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State Law Allows Schools to Demand Students’ Social Media Passwords

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By Kara Pendleton. In an effort to address the growing problem of cyber-bullying, an Illinois law passed last year gives schools the right to demand student social media passwords. This law applies to all students from kindergarten through college.

Effective January 1st, each school was required to send notification to students through the student handbook, as well as, provide parents with notice of the change in policy. This week, several school districts satisfied this requirement with a letter to parents.

A sample of the letter to parents is included in a “Student Handbook Model” online. The model letter notes:

School authorities may require a student or his or her parent or guardian to provide a password or other related account information in order to gain access to the student’s account or profile on a social networking website if school authorities have reasonable cause to believe that a student’s account on a social networking website contains evidence that a student has violated a school disciplinary rule or procedure.

He letter goes on to define “social networking” and ensures that email passwords are not included under the law. As expected, both parents and students had strong reactions. (Read more about the schools demanding social media passwords HERE)

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Father of ‘Snapchat Bullies’ Loses Job

By Lindsey LaBelle. Thousands of people are offering support and encouragement for a Prior Lake, Minnesota family after the father confronted his daughter’s bullies in a YouTube video. The father of those bullies lost his job just two days after the video was posted.

Brad Knudson recorded a nearly 6-minute YouTube video complete with racist voicemails from the father of two children who apparently sent his 8th grade daughter Dierdra a series of malicious Snapchats.

Deron Puro was an independent contractor at a financial firm, and his employer confirmed to Fox 9 on Wednesday that he is no longer associated with that company as of Jan. 21. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Study Shows Liberals More Likely Than Conservatives to "Unfriend" Someone Over Politics

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Photo Credit: TownHallA new study by the Pew Research Center has found that people who identify as “liberal” in their political beliefs are more likely than conservatives to have unfriended someone (either in the online or real-life sense) over a disagreement in political leanings.

According to the study, while self-described “consistent liberals” were more likely than conservatives to have friends who have differing political opinions, they were also more likely to block those person’s posts from social media or to unfriend them altogether.

Consistent liberals were the most likely group to block or unfriend someone because they disagreed with their political postings, with 44 percent saying they had “hidden, blocked, defriended, or stopped following someone” on Facebook due to their political postings. Only roughly one-third (31 percent) of consistent conservatives had done the same — although this might be attributable to lower levels of ideological diversity in their online ecosystem.

Read more from this story HERE.

Michigan Mom Turns to Prayer and Social Media for Miracle to Save her Son

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsIn a pessimistic world, a Michigan mother is looking for a miracle to save her terminally ill four-year-old son – and she’s turning to prayer and social media to find it.

Tammi Curtis Carr of Ann Arbor was given the horrifying news Tuesday that her toddler, Chad, had an inoperative tumor on his brain stem. According to Carr, her son fell on Monday and hit his nose.The mother of three took her youngest to the hospital to make sure he didn’t have a concussion but what the MRI revealed was much worse.

Chad was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a rare brain tumor that primarily affects children, and once diagnosed, the average rate of survival is nine to twelve months.

On Wednesday, Carr posted a message on her Facebook page hoping the power of prayer could help heal her young boy.

“We now need prayers and it’s my hope that this goes viral and millions fall in love with (Chad) and send him prayers,” she wrote. “It’s going to take a miracle and I believe it can happen and I hope you will help and spread his story!”

Read more from this story HERE.

Couples Now Demanding ‘Social Media Prenups’

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Photo Credit: Sky News A top US attorney says a third of her clients are now asking for social media clauses in prenuptial agreements.

Ann-Margaret Carrozza specialises in estate planning in New York and says each breach of an agreed social media rule can result in a fine of up to $50,000 (£29,700)

She said a typical clause will state couples cannot post nude photos, embarrassing photos or anything that is likely to harm a spouse’s professional reputation.

She told ABC News: “It’s a huge issue because we all know this stuff, once it’s out there, you can’t shake it.

Read more from this story HERE.

First of its Kind California ‘Erase’ Law Allows Minors to Delete Social Media Posts

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Photo Credit: REUTERSThe Mean Girl tweets, the Spring Break selfie that probably tanked a summer internship or Ivy League application … . California is now requiring social media companies to give young users the opportunity to deletes such Internet postings.

The first-in-the-country law is being hailed as good step — especially in the absence of a federal law — toward giving under-18 Internet users a chance to remove regrettable postings and preserve their reputation.

“This puts privacy in the hands of kids, teenagers and the parents, not under the control of an anonymous tech company,” James Steyer, founder and chief executive of Common Sense Media, told FoxNews.com.

However, not everybody agrees, arguing Facebook, Twitter and other big, social media sites already allow users of all ages to remove posts. They also argue the law could become burdensome for companies because they would have to figure out who lives in California.

Steyer, whose San Francisco-based group advocates for safe and responsible online use, said critics make a “reasonable point” on that issue. But California had to act in hopes a dysfunctional Washington will take notice and pass a federal law to solve the potential problem of a patchwork of state statues, he said.

Read more this story HERE.

Government ‘Mining’ Social Media for Information on Health Behavior

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Photo Credit: APThe National Library of Medicine (NLM) is “mining” Facebook and Twitter to improve its social media footprint and to assess how Tweets can be used as “change-agents” for health behaviors.

The NLM, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will have software installed on government computers that will store data from social media as part of a $30,000 project announced last week.

“The National Library of Medicine is the world’s largest biomedical library and makes its stored information available online at no charge to consumers, health professionals, and biomedical scientists through a diverse suite of resources,” the agency said in a contract posted on Oct. 23. “Evaluating how its databases and other resources are utilized is an important component of continuing quality improvement and has long been an on-going program of NLM management through a potpourri of monitoring tools.”

