Essex man jailed for sex with girl he met on Facebook

A 22-year-old man has been jailed for 18 months after admitting having sex with a 13-year-old Devon girl he met via the Facebook website.

James Grenfell, of Braintree, Essex, was arrested in Scotland after a police search for the pair in September 2009.

Appearing at Exeter Crown Court, he admitted three charges of sexual activity and a fourth charge of meeting a child following sexual grooming.
Police warned parents to be on their guard against similar incidents.
'Worrying concept'
Det Sgt Brian Slade of Devon and Cornwall Police's child exploitation unit said after the case: "The internet is a wonderful resource which provides a fantastic opportunity for learning and communication.
"Unfortunately, this does also present opportunities for those with a sexual interest in children - grooming is a very worrying concept for any parent.
"One of the most important things is to ensure your children are chatting to people they know in the real world, not purely in the virtual world.
"If they do not, they can never be really sure who they are talking to.

Two Teens Arrested Over Anti-Semitic Facebook Hate (uk)

Two teenage girls have been arrested as part of a police investigation into a vehemently anti-Semitic Facebook group exposed last week by the Jewish News.

The group, which attracted more than 500 members, featured scores of offensive remarks from youths and even saw teenagers boasting about engaging in anti-Semitic behaviour.

Created by a pupil at Loxford School of Science and Technology in Ilford, the group was described by a Community Security Trust official as "one of the most shocking things I have ever seen".

This week police confirmed arrests had been made. A spokesperson said: "A 16-year-old girl was arrested in connection with the investigation. The following day a second girl, aged 17, was also arrested. Both were taken into custody at an east London police station and later bailed to a date in mid-March pending further inquiries."
The group featured messages from youths using language rife with spelling errors, profanities and teenage colloquialisms. One girl wrote: "Jews are the ones that killed prophets in the past. Dirty filthy scum-bags. No wonder they have the curse of Allah upon them. Burn Jew burn."
News of the arrests came as MPs from across the political spectrum signed a parliamentary motion prompted by last week's Jewish News front page story.
Tabled by Hendon MP Andrew Dismore, it "calls on the Secretaries of State for Children, Schools and Families and Business, Innovation and Skills to investigate these incidents and the use of Facebook generally to promote messages of hate, and to then report back to Parliament on their conclusions".

The early day motion, which also congratulates the Jewish News on its online investigation, has so far been signed by Conservative Lee Scott, Liberal Democrat Evan Harris and Labour's Louise Ellman, Andrew Love and Virendra Kumar Sharma. Speaking to the Jewish News, Dismore joined the CST in welcoming the police probe.
The offending group, which had been online for two weeks, was removed by Facebook after the school contacted the popular social networking site and the police. The Jewish News was informed about the group by a private investigator in Australia
totallyjewish.com

Police launch investigation into anti-Semitic Facebook group

Police have launched an urgent investigation into a horrific Facebook group that gave graphic details of anti-Semitic incidents perpetrated by its members against Ilford's Jewish community.

The group, created by a student at Loxford School of Science and Technology, attracted more than 500 members in two weeks following its launch last month and featured teenagers boasting about engaging in anti-Semitic behaviour.
It featured messages from youths using language rife with spelling errors, profanities and teenag colloquialisms.

One girl wrote: "Jews are the ones that killed prophets in the past. Dirty filthy scum-bags. No wonder they have the curse of Allah upon them. Burn Jew burn."

Another stated: "OMG! ii Saw a Jew Todaii ii Swearr downn Weariingg Dahh Hatt He Lookedd At Me Liike Man Knowsz Me [sic]."

She went on to describe screaming obscenities at the man and rudely telling him to go away.

In a further disturbing post, a girl bragged about aggressively confronting

a Jewish woman in Argos after she was "looking at me". She wrote: "Looool i Had a Fight Wif 1 Urgh in Argos [sic]."

The Jewish News was informed about the group, created by a student at Loxford School, by a private investigator in Australia. It has since been removed from the popular social networking site.

The group was described by a Community Security Trust (CST) official as "one of the most shocking things I have ever seen".

A spokeswoman from Redbridge Council, speaking on behalf of Loxford School, said the school was contacted about the group and then immediately reported it to Facebook and the police.

The spokeswoman said: "The student concerned has been dealt with and the school has taken disciplinary action. There is an ongoing police investigation so we are unable to comment further."

Ilford police confirmed it had "received an allegation regarding anti-Semitic material being published on a social networking website".

A spokeswoman told the Jewish News that the police are investigating and inquiries continue.

Several comments on the vile Facebook site include misguided references to Islam and the Koran as justification for targeting Jews. #

One female youth wrote: "We hate Jews for the sake of Allah as he has told us to do in the Koran."

The group page included offensive jokes invoking pejorative stereotypes about Jews and money as well as an anti-Semitic cartoon. There was also a link to a YouTube video entitled "Kill All Christians and Jews".

In addition several members expressed anti-Israeli sentiment. There was a photograph of graffiti saying "Jihad 4 Israel" and a link to another YouTubev video of "a brave Palestinian girl standing up to Israeli soldiers".

Mike Gardner, director of communications at the CST, said he was left "utterly chilled" by the casual way that the youths displayed their anti-Semitism.

He said: "It shows how new media is now facilitating the most shocking anti-Semitism among groups of youngsters, as if hatred and violence and gross ignorance were all just a part of their normal lives.

"Anybody who wants to understand how anti-Semitism can be transmitted today should study this online group closely, but they will need a strong stomach to do so."

