John, I have some pdf'd downloads to email you. Send me a line & I'll reply. Great topic!

To read an excellent analysis of MySpace.com read this article.

Does anyone have any feedback from the MySpace.com presentation at Padre? Was it helpful to prosecutors? What more would you like to hear about?

Guess this cop didn't go to JB's class in SPI.

[URL=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MYSPACE_OFFICER?SITE=7219&SECTIonfiltered=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-10-13-06-12-26 ]Officer suspended for myspace page[/URL]

And obviously I needed the computer class.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MYSPACE_OFFICER?SITE=7219&SECTIonfiltered=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-10-13-06-12-26

help!

Va. TV Weatherman Fired Over Nude Photo
ROANOKE, Va. � A TV weatherman was fired after his nude photo was posted on the Internet.

The NBC affiliate WSLS-TV fired meteorologist Jamey Singleton on Thursday after a frontal nude shot of him getting out of the shower was posted on someone else's MySpace.com site.

The photo broke the morals code in Singleton's contract, the station's interim general manager, Shane Moreland, said in a statement.

Singleton, 28, who was retained earlier this year after admitting he was a recovering heroin addict, said he didn't blame the station.

"What shocks and what offends � that's really up to them," Singleton told The Roanoke Times. "I can't blame them if ... after everything that's happened they said, 'That's the straw that broke the camel's back.'"

Singleton said the photo was taken a few months ago by a former friend who posted it Tuesday. He said he notified MySpace when he heard it was posted and the picture was removed within an hour, but it had already been e-mailed to several of his co-workers, including Moreland.

MySpace Discovery
Lawyers are mining social networks for nuggets of evidence

By Stephanie Ward

Friends, enemies, potential employers�and now even attorneys�may be checking out your MySpace page. MySpace and other social networking sites on the Internet can be caches of evidence.

"A few years ago, lawyers would call and say they had no idea what [MySpace] was," says Jeff Fischbach, a Chatsworth, Calif., forensic examiner, "but now everybody keeps talking about it."

Criminal defense lawyers use social networking sites the most, usually to investigate witnesses, according to Fischbach.

"It's a tool that is out there," says Eugene, Ore., lawyer Laura Fine, who found evidence on the Net while she represented a teenager accused of forcible rape.

The witness told police that she would never willingly have had sex, according to Fine, but her page on MySpace said something different.

"She talked about parties, drinking and 'getting some,' " Fine says.

The page also displayed provocative photos of the young woman, according to Fine, and a lascivious screen name.

The page was meant to be private, but lawyer Fine viewed it over the shoulder of another witness, who gained access through a MySpace group he and the girl belonged to.

The girl's parents would not allow the lawyer to interview her, but Fine says she found out what she needed to know from the site. She also got a good sense of how the young woman would present to a grand jury.

Based on what she read, Fine called the girl as a witness, and ultimately the grand jury dismissed the charge.

"What you put on MySpace, essentially, becomes public consumption. There's no right of privacy," says John Wesley Hall Jr., a Little Rock, Ark., criminal defense lawyer who writes extensively on evidence issues.

Besides looking for information on witnesses, Hall investigates clients through various personal Web pages.

"I'd rather know where the land mines are so I don't walk into one," he says.

Prosecutors, Hall adds, generally don't use online networking sites as much.

Often, that's because they end up with better evidence obtained through search warrants, says Clinton Parish, a Yolo County, Calif., deputy district attorney.


A POST ISN'T PROOF

Parish is prosecuting a case in which police say they found information about marijuana sales on a MySpace page. Police used the page, which included images of the suspect, his girlfriend and his car, to get a search warrant, Parish says. Rajneel Kumar was arrested and charged with felony possession for sale of methamphetamine and marijuana.

But proving Kumar wrote the text detailing his business or posted pictures of his alleged marijuana plants may be difficult. Evidence seized during the search warrant could prove more effective in the prosecution, Parish says.

Fischbach predicts that as lawyers become more familiar with networking sites, prosecutors will use them more frequently.

"It would be really wise if every attorney [did an Internet search for] all the individuals involved in a case, just so they know what they're up against," Fischbach says.

One of my favorite new tools is to look up my defendants on myspace. On a recent probation revocation hearing, the defendant testified that the reason she wasn't paying any of the probation fees, fines, court costs, etc. was because it was completely IMPOSSIBLE for her to find a job. I found that really interesting, because on her myspace page under "Employment", she wrote "2 Lazy 2 Work!!" Hmmmm.....

We also had a recent case where a defendant was charged with POM. Her myspace page was set to "private", so we couldn't look at it....however, she had posted comments on her friends' pages that we looked at, including comments like "I smoked out all weekend", etc. Great stuff to show the defense attorney.

Oregon town abuzz over mayor's MySpace lingerie shots

Associated Press

ARLINGTON, Ore. � Some residents of this small town wish their mayor felt like she had something to hide.

Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist created a stir with her MySpace page, where at one time anyone could see photos of her on one of the town's fire engines, clad only in a black bra and panties.

Now only the 42-year-old mayor's friends have access to the page, but some people in this eastern Oregon community of about 500 are still upset.

Resident Lorena Woods said the photos reflect poorly on Arlington, especially since she was photographed on the fire truck. "This isn't the way we want our city to be portrayed," she said.

Kontur-Gronquist, who is also the fire department's executive secretary, said the photos were taken before she was elected mayor three years ago, and she saw no reason to remove them from the Internet after taking office.

She told the (Pendleton) East Oregonian that she did nothing wrong and those who are offended need to get over it.

"That's my personal life," she said. "It has nothing to do with my mayor's position."

She added, "There's a lot of officials that have a personal life, and you have people in this community who have nothing better to do than scrape up stuff like this."

Councilman Jeff Bufton said he's heard a lot of negative comments about the pictures, but declined to say whether the council plans to address the topic.


Imagine what will be available on the internet when today's kids run for president.

I mostly use MySpace to just look into people once a case looks like it is going to jury, etc. I have a case with A LOT of players, some co-defendants, some witnesses, some just involved that I really want to check out. I'll enter their names into MySpace and sometimes I find them, other times I don't. I just like to see what they have on their page--swearing, drug references, clean cut, etc. The problem that I've had lately is that a lot of the pages are private so you have to send a request to get access. I'm very new to using the whole MySpace thing, but I would LOVE to hear more. I'd just like to learn how to nagivate the website and know my options for getting into peoples pages that are private without having to send them a request. It might be nice to include something on doing subpoenas for the material. I will probably miss the conference, but I'd love to have your materials emailed to me if you get a chance.

kelsey.mckay@co.travis.tx.us

The presentation was done some time ago. If you contact TDCAA, they may have the materials and can e-mail them to you. I'm doing an updated presentation in Baton Rouge next month if you are in the area.

You are right, though, that access by law enforcement to the site has gone down with members going more toward "private" pages. But, many people still don't make their page private.