Fake Facebook Girlfriends

Just because you are a lonely man in real life doesn't mean that you have to be lonely in your virtual life anymore.

ABC reported that a Brazilian website, NamoroFake.com.br, will be happy to create a Fake Facebook Girlfriend profile for you that includes comments & all-important "relationship status" change for thirty days at the price of  US$ 39.00. Or, if you are in a tight budget it can create for you a Fake ex-Girlfriend for only US$ 19.00.

The website said that there are some possible reasons why a man wants to have a Fake Girlfriend :

1) He wants to be popular with the women and increase his self esteem

2) He wants to make jealous his ex-girlfriend by showing that he has someone new

In order to increase the ranks of the Fake Girlfriend, the website invites women to send their profiles with a 50% profit sharing incentives.

Currently the website doesn't have any Fake Facebook Boyfriends for women, but they plan to create them in the future.

For further information about Fake Facebook Girlfriend, please read here and here.  

Picture : Courtesy of ABC

Fake Identity on Facebook

I opened an account on Facebook in the year 2008, but I have not been active continuously, only on and off.

One reason that made me do that is because I found some weird things on Facebook such as the use of photo which shows very different person, fake name, fake address, fake sex, et cetera.

For example a man from Yogjakarta tried to impress a lady friend of mine from Jakarta by claiming that he graduated from the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He preferred to put on his FB page the sign of Pemuda Pancasila youth organization instead of the sign of said famous University. I later learned that his name was not on the list of Indonesians who graduated from said university.
He claimed that he has written and published a book about the lady and two other women, but until now he never show or give a copy of the book and it cannot be found on Google or bookstore.
No wonder he never want to mention complete name/complete identity and does not write proper English.

Beside that man, there was also other men and women doing the same deceptive things on Facebook.

Due to the above facts, I prefer to use Twitter which only allow 140 characters text messages therefore minimizing nonsense.

Facebook causing Teenage Pregnacies

Facebook is a very popular online social networking media in Indonesia, this can be seen from the fact that makers of hand phones always mentioned Facebook in their products' advertisement.

Many stories have been told about people taking advantages of Facebook for their personal benefits such as extra marital affairs, etc.

Several days ago Kompas (below) reported that an official of a religious Court in Gunung Kidul, Central Java, has blamed Facebook as the cause of the increase in the number of pregnancies among teenagers and under age marriage.

Facebook 'Prompts Teenage Pregnancies' in Indonesia

Jimmy Hitipeuw | Jumat, 5 Agustus 2011 | 08:20 WIB

 
Let's chat: The image on invitations for the announcement show a face in a speech bubble, which have strengthen rumours of a new Skype feature 

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - A religious court official in Indonesia has blamed social networking site Facebook for a rise in teenage pregnancies and under-age marriages, a report said Thursday.

Siti Haryanti, a secretary at the religious court in Gunung Kidul, a town in Central Java, said young couples were having sex after meeting online and she had seen the number of under-age marriages increase in the past year.

“Many couples admitted they got to know each other through the site and continued their relationship until they got pregnant outside wedlock,” Haryanti was quoted as saying by a state news agency.

“The site is easy to access even to the remote villages so intensive relationships caused many teenagers to get pregnant outside marriage,” she said. Haryanti said 130 under-age couples have sought marriage licences at the religious court this year compared to 120 couples in 2010.

The legal age for marriage in Indonesia is 16 years for women and 19 years for men. A study by Yahoo! found that Indonesia is the largest and fastest growing online market in Southeast Asia, with online usage growth of 48 percent in 2010, compared to 22 percent in 2009. Indonesia has more than 22 million Facebook users.

Facebook, Twitter and Democracy

A few months ago, the authoritarian governments in Tunisia and Egypt were overthrown by democratic people's movements in those countries.

The people in those countries, used social media like Facebook and Twitter to organize, coordinate and document their movement. Similar method has also been used now by the pro-democracy movements in Libya and Yemen.

