In a story that shows the widespread use of social networks around the globe, the Thailand Prime Minister’s Office has requested that the government ministry of Information, Communications and Technology monitor the use of the Hi5 social networking site by Buddhist monks.

The request came after allegations that a monk used the internet to lure a young girl to his temple and raped her.

Thai government officials are considering blocking access to the site to resolve future problems, but current law requires permission from a judge to block the site.

A Thai minister has requested that Hi5 site operators monitor the Web site for use by monks and kick them off.

The Hi5 social network claims to be the third largest social network in the world, with 70 million registered users around the globe, including over 800,000 in Thailand.

The Hi5’s online safety section warns users to beware of personal postings that could embarrass them or be viewed by friends, family or employers.

Source: Information Week

According to a recent BBC article, the infamous whistle-blower website known as WikiLeaks.org has been ordered by a California court to be removed in the US.

WikiLeaks.org allowed whistle-blowers to post private and classified government and corporate documents online for public view.

The case that brought about the court-ordered removal of the WikiLeaks.org website was brought by Swiss bank Julius Baer, after hundreds of documents about its offshore activities were posted to the site, alleging tax evasion and money laundering by bank officials.

The sensitive bank documents and records were allegedly posted to the WikiLeaks site by former vice president for the bank’s Cayman Island operation, Rudolf Elmer.

Dynadot, which controls the WikiLeaks.org domain name, was ordered to remove all records of the website from its servers. In addition, the site was ordered to produce “all prior or previous administrative and account records and data for the wikileaks.org domain name and account”.

The court order further requires that website admin details of the site’s registrant, contacts, payment records and “IP addresses and associated data used by any person…who accessed the account for the domain name” to be handed over.

Wikileaks.org had allowed site visitors to post documents anonymously.

The website was founded in 2006 by dissident journalists, techies and academics from around the world.

According to CNet News the site can still be accessed on another server at WikiLeaks Mirror Website.

Sources: BBC, CNet News.

The US intelligence arm Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is warning that terrorist groups may be using the online social networks of virtual worlds like SecondLife.com to recruit, meet, plan and exchange strategic information.

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity is a division of the US Intelligence Community that studies developing technologies.

The IARPA warned that virtual worlds like Second Life are creating opportunities for terrorist cells to “recruit, rehearse, transfer money and ultimately engage in information warfare or worse with impunity.”

IARPA recommendations include the setting up of teams of intelligence experts who would investigate virtual worlds and monitor potential terrorist threats.

The US Central Intelligence Agency currently has a virtual presence in Second Life, which is used for training and meetings.

However, some privacy experts warn that the IARPA warnings are an excuse for the ever expanding online government surveillance plans. Privacy campaigner Jim Dempsey, policy director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, noted that the government had made similar warnings about the internet and mobile phones.

Source: vnunet.com

Here is part II of the 60 Minutes profile on Facebook.com and Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

[ Part I of the Facebook.com profile on 60 Minutes is available here. ]

Part II discusses how Facebook.com has changed the way people find each other and communicate with each other as well as how Facebook has changed the way politicians campaign for higher office.

Part II also discusses some of the privacy issues and problems that Facebook.com has faced and the public backlash to their advertising and marketing system Beacon.

In addition, part II deals with some of the business aspects of Facebook.com - one of the web’s largest social networks and free people search sites.

Facebook.com has over 60 million registered users and is expected to have over 200 million registered users by the end of the year - making Facebook a great resource for social networking; professional networking and people searches.

This YouTube.com video clip is part I of a 60 Minutes TV profile on Facebook and the site’s found Mark Zuckerberg.

MySpace announced today that it has detected and deleted 29,000 convicted sex offenders from the social networking site. The number is over four times numbers previously reported.

From today’s Reuter’s news article –

Popular Internet social network MySpace said on Tuesday it detected and deleted 29,000 convicted sex offenders on its service, more than four times the figure it had initially reported.

The company, owned by media conglomerate News Corp, said in May it had deleted about 7,000 user profiles that belonged to convicted offenders. MySpace attracts about 60 million unique visitors monthly in the United States.

The new information was first revealed by U.S. state authorities after MySpace turned over information on convicted sex offenders it had removed from the service.

Source: MySpace deletes 29,000 sex offenders

Purdue University is planning on including Facebook.com in it’s emergency alert system, in wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech. The Associated Press is reporting that Purdue is planning on using the popular social networking site for college and university students as one of its alert tools for informing students and staff in the event of a university emergency.

According to the article, Purdue has created an emergency notification group on Facebook.com. Facebook is now one of numerous ways that Purdue can alert students about a campus emergency. To date 2600 students have registered for the alert service and 85% of Purdue students use the Facebook site.

Source: Purdue uses Facebook as part of emergency alert system

The latest example of the growing influence and popularity of social networking sites like MySpace.com and FaceBook.com is the announcement by MySpace that they will hold their own presidential primary.

According to the TechCrunch blog MySpace.com has more registered users than the entire population of Mexico and will hold its own presidential primary on January 1st and 2nd of 2008. The TechCrunch post goes on to state that major presidential candidates like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Rudy Guiliani and John McCain already have MySpace profile pages with tens of thousands of “friends”.

Source: MySpace Will Hold Presidential Primary.

This recent post from Blog Critics highlights the importance of using MySpace as a free people search tool for finding old friends –

MySpace offers many ways to search for old friends. Users can simply type a pal’s first and last name in the “Find a Friend” box too see if the friend is a member. If there are too many people with the same name, the user may narrow the search by focusing on a specific geographic area. If it’s old classmates an individual is seeking, he or she may simply use the “Classmate Finder” tool to find other users who went to the same school. There are filters to narrow the search by years of attendance or years of graduation, and still others that find members by clubs, majors, Greek affiliations, and more. All it takes is a little patience and a little time for a user to find a friend or family member he or she hasn’t seen or spoken to in years, and never expected to hear from again.

Unlike Classmates or Reunion — sites that specialize in reuniting old friends — all of the features on Myspace are free. It’s free to register, search, send messages, or post comments. Every feature of the site is 100% free. MySpace currently boasts approximately 50 million members, with people of all ages signing up daily. While it’s true that most members are at the lower end of the age spectrum, it’s not uncommon to find users in their forties, fifties, and beyond.

Source: MySpace: A Place to Find Old Friends

For more free people search ideas, try our published list of people search tips @ Free People Search.

USA Today is reporting on a number of false polices sites that have been posted on MySpace in an effort to mock and defame law enforcement agencies.

From the article –

A new police tool on the Internet has prompted hoax sites on MySpace.com, and the popular networking site is shutting them down.

At least 16 police or sheriffs’ departments appeared to have profile pages on MySpace to seek investigative tips or deter predators, but USA TODAY found that at least six were fakes.

A page that claimed to represent the New York Police Department had racy photos. Another that said it was the Fairfax County Police in Virginia said officers loved donuts and coffee. Officials in both departments said they did not set up the pages and did not know who did.

Asked about those profiles last week, MySpace.com closed them. It also closed pages claiming to represent New Jersey State Police and the Coral Gables Police Department in Florida. Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace’s chief security officer, says the site is investigating six more profiles that look like police department pages.

“We want law enforcement present on our site, but we don’t want people violating our members’ trust,” says Nigam. He says in the physical world, people recognize police by their uniforms. On its site, however, MySpace needs to verify which are legitimate, Nigam says.

Source: Bogus police sites posted on MySpace