Australian police yesterday said they would push for social networking giant Facebook to introduce a local law liaison after the murder of a teenager who met her alleged attacker on the site.
Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan traveled to Washington to meet with global police chiefs over the growing number of crimes linked to Facebook and discuss transnational strategies.
“What I’ll be pushing for from an Australian perspective is a dedicated law enforcement liaison person in Australia,” Gaughan told ABC radio ahead of yesterday’s meeting at the US Department of Justice.
“I’d also like to see a ‘report abuse’ button on each profile page to make it easier for people to report their concerns to law enforcement ... [and] some age-verification software placed on the system so we don’t have people under the age of 13 becoming members of Facebook,” he added.
Australian police this month warned teenagers to be vigilant about their privacy settings after a man allegedly used a fake Facebook profile to lure 18-year-old Nona Belomesoff to an isolated bushland area and murder her.
Police believe Belomesoff’s alleged killer preyed on her by using the interests openly listed on her Facebook page to strike up a rapport.
“We’re certainly seeing instances of stalking and grooming people for sexual activity. We are seeing instances where illegal content is being shared amongst users as well,” Gaughan said. “There is criminality within that particular environment and we need to come up with strategies to address that.”
Gaughan said his concerns were shared by law enforcers in other countries and he was hopeful that with a “united front ... we’ll get some action.”
Gaughan’s comments came as major Australian bank ANZ launched an internal probe after staff allegedly set up a phony Facebook profile to track down defaulting customers who had moved house without telling the bank their new address.
Facebook has come under fire from US privacy and consumer groups, US lawmakers and the EU over new features that allow partner Web sites to incorporate Facebook data.
Critics claim the move compromises the privacy of Facebook’s more than 400 million members.
Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy this week slammed the popular site as a “corporate giant, who is answerable to no one and motivated solely by profit,” with “complete disregard” for users’ privacy.
Showcasing phallus-shaped portable shrines and pink penis candies, Japan’s annual fertility festival yesterday teemed with tourists, couples and families elated by its open display of sex. The spring Kanamara Matsuri near Tokyo features colorfully dressed worshipers carrying a trio of giant phallic-shaped objects as they parade through the street with glee. The festival, as legend has it, honors a local blacksmith in the Edo Period (1603-1868) who forged an iron dildo to break the teeth of a sharp-toothed demon inhabiting a woman’s vagina that had been castrating young men on their wedding nights. A 1m black steel phallus sits in the courtyard of
JAN. 1 CLAUSE: As military service is voluntary, applications for permission to stay abroad for over three months for men up to age 45 must, in principle, be granted A little-noticed clause in sweeping changes to Germany’s military service policy has triggered an uproar after it emerged that the law requires men aged up to 45 to get permission from the armed forces before any significant stay abroad, even in peacetime. The legislation, which went into effect on Jan. 1 aims to bolster the military and demands all 18-year-old men fill out a questionnaire to gauge their suitability to serve in the armed forces, but stops short of conscription. If the “modernized” model fails to pull in enough recruits, parliament will be compelled to discuss the reintroduction of compulsory service, German
Filipino farmers like Romeo Wagayan have been left with little choice but to let their vegetables rot in the field rather than sell them at a loss, as rising oil prices linked to the Iran war drive up the cost of harvesting, labor and transport. “There’s nothing we can do,” said Wagayan, a 57-year old vegetable farmer in the northern Philippine province of Benguet. “If we harvest it, our losses only increase because of labor, transportation and packing costs. We don’t earn anything from it. That’s why we decided not to harvest at all,” he said. Soaring costs caused by the Middle East
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s officially declared wealth is fairly modest: some savings and a jointly owned villa in Budapest. However, voters in what Transparency International deems the EU’s most corrupt country believe otherwise — and they might make Orban pay in a general election this Sunday that could spell an end to his 16-year rule. The wealth amassed by Orban’s inner circle is fueling the increasingly palpable frustration of a population grappling with sluggish growth, high inflation and worsening public services. “The government’s communication machine worked well as long as our economic situation remained relatively good,” said Zoltan Ranschburg, a political analyst
RSS