The above successful use of Facebook and Twitter by pro-democracy movement has inspired Indonesian Minister of Information and Communication Tifatul Sembiring to control the use of Facebook and Twitter.

Carolina Rumuat of Global Voice Online quoted the Minister as saying that social media like Twitter and Facebook must be strictly controlled since they can be used to destabilize the government. He added that countries like Tunisia and Libya suffered from uprisings because their governments failed to control social media.

After being criticized in the media, the Minister changed his mind and made a statement through his Twitter saying that reporters have misquoted him. He also wrote on his Facebook page that his statement about social media control in front of public elementary school teachers was about the importance of adult supervision on children's internet browsing experience, language use decency and anti-pornography browsing.

I am very glad that Minister finally realized that Facebook and Twitter are friends of democracy, therefore should not be controlled.

Facebook is not a Friend of Bank Robbery Suspects

The news media have been reporting about some people who used the social media Facebook to take advantage of other people.

There were stories about young girls who were abducted or seduced by their male friends whom they met in Facebook, there were other stories about people losing money because they deal with the people they met in Facebook, etc.

However, there were also good stories about Facebook, for example an article by Paula Martersteck in Legal Blog Watch tells us about two bank robbery cases in the U.S whose suspects were arrested by the Police based on information available in Facebook.

In the first case, two bank tellers and their acquaintances were indicted this month in connection with a Texas bank robbery that netted US$ 62,000.00.

Investigators determined that the robbery was an inside job in part because of an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip that led them to two suspects' Facebook pages.

Two days prior to the bank robbery, one of the tellers posted a Facebook status update that read: "Get $$$." And two days after the crime, she posted, "I M RICH".

Meanwhile, the teller's boyfriend, who is apparently prone to similar celebratory online outbursts, allegedly posted the day after the robbery: "WIPE MY TEETH WITH HUNDEREDS." 

In the second case, a Michigan man was indicted after an informant told the FBI about the suspect's Facebook account, which was registered under the name of  "Anthony Mrshowoff Wilson."

According to U.S Federal Court records, Wilson's Facebook photos show him wearing attire (some with Polo emblems) that matches the clothing worn by the suspect in at least two bank robberies.

Facebook gave Wilson's birth date, cell phone number, photos, messages and friends information to the FBI, which compared the Facebook photos to images taken from a bank surveillance video.

This is a good news, and I hope that Facebook will keep on supporting our society in the future.

Spying on Facebook and Twitter

A few months ago, Twitter micro-blog and Facebook social network have enabled millions of people in Tunisia and Egypt to communicate, coordinate and document protests against their governments which in the end forced their authoritarian presidents to step down from power.

Now Twitter and Facebook are playing similar roles in other countries in the Middle East like Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iran, and perhaps in other parts of the world.

Due to the above mentioned facts our Defense Minister Purnomo once told reporters that Twitter has the potential to be a non military threat to our national security.

According to OkeZone, the Chief of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Sutanto said last Tuesday that his agency has been monitoring Facebook and Twitter to look for dangerous and subversive activities. In this case BIN will coordinate with the Minister of Communication and Information who will take necessary action.

Sutanto added that BIN will not take direct action but it will give early warnings to government institutions so that they can function well.

I hope that beside spying on Facebook and Twitter, BIN will also be monitoring very closely other dangerous activities which have been terrorizing our society lately i.e. the spread of so many bomb packages in many parts of Indonesia.

Crimebook, the Anti-Social Network

Facebook is so popular as a Social Network media, that it has inspired many people to take advantage of it.

It inspired movie makers to produce, gained popularity and money from the movie " The Social Network "

Unfortunately, Facebook has also been used by many people to do bad things. For example there were some Court cases in Indonesia which originated from disputes caused by what people wrote on Facebook.