The CST, which is due to release its latest findings on anti-Semitism in the UK this week, has previously reported 609 incidents in the first six months of 2009, more than in any other entire year. A report released by the Jewish Agency last month revealed that there were more anti-Semitic incidents in Europe in 2009 than in any year since the Holocaust. Mike Gapes, the local MP for Ilford South, urged the authorities to take

"very strong action". Gapes told the Jewish News: "I am deeply concerned. Incitement to hatred is a crime and we must stand very firm and take action against anyone who incited racial or religious hatred. Anti-Semitism has to be opposed."

Lee Scott MP for Ilford North also denounced the site, saying: "It is shocking and I condemn it."

A Facebook spokeswoman said that the group was removed because it breached the company's policies. She said: "We want Facebook to be a place where people can openly discuss issues and express their views, while respecting the rights and feelings of others." She added that users should report groups that they feel violate Facebook's rules.

Spencer Lewis, the headteacher of local Jewish high school King Solomon said: "We have had no problems at all with Loxford that I am aware of and we have a very good relationship with the school." Have you encountered anti-Semitism online?

Tell them about it by emailing newsdesk@thejngroup.com
TotalyJewish.com

Email scams mar generous response to Haiti quake

LONDON (AlertNet) - Criminals attempting to cash in on an outpouring of public generosity towards survivors of the Haiti earthquake are using online scams designed to steal charitable donations, a charity watchdog said on Wednesday.
The scams include the use of fictitious appeal websites, email appeals that falsely use the name of genuine charities, or appeals from bogus aid groups, said the Charity Commission, the independent charity regulator for England and Wales.

"The Commission is urging the public to continue giving but to be vigilant," it said in a statement.

Images of crushed survivors trapped beneath the rubble of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince largely destroyed by last week's 7.0 magnitude quake prompted a rush of support.

Aid groups were quick to use social media such as Twitter and Facebook in fundraising efforts to deal with the impact of the worst quake to hit the Caribbean country in 200 years, as the death toll soared to tens of thousands.

People had donated $35 million within 48 hours of the natural disaster, the American Red Cross said, calling the response "unprecedented".

Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation was one of the first organisations to warn citizens about the risk of being duped by Internet fraudsters in an alert on its website, posted the day after the earthquake struck. The FBI said past tragedies and natural disasters had prompted individuals with criminal intent to solicit contributions purportedly for a charitable organisation and/or a good cause -- and urged a "critical eye".

"Fraud is a pretty nasty thing to happen to people in the best of times, but when you're taking food out of the mouths of people who are struggling for survival in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, it is pretty low," said Brendan Paddy, a spokesman for the Disasters Emergency Committee, an umbrella organisation for 13 aid agencies.

Reuters

FACEBOOK 'HELP FOR HAITI' GROUP TURNS INTO RACIST SCAM

Tens of thousands of Czech Facebook users who joined a group that alleged it would donate financial support to Haitian earthquake victims had unwillingly become supporters of racist ideas as the group suddenly changed its description. Aktuálnì.cz learned about the con from its readers. According to its original description, the group named „For every member, 10 CZK (0.40 EUR) will be sent to help Haiti“ was started by Czech entrepreneurs to help the Caribbean nation. Soon, tens of thousands of Czech Facebook users joined the group - in the morning hours of Monday 19 January 2009, there were about 135 thousand registered.

“No reason to support an overpopulated species” However, already on Saturday 18 January 2009, the alleged noble cause turned into a cynical joke and racist propaganda. “Blacks are not an endangered, but rather overpopulated species. There is no single reason to support them,” the group founded by a user named Adéla Sobotková started to say on Sunday. The author added her own alleged experiences with non-white inhabitants of other countries. “I myself have seen in France and England how terrible it is for whites to live in quarters inhabited by blacks, Arabs or Pakis. The idea that someday they start to breed less and experience demographic decrease caused by low birth rate as in the case of white people, is naïve,” the author said. By 10:30 on Monday 19 January, the group appeared to be deleted.

Original Story
http://aktualne.centrum.cz/czechnews/

Web Stalker Jailed For Harassing Ex-Classmate

Sky News Reports Today
A man who stalked a former school classmate and Googled her 40,000 times in a year has been sentenced to 16 weeks in prison.




"This is an incredibly ill and obsessed man who won't go away, refuses to leave me and my family alone and you have to question his intentions," Mrs Waxman, a mother-of-two, told Sky News.

"I know the statistics for stalkers, I know where it often leads ... it's horrible to think about it."
In a 16-page, written impact statement to the court Mrs Waxman described seven years of harassment during which she suffered a miscarriage, an eating disorder, sleepless nights and was forced to move home five times.

Hate Groups Using Social Networking Sites to Recruit and Inform

Yesterday on the anti-BNP Hope Not Hate website an item about the apparent cracks that are appearing in the anti-Islamic Group the English Defence League was published. We found this article an interesting read but it only briefly mentions the fact that the EDL use social networking sites as a way to gain support and spread hate propaganda.

Yet again another hate group comes to light that have found a valuable tool in the allowance of social networks to refuse to take a moralistic stance and do something to help combat race/religious/sexuality hate promotion on their sites. Until they decide that although free speech should not be silenced, hate speech is a different language and should be prevented.

The full EDL story can be found here.
Hope Not Hate

Facebook Argue Holocaust Denial Not Anti-Semitic Hate Speech

In 2009 an interesting article appeared on the UK’s BBC web site that has largely been over looked.

It relates to the internet and does Facebook have the right to decide that a holocaust denial group is not hate speech yet a KKK group is. As holocaust denial in its essence expresses a denial of events rather than a impartial examination isn’t it in fact Anti-Semitic and obviously a tool

for the promotion of hate speech.

The full article be found here.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8097979.stm