A Manassas, VA woman has been arrested for posting threats against local police on Facebook.

Prince William County Police said Ginger Slattery, a 43-year-old hairdresser, threatened to harm police officers on her Facebook page.

Police have charged Slattery with using her Facebook account to threaten to kill police officers; threatening to blow up the police department’s headquarters in Manassas and to solicit other people to help her commit her proposed criminal threats.

Ginger Slattery was arrested Saturday at her home.

You can find out more about the incident on the video below.

A father and son from the United Kingdom have reunited after 37 years thanks to a people search on Facebook.

The son, Andy Spiers-Corbett, was only two years old when his parents separated. That was his last contact with his father Graham Corbett.

Over the years the two men have spent countless hours trying to find each other. Even though they only live a half hour away from each other, their search for one another seemed to go nowhere.

Then one day Andy, now 39, did a people search on Facebook for his father’s name. Andy recognized his father’s picture from a list of men named Graham Corbett.

He then sent a message to Graham through Facebook and in a few days he received the response: ‘Hello son’.

Since a the Facebook contact a few weeks ago, the two men pair have met in person.

Through the reunion, Andy has learned that he has two half-brothers and a half-sister along with nieces and nephews.

Andy said, ‘there’s been a big part missing for so long but now everything is all right. It’s such a wonderful feeling. The internet is an amazing invention.’

[ source: Daily Mail ]

There is no doubt that people search Spokeo.com is raising eyebrows among privacy advocates. A search on Google news for Spokeo returns numerous articles that are critical of the people search site.

Even some state attorneys general are issuing warnings about the site and the information they provide.

Of course, we have heard this all before. Similar concerns have been raised about ZabaSearch, Facebook and Google.

However, many people are saying that much of the personal information found on Spokeo is incorrect and misleading.

Spokeo spokespeople have stated publicly that their algorithms are being updated to make the people search results more reliable.

Below is one news report that took a look at the Spokeo people search and gives advice for people concerned about their privacy.

According to a recent report from Nielsen Ratings on social networks, the total amount of time people spent on social networks worldwide grew 100% in the last year.

Facebook and Twitter both saw large increases in new users.

Facebook traffic was up 69% in March as compared to last year. Twitter had a 45% increase in traffic during the same period.

Social networks that declined in traffic were Classmates Online, LinkedIn and MySpace – which dropped almost 25% in unique users during the last year.

The average social network user now spends over six hours per month on these sites.

A test bill in the U.S. Senate would mandate that federal government publish all public records on the internet.

The proposed bill does not change what is classified as public records, it just requires agencies to post those records online that they are already responsible for.

The bill would provide faster access to public records at little or no cost. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Jon Tester, says it would eliminate the need for people to search stored print documents and the long wait for a public record requests to be completed.

Exceptions to what records could be posted online would be determined by current Freedom of Information Act rules. Such records currently include classified military documents, investigation records for law enforcement and personnel records. Restricted records would be kept off the Internet or be redacted to meet FOIA standards.

More federal departments and agencies are already putting their public records on the Internet.

First Amendment attorney Mike Meloy, thinks the bill could pave the way for an online directory of government records. A searchable federal records directory could reveal public information that people didn’t even know existed.

Under the bill, only executive branch agencies would be required to post public records online.

Legislative and judicial branches would get recommendations from a public records advisory board, but they would not be required to act on them.

Critics say this is one of the bill’s shortcomings, noting that Congress routinely tries to exempt itself from Freedom of Information Act mandates.

[ Source: Missoulian.com ]