And recently, I read on Legal Blog Watch about Nick Webber (19) and Ryan Thomas (18) in the United Kingdom, who have been convicted and face up to five years in prison " for running a US$ 26 million Facebook-style website for Criminals described in court as 'Crimebook "

Legal Blog Watch quoted a report in The Age which described the said site as a very "anti-social network" run on a website called GhostMarket.net, and allowed as many as 8,000 members to exchange details about thousands of stolen credit cards and hacked bank accounts.

The judge in the case described Crimebook as a "criminal enterprise offering sophisticated advice on how to hack into computers, cause them to malfunction and retrieve personal information from computers -- and how to do it on a massive scale."

Police reportedly found 100,000 stolen credit card details on one of the two young men's laptops and traced the information back to the GhostMarket.net site. After their arrests in 2009, the 18- and 17-year-old skipped bail and fled to Majorca, but they were apprehended last year after returning to the U.K. Both have now pleaded guilty to "conspiracy to make or supply articles for use in fraud, encouraging or assisting offenders, and conspiracy to commit fraud."

Underage Prostitution through Facebook

Facebook is the most popular online social networking media in Indonesia, that many people have been using this site to advertise their products and/or services.

This is obvious because according to Facebook, advertisements could reach over 500 million people who connect and share through this networking media.

But unfortunately, Facebook's popularity has also been used by some people to do indecent things, such as prostitution. Please find below an article about this that I have quoted from The Jakarta Post.

I hope that parents would show more care and attention on their children especially in browsing the internet including Facebook.

I also hope that Facebook's management would make efforts to prevent it's members from using their account for prostitution otherwise they would be facing problems with the information and communication authority here.

Woman arrested for running prostitution ring through Facebook

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 01/19/2011 4:43 PM | Jakarta

Jakarta police arrested a woman suspected of running a prostitution business involving seven junior high school girls through Facebook, a police official said on Wednesday. 

Central Jakarta police detective chief Adj.Sr.Com. Yoyon Toni Saputra said that Dede, 28, who was arrested on Monday, had allegedly committed the crimes for two years, kompas.com reported. 

The suspect, a resident of Manggarai, South Jakarta, allegedly recruited his neighbors to become prostitutes. The suspect allegedly used Facebook to solicit the girls, aged between 13 and 16 years old, at the price of Rp 2 million (US$222) each, sending them to meeting places as required by the buyers once the deals were made, according to Yoyon.

Yoyon said the case was discovered after a teacher checked the Facebook account of a student who was a classmate of one of the girls. The teacher told the girl’s father about what he found, and the father reported it to the police. 

The father said his daughter had changed in the past few months.
“She used to greet us before going to school, but now she never does. She is rebellious and often returns home late at night,” he said, adding that everyday he gave her Rp 20,000 for pocket money.

On Tuesday the police also arrested one of Dede’s alleged customers, Alay, 50, in his room at Puri Kemayoran Apartment, Central Jakarta. He was arrested soon after a girl sent by Dede entered his room.

Banned by Facebook

When I joined Facebook two years ago, I often receive recommendations to add certain people to my friends lists, and I would usually add them.

The reason was because I thought that my friends must have recommended those people to me, therefore they should be eligible to be my friends. 

Several months ago, all that has changed, in the sense that although our friends recommended us to add certain people to our friends, Facebook will only allow us to do so if we know that person.

In this regards, I would like to share with you a story about a woman who sued Facebook in U.S Court because she was banned by Facebook. Please find below the story written by Bruce Carton on Legal Blog Watch. Happy reading.

12,000 Miles and a Court Case Later, Maryland Woman Still Banned from Facebook

As I wrote here, I admittedly have a weakness for stories where a corporation rolls out its ultimate "death penalty" punishment on a customer: "You can never come here [buy here] [eat here] again!!"

So you can imagine my keen interest in the story of Karen Young, who was banned by Facebook from, um, Facebooking, and did not take kindly to that ban. In an e-mail, Facebook said it had banned Young for the following transgressions:

• Sending friend requests to people you don’t know
• Regularly contacting strangers through unsolicited Inbox messages
• Soliciting others for dating or business purposes

Read More ... 

