Cat Abuser Online Video Uproar

On Sunday February 15th, 2009 a teenage boy and his brother filmed two videos and posted both on YouTube. It showed one brother beating a cat in a bathroom while the other brother filmed and commented. Though YouTube has now taken down the video and suspended the account, about thirty thousand views were recorded for the video over the weekend. The video caused an uproar among online communities in general.

Since Sunday, numerous internet communities have used social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace to identify the perpetrator. From posts online, commenters were able to put the pieces together and figure out the location of the poster. Using the user name and information along with information from the internet, internet users from various sites were able to pinpoint the location of the video poster. From this we can see how information we post throughout the internet may be scattered and unconnected, but can be put together to show a bigger picture. It is terrifying to see how someone can unknowingly be tracked down via the internet.

The online community is in an uproar, urging authorities to prosecute the cat abuser. Various websites and videos have been made in support of prosecuting the teenage boys involved. On one of these websites the teenage boys' parents' workplace and contact infromation are listed, along with their home address and full names.

By posting the videos on YouTube, these teenage boys are ultimately being punished in return by the internet.

Facebook terms of service- they can do anything they want with your info

I wasn't sure if anyone posted this already but my friend just sent it to me an hour ago. It talks about the new terms of service agreement... Basically the new terms states that facebook own everything on it.. Now if we thought of facebook as a place... and our profiles as space... then that's like saying that we have to leave all our belongings in the space because we don't own it. The article has the responses from facebook that claim it is a protective measure.

It is just frightening to imagine that even if i close my account my information will not be closed along with it... also there is a fact that many people don't know what they are getting themselves into by agreeing to the terms of service.

but with all these contracts online.. what does this show about our "privacy" online?