“The world-wide explosion in the use of social media provides a unique opportunity for sampling sentiment and use patterns of NLM’s ‘customers’ and for comparing NLM to other sources of health-related information,” the agency said.

“By examining relevant tweets and other comments,” the contract said, “NLM will gain insights to extent of use, context for which information was sought, and effects of various health-related announcements and events on usage patterns.”

Read more from this story HERE.

The NSA Has Been Creating Maps of American Citizens’ Social Networks Similar to How the FBI Links Organized Crime Families Together

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Photo Credit: Daily Mail

Photo Credit: Daily Mail

The NSA has been graphing American’s social networks and plotting them as they do organized crime since at least 2010, according to the latest published Edward Snowden leak.

The highly secretive intelligence agency has been mapping out American citizens’ social connections – identifying associates, determining locations, and logging who they talk to – by taking advantage of loosened rules previously meant to restrict surveillance actions.

As far back as November, 2010, the agency authorized spies to conduct ‘large-scale graph analysis on very large sets of communications metadata without having to check foreignness,’ the New York Times revealed Saturday.

The agency augmented that information with bank codes, insurance information, Facebook profiles, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls, property records and tax data, the Times further divulged.

There does not appear to be any restriction on the types of data culled, or who it is gather on, the Times noted.

Read more from this story HERE.

Calls to Congress 499 to 1 Against Syria War

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Marine Not Fight for War In SyriaAmericans are slamming at least 22 members of Congress with thousands of phone calls and emails, urging lawmakers not to approve a military strike on Syria – by a margin of as much as 499 to 1.

A national debate is raging on Twitter. Tweets and statements from members of Congress – both Democrat and Republican – show tremendously strong opposition to President Obama’s call for an air strike on Syria:

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., tweeted, “Calls and emails from my constituents is 100 to 1 AGAINST getting involved in Syria. The American people are speaking.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said 99 percent of the calls his office oppose an attack.

Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., tweeted, “Syria constituent calls 489-2 against.”

Rep. Shelley Capito, R-W.V., said of “about 1,000 calls to my office, maybe 5 are for.”

Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., tweeted, “FYI: Received 75 calls/emails from constituents today so far on Syria. All 75 opposed to military action.”

Rep. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said, “I’m told the phone calls are 9 out of 10 against a strike in Syria, from my constituents in Kentucky.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., tweeted, “My office has been inundated with constituent phone calls and emails about Syria. Virtually unanimous opposition to military intervention.”

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, tweeted, “So far about 500 emails regarding Syria. 499 say NO and 1 say YES go to war” and “Hundreds of calls to our Provo and Washington, D.C., office. So far not a single call in favor of bombing Syria.”

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., tweeted, “The phones in my office are ringing off the hook and mail is flowing in. Almost all of the people are opposed to intervention in Syria.”

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said “a very high percentage” of the constituents contacting his office have been against U.S. involvement in Syria. He estimated that 90 percent of more than 1,000 calls and emails from Americans have been urging him not to support intervention.

Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., tweeted, “I’ve been hearing a lot from members of our armed forces. The message I consistently hear: Please vote no on military action against Syria.”

Read more from this story HERE.

White House: Social Media Helped Prove Chemical Attack in Syria

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Susan Ferrechio

Social media helped American intelligence officials determine that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime carried out a deadly nerve gas attack on its citizens earlier this month, top White House aides said Friday, but some members of Congress remain wary of the U.S. launching a retaliatory strike.

The Obama administration, working to build a case for a potential military attack against the Assad regime, released a four-page, unclassified assessment that concluded that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in an attack on twelve neighborhoods in the Damascus suburbs, killing 1,429 people, including at least 426 children.

The assessment outlines the case against Assad, saying the August 21 attack began in the early morning hours when the regime began firing rockets and artillery at the 12 neighborhoods, all of them either controlled by the Assad opposition or contested by the two sides.

Intelligence on the ground and satellite images prove the rockets were fired into the neighborhoods from Assad-controlled areas, White House aides said Friday.

Reports of nerve gas in the area began surfacing on social media around 2:30 a.m. local times, shortly after the gas struck.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Obama: US has an ‘obligation’ to act against Syria

By Susan Crabtree

President Obama said Friday that the U.S. has an obligation as a world leader to hold the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad accountable for the deadly chemical attack in Syria last week.

“I have said before and I meant what I said, the world has an obligation” to take action against the use of chemical weapons, Obama said.

Obama, however, repeatedly stressed that he had yet to make a decision about what type of military response the U.S. would take, although he said any strike would be a “limited, narrow act” and would not involve “boots on the ground.”

“We’re not considering any open-ended commitment,” he told reporters after a meeting with leaders of Estonia and Latvia, noting that he wished that the international community had already acted.

Read more from this story HERE.

Journalist Shot in Head, Egyptian Christian Church Attacked, Muslim Brotherhood Posts Fake Photos of Dead ‘Egyptian’ Children (+videos)

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Photo Credit: Mohamed RashedBy MENA. Masked gunmen opened fire at Mar Mina Church in Port Said’s al-Manakh early Tuesday and managed to get away, according to state-run news agency MENA. No casualties were reported.

Army and police squads arrived at the scene of the attack and efforts are being undertaken to identify the perpetrators.

This is the third such attack in 24 hours. Yesterday, unknown attackers assaulted Port Said’s western seaport and the province’s traffic police department.

A priest was killed Saturday in Masaeed in North Sinai. Read more from this story HERE.

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BBC Reporter Shot in the Head

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Muslim Brotherhood Using Old Photo’s of Dead Syrian Children, Claiming Egyptian Army Killed Them