The Bad Things about Facebook

As one of the most popular online social media in the world, Facebook provides lots of good things for its members.

For me, Facebook enabled me to reconnect with many friends that I have never met for decades, maintain relationship with existing friends and relatives, as well as make lots of new friends from all over the world.

But as any other things in life, Facebook also has its bad things, as mentioned in the article below that I have quoted from Kompas.

Facebook Users 'Insecure, Narcissistic and Have Low Self-Esteem'

 

People who constantly check Facebook may be lacking in self-esteem, a study found 

KOMPAS.com - Using Facebook is the online equivalent of staring at yourself in the mirror, according to a study. Those who spent more time updating their profile on the social networking site were more likely to be narcissists, said researchers.

Facebook provides an ideal setting for narcissists to monitor their appearance and how many ‘friends’ they have, the study said, as it allows them to thrive on ‘shallow’ relationships while avoiding genuine warmth and empathy. They also tend to use the site for promoting themselves to friends or people they would like to meet, the study concluded.

Researcher Soraya Mehdizadeh from York University in Canada asked 100 students, 50 male and 50 female, aged between 18 and 25 about their Facebook habits.

They all took psychology tests to measure their levels of narcissism, which the study defined as ‘a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and an exaggerated sense of self-importance’. Those who scored higher on the narcissism test checked their Facebook pages more often each day than those who did not.

There was also a difference between men and women – men generally promoted themselves by written posts on their Facebook page while women tended to carefully select the pictures in their profile.

The findings, published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour And Social Networking, also suggested that those with low self-esteem also checked their Facebook pages more regularly than normal.

This may not be altogether surprising as it is widely thought, however contradictory it may appear, that narcissism is linked to a deep-rooted lack of self-esteem. Miss Mehdizadeh admitted that not everyone would appreciate her findings.

She said: ‘I think people get sort of defensive about it – like, “I don’t use my Facebook for that reason” – because it’s a label that you don’t want to be slapped with.’

Facebook has more than 500million users worldwide and is the world’s biggest social networking website, but it has been involved in a number of controversies.

A study earlier this week showed that the grades of students who use Facebook while they study, even if it is only on in the background, are 20 per cent lower on average than those of non-users.

Facebook and Politicians in Pekalongan

The goal of every politicians is to get power, for which purpose they would do anything to beat their rivals in the election.

That's what I thought when the news media reported about photos in Facebook depicting intimate postures of 2 top officials of the Regency of Pekalongan, Central Java, i.e the Regent Siti Qomariyah (pic-left), and her Deputy Wahyudi Ponco Nugroho (pic-right).

The reason why I felt that way because when both politicians were campaigning for their present offices in the 2006 regional election, similar photos appeared on the internet. Somehow. those photos do not seem have effect on the people who voted for both of them.

And now that both politicians will end their office terms next year and the news media have reported that will run again as candidates in the 2011 regional election, such photos appeared again.

Regarding the photos, the self proclaimed telematic expert Roy Suryo have said that the 2006 photos were originally taken using mobile phone camera.

Meanwhile, the Vice Regent of Pekalongan only said that he never own a Facebook account but refused to answer when journalists asked him about the originality of the photos.

For detailed media reports, please click here, here and here.

All I can say about the story is : very interesting!

Good & Bad about Facebook

This year, the Indonesian news media have reported good and bad news about the social networking media Facebook.

Let's start with the First Good News, about Islamic Schools in Bogor, West Java, supporting the use of Facebook to facilitate communications within their school communities. For details, please click here.

The Second Good News, about Facebook users participating in collecting donation amounting to Rp 1 Billion (US$ 106,000.00) needed for the Liver Transplant of a 17-month-old girl,  Bilqis Anindya Passa. Her cause rallied 98,000 Facebook users to join the Bilqis Love Coins group, dedicated to fund-raising via the collection of coins. For detailed report, please click here.

