Rob McCrae's Bookmarks

Perlin said he was willing to recommend probation for Lara Buys for a 2006 drunken driving crash that killed her passenger — until he thought to check her MySpace page while preparing for sentencing.

The page featured photos of Buys — taken after the crash but before sentencing — holding a glass of wine as well as joking comments about drinking. Perlin used the photos to argue for a jail sentence instead of probation, and Buys, then 22, got two years in prison.

• Your privacy remains under your control

• Children under the age of 13 are not eligible to use Bebo and must not
  attempt to register with Bebo and/or submit any personal information to us. Bebo
  does not knowingly collect personal information from any person who is under the
  age of 13 or allow them to register. If it comes to our attention that we have
  collected personal data from a person under the age of 13, we will delete this
  information as quickly as possible. If you have reason to believe that this has
  occurred, please contact us via the Contact Us
  page, and we will delete any such information.
  
• We recommend that children between the ages of 13 and 17 should not send any
  information about themselves to anyone over the Internet without asking their
  parents or legal guardians for permission beforehand. Bebo is a member of the
  working party involved in the drafting of the UK Home Offices Good practice
  guidance for the providers of social networking and user interactive services
  2007.

In Mr Federman’s view, the quest for truth has given way to the quest for
making sense of the world as experienced. For anyone under the age of 20, the
world being experienced is one where the internet has always existed, and where
everyone who matters is only a click, speed dial or text message away.
“Tomorrow’s adults,” says Mr Federman, “live in a world of ubiquitous
connectivity and pervasive proximity.” Their direct experience of the world is
wholly different from yours or mine.

So, no surprise that when we incarcerate teenagers of today in traditional
classroom settings, they react with predictable disinterest and flunk their
literacy tests. They are skilled in making sense not of a body of known content,
but of contexts that are continually changing.

Teachers must recognise that our pedagogical tools are inconsistent with the
skills needed to survive in a world where people are always connected to
everyone and everything. In such a world, learning to think for oneself could
well be more important than simply learning to read and write.

Many conversations were sexual or aggressive, and many users said they were
just 13 or 14 years old.

Some posed topless or wearing bikinis or bras. One girl, who said she was 15,
wore a French maid's outfit.