen did not only have any clue that the sexual abuse was going on, she also did not know that her daughter was even pregnant until she actually had the child. It is not fair to make any judgments about the family at this point, but for a young girl to go through an entire pregnancy without a parent catching wind of it is simply astounding.

Cases like this show how important it is to be heavily involved in your child’s life. There are signs to look for that may give you some clues about whether your child is being abused or not, and being able to identify them can put a stop to sexual abuse before it gets as far as it did in this St. Louis case.

Fighting Domestic Violence

dvalianza.org

The National Latino Alliance for the Elimination of Domestic Violence has been tirelessly working toward the goal of their mission since they opened their doors in 1999. With a clear understanding of what they wanted to accomplish, they were permitted a five year start up grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. One of the large reasons that the function of this alliance is so important is because of the dilemma that Latina women face. There is a very strong sense of family in the Latino community, and there are many times where these women are unsure whether they should come forward when they are being abused or stay silent just to show their allegiance to their family unit. Hispanics are currently the race with the third highest number of domestic violence cases in the United States, but there are many that go unreported every year.

Alianza’s mission is to put an end to domestic violence, and they have a five pronged attack that they are using to do so. The way that they are helping the situation is by educating the community about the statistics, long term and short term effects, and warning signs of domestic violence. They are promoting dialogue between families so that problems can be worked out in an efficient and peaceful way instead of allowing anger to control the entire conversation. They are increasing public awareness of the problem that the Hispanic people are facing, and they are making it known that this issue is becoming larger and will not just go away on its own. Networking and advocacy are the other two parts of the plan, and they are used so that people that share the same goal can come together and provide a united front against the issue of domestic violence.

There are quite a few services that Alianza provides. There are workshops, conferences, and other training forums that they organize on a national level. The alliance travels nationwide to provide training and educational resources to the public and works with State Coalitions and domestic violence direct service providers in the process. Much of the training is geared towards men and boys since 95% of the people committing domestic violence in the household are men. To raise awareness about family violence, Alianza uses the media, community forums, special events, and the distribution of books, pamphlets and other materials.

When you go to their website, Dvalianza.org, the amount of useful information available becomes apparent immediately. All the services that the provide are detailed very well, there is an Alianza newsletter that you have the option of subscribing to, and there are publications that you can order using the site. Much of the alliance’s budget comes from donations, so if you feel as though you would like to help put an end to domestic violence, donate to this very worthy cause, no amount is too small.

Friend of Leandra Rosado

Leandra Rosado

On October 11th of this year, six young girls got into a car with the mother of one of the girls Carmen Huertas, who was driving them all to a slumber party. She knew that she was heavily inebriated, but that did not stop her from driving a car full of children. Huertas even had the girls raise their hands if they thought that they would make it too their destination without crashing. Unfortunately, she did end up crashing. She lost control while speeding and hit another car causing one of the girls, 11 year old Leandra Rosado, to be flung from the car. Young Leandra, who had her entire life ahead of her, was killed that night.

Now, with the help of Leandra’s father Lenny, New York legislators are passing a law named after this poor girl that is going to crack down on adults that drive drunk with minors in their vehicle. Lenny has been pushing for harsher penalties for drunk drivers and has stated that he will be dedicating his life to that purpose. He has made some significant progress already, and he should be proud of that. Lenny Rosado stood right next to Governor David Paterson as he signed the bill.

When this law goes into effect, it is going to be a felony to have a blood-alcohol content of over .08 with anybody 15 or younger in the same car. Also, any driver that is convicted of driving while intoxicated, even for the first time, will have a mandatory license suspension and an ignition interlock interlock device placed in their vehicle. What this device does is that it will not allow the the driver to turn on their car until they blow into a tube that measures their BAC. If it is above the legal limit, the engine will not start.

Anybody that breaks Leandra’s Law will be facing harsh penalties. If the operator of the vehicle injures a child while inebriated, they will be sentenced with a minimum of 15 years in prison. If the child ends up dying, the minimum is 25 years. Carmen Huertas has been charged with counts of manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, and assault.

Jerald E. Spring

A man from the city of Aurora, Illinois may be spending a good portion of his life to pay for sexually abusing a six year old child. Sixty-three year old Jerald E. Spring has been found guilty on charges of predatory sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse on the young boy that he had been babysitting for some time. Over a period of three months in 2007 (between January and March), Spring had repeatedly abused the boy during “secret games” that he was told not to tell his parents about.

The child’s name has not been released, but it is known that his mother and Spring were somewhat close friends, which is why he was given the responsibility of babysitting in the first place. The six year old mentioned to a family member about what had transpired, and that is when the police got involved in the matter. This is not the only time that Spring has been accused of sexual assault either. He is actually waiting to go to trial for another case of abuse from another another accuser. This other child came forward and told authorities that he had been sexually abused on several occasions between 2005 and 2007.

Spring will be going back to court on January 19th. Because of the charges he was found guilty for, he could face anywhere between nine and thirty-seven years in prison, and his other trial has not even started yet. If Spring gets the maximum sentence, he may be locked up until the age of 100. There is a good chance that Jerald E. Spring will be spending the rest of his life behind cold steel bars.

Prosecution to the fullest extent of anyone that is committing sexual abuse against minors is extremely necessary to the child abuse prevention movement. A message needs to be sent to anyone that thinks that they can get away with these types of crimes so that they never try to harm a child again. Visit http://www.laws.com/help-put-an-end-to-child-abuse.html to find out more about abuse and the organizations that are leading the fight to end it.