Now we move on to the Bad News, first about Marietta Nova Triani, a 14 years old girl from Surabaya, East Java, who was abducted from 6 to 8 February by Febriari, an 18 years old boy living in Tangerang, Banten, whom she met through Facebook. For details, please click here.

Then the Second Bad News, about the Police in East Java arrested two men for recruiting at least 20 girls, some aged as young as 15, through Facebook, and then posting pictures and profiles of them on their Facebook accounts to arrange “hook-ups” with older men. For details, please click here.
.
And then the Last Bad News, about the General Election Commission in Lamongan, East Java, that plan to sue a Facebook user who has written on his FB page a very insulting comment on the Commission. For details, please click here.

In spite of the bad news, I believe that Facebook provide many good things for us. Beside the above two good news, this was also proven last year when FB users forced the Police to free two Deputy Chairmen of the Corruption Erradication Commission (KPK), Bibit and Chandra, from groundless detention; and there was collection of money to help Prita Mulyasari, mother of two toddlers, pay compensation ordered by the Banten High Court, merely for sending e-mails to her friends complaining about the below standard service of the Plaintiff : Omni International Hospital.

Supports for Facebook

Last year, an Islamic organization in East Java had stated that Facebook is Haram (Forbidden) for Moslems.

Although the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) has denied this, however some people are still asking whether or not it is okay to use Facebook.

Meanwhile, The Jakarta Globe has reported that some Islamic Boarding Schools in Bogor, West Java have supported the use of Facebook.

Indonesians are among some of the most avid users of online social media like Twitter and Facebook. (Photo: Yudhi Sukma Wijaya, JG)

Bogor Islamic School Leaders See Benefits in Facebook Fad

Some pesantren, or Islamic boarding school, leaders in Bogor are backing the use of social networking site Facebook to facilitate communication within their school communities, despite calls last year from some clerics to stop students from using the site.

Caretaker of the Miftahul Ulum Islamic Boarding School, KH Fithrie Fachrurrozie Fuad, said on Sunday that Facebook had become a “requirement” for communication in most social circles, “including pesantren.”

Fithrie said that using Facebook was more efficient and effective than other methods of communication.

“And Facebook can be a vehicle to stay in touch and exchange ideas and information. I think a lot of positives can be drawn from the use of Facebook,” he added.

He said that in the pesantren community, for example, Facebook could be used to discuss current issues and the Islamic world.

During May 2009, some clerics on Java and Madura islands declared Facebook as forbidden for students under the age of 17, stating that it posed a risk for flirting and “moral temptations.”

However, Fithrie said that he thought the benefits outweighed potential risks and urged for it not to be declared haram, or forbidden.

“If it is made forbidden, it may be abused by some who do not heed the norms and ethics of religion,” he said.

Abdul Halim Yahya from Daarul Rahman Islamic Boarding School in Leuwiliang, Bogor, agreed, saying that Facebook had now become a forum for friendship and a place to express opinions without censorship.

Halim said that the big benefits of Facebook meant it was natural that the pesantren community began reaching into the virtual world for the latest information.

“In fact, Facebook has now become alternative media for the interests of the people, as in the case of ‘gecko versus crocodile’ (the Corruption Eradication Commission versus the National Police) and Prita (Mulyasari) versus Omni Hospital,” he said.

Facebook is now the most popular Web site in Indonesia, according to web traffic analyst alexa.com.

Antara, JG

The Indonesian Communist Party on Facebook

The Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was banned by the government after they were accused of launching a coup d'etat attempt on 30 September 1965, causing the death of 7 high ranking Army officials.

Today, more than 44 years have passed after the tragedy and PKI seemed to be trying to return to Indonesia, this time through the online social networking media Facebook, under the name of Partai Komunis Indonesia 2010.

The page used the Hammer & Sickle symbol as avatar and mentioned that PKI has rebelled against the Dutch colonialist in 1926. And after the Indonesian independence in 1945, it masterminded the 1948 rebellion at Madiun, East Java. It also mentioned that it is not responsible for the 1965 coup d'etat attempt, it said instead that the incident was planned by General Soeharto and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

When I visited the page this afternoon the page has 1,477 fans and mentioned about two meetings that have been held by PKI 2010 with comments from quite a lot of viewers. In spite of the fact it called itself Partai Komunis Indonesia 2010, but its website, http://www.communist-party.org.uk, indicate that it is based in the United Kingdom.

For details, please click here, here and here.

It would be very interesting to know who is (or are) behind this Facebook page, why has it been made, and how come so many fans ? Could it be that some people are sick and tired of all the Neo-Lib stuffs ?

Facebook to Help an Alleged Corruptor

has been used by supporters of Prita Mulyasari, Defendant in the Defamation Lawsuit filed by Omni Hospital, to collect more than four times the amount of fine that the High Court of Banten has ordered her to pay.

According to The Jakarta Globe, this success has inspired lawyers in Solo, Central Java, to use Facebook as grounds for requesting the District Court to grant bail for their client who has been suspected of corruption charges.


Indonesian Lawyer Uses Facebook Group to Request Bail for Corruption Defendent

A lawyer used printed screenshots of a Facebook group as evidence to request bail for a defendant in a school textbook corruption case at Solo State Court, Central Java, on Tuesday.

The hearing was led by Judge Saparudin Hasibuan and the defendant, Amsori, was a former head of Solo’s Sport, Youth and Education Office. At the end of the hearing, Amsori’s legal team requested the judge to grant their client bail.

The lawyers handed a petition of 47 signatures from prominent Solo figures and organizations as well as printed screenshots showing 690 supporters from a Facebook group titled “Simpati pada Pak Amsori” (“Sympathy for Pak Amsori”).

“The panel of judges will consider the request,” Head Judge Saparudin Hasibuan said on Metro TV.

Amsori was indicted for alleged involvement in a Rp 3.7 billion ($398,000) school textbook case. He stands accused of marking up the costs for acquiring textbooks for government schools in Solo.

Facebook & Marriage

Lots of things, good and bad, have been said about the social networking site Facebook, here is one that I quoted from the Legal Blog Watch.

Will Facebook Destroy Your Marriage?

It turns out that one of the most significant impacts that the rapid spread of Facebook is having on society may be ... destroying marriages?

The Telegraph reports that by reconnecting old flames and enabling new ones, Facebook is tempting to people to cheat on their partners. One law firm that specializes in divorce asserts that almost one in five petitions they process cite Facebook as a reason, as spouses are finding evidence of flirting and even affairs on the site.

The 20 percent statistic may be high as it comes from a law firm that handles divorces online, but Mark Keenan, managing director of Divorce-Online, says that after hearing from his staff that Facebook was a recurring issue, he confirmed the 20 percent figure. "The most common reason seemed to be people having inappropriate sexual chats with people they were not supposed to," he says.

The article even mentions one 35-year-old woman who discovered her husband was divorcing her when he updated his Facebook status to read: "Neil Brady has ended his marriage to Emma Brady."

Online Activity in Indonesia

" Thailand Reportedly Blocks Facebook, Twitter, CNN and Other Web Sites " that's the title of an article that I read in The Jakarta Globe today.

Although the report has not been confirmed however in the past the Thai Government has banned You Tube in 2007 and 2300 websites last January on the grounds that they were insulting the King of Thailand.

Beside the above sad news, the above mentioned media also has a good news for online activists i.e about the Indonesian President Soesilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) who now has a Twitter.
Much earlier, the Communication & Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring has also been reported to have a Twitter.
Moreover, users of Facebook, Twitters and Blogs in Indonesia have played quite an important role in maintaining justice for example in the Prita and Bibit-Chandra cases.

The above reports show that compared to neighboring countries like Thailand, Indonesian online activists are luckier.

Photo: Courtesy of The Jakarta Globe

Alleged Defamation via Facebook

Facebook has now become a favorite site for alleged Defamation cases in Indonesia, which can be seen from media reports about 3 alleged Defamation cases that took place in three different provinces, North Sulawesi, West Java & Lampung within only one month.

The first case was reported by Bandjarmasin Pos, about Indra Sutriafi, a school teacher in Kotamubagu, North Sulawesi, who was reported to the Police by the town’s Mayor i.e Djelantik Mokodompit for alleged Defamation after Indra wrote in Facebook about the practice of ‘Time Corruption’ in the town’s. According to the Police, Indra is suspected of violating the Penal Code Article 311 with a max. Penalty of 4 years imprisonment.

The second case was reported by Detik about Ujang Romansyah a citizen of Bogor, West Java, who was reported to the Police by his friend Feli Fandini for alleged Defamation after Ujang badly criticized Feli on Facebook.

The third case was reported by Lintas Berita about M. Iqbal, an honorary civil servant of the Forestry Office in Lampung, who was reported to the local Police by his co-worker Virona Bertha, for Defamation after Iqbal badly criticized Virona on Facebook. The Police have suspected Iqbal based on Penal Code Artice 310 with penalty of 9 up to 16 months months imprisonment.

The above cases indicate that some people in our country tend to be much uncontrolled in expressing their feelings toward others via social networking sites like Facebook, which violate the existing law therefore can be indicted. Due to which fact it is important for us all to respect each other and avoid making allegations against other people in public including via Facebook.

Side Effects of Social Media

Last night I saw on SCTV the Chairman of the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) i.e. Umar Shihab stating that Facebook is good because it enable people to conduct socialize with others, therefore in line with the Islamic rules. He also said that MUI has no plan to discuss about Facebook.

Shihab made the statement in the wake of the news reports that a certain Ulama organization in East Java has declared that Facebook and Friendster are Haram (forbidden) in East Java if they are used excessively for gossipping and flirting.

The above statement brings a relief for me because MUI as the highest Islamic Organization has realised abouth the true benefit that Facebook and other Social networking sites could bring to people in general and Moslems in particular. Although MUI's eddict/fatwa would not have legal impact, however it would have a social impact on Moslems who would think that it would be sinful not to obey the eddict/fact.

Fears on the side effects of Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter not only exist in Indonesia, but also in the U.S. According to Legal Blog Watch there were some cases of Defamation using Twitter. According to a lawyer i.e. Howard Price if an employee spreads Defamatory postings on the company's blog or Twitter account, it's not just the employee who face liability but the company may be liable as well.
The speed and fluidity of media like Twitter can also invite disclosure of trade secrets or classified information about a publicly traded company. Due to which fact the Securiy Exchange Commission (SEC) has provided guidance which makes clear that a company employee "speaking" in a company-sponsored interactive forum would not be deemed to be acting in an individual capacity. Thus, a company could not disclaim liability by arguing that the employee's communications were unauthorized.

As a Blogger and owner of accounts in Facebook and Twitter, the above made me more passionate in writing more things which would be informative and meaningful to others, but also more careful, so that my words would not annoy others, therefore peacefulness can be maintained.

N.Z Court & Facebook

Facebook has now been used as a method to convey very important messages in foreign countries, including the service of Court papers.

According to Legal Blog Watch, last March a High Court Judge in New Zealand has permitted lawyers to serve process on a Defendant in Britain through the social networking site Facebook. The lawsuit, brought by a New Zealand company Axe Market Garden, alleges that the owner's son, Craig Axe, took NZ$241,000 (+/- US$126,000) from the company's bank account. The permission was given after the Company's Lawyers said they cannot locate the Defendant's precise where about, but know that he has a Facebook account.
One of the lawyers, Daniel Vincent, believed that such Court permit is the first in New Zealand. He said that his request for the Court order was inspired by an earlier Court order in Canberra-Australia which approved the use of Facebook to notify a couple that they had lost their home after defaulting on a loan.

The above news interestingly indicate that Facebook is now playing an increasing role in people's lives. Therefore, I hope that we in Indonesia can also realize that Facebook is not merely beneficial for private purposes but also for professionals too.