You’ve heard of the neighborhood crime watch? That’s where the citizens of a neighborhood keep their eyes open for crimes in progress and report them to the police. Well, the police department in the town of Evesham, New Jersey, has turned this idea on its head. They are instead informing the local citizenry of people who have been accused of crimes. They are doing it by posting names and mugshots and other photos of suspects on Facebook! And these aren’t just suspects who have been booked – they are even posting pictures taken before a suspect has even been arrested (let alone charged).

Facebook has added a Facebook Panic button application, following an agreement with (read as capitulation to, but we don’t mean that pejoratively) UK’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). The way that it works, at least in theory, is that it provides an easy way for young people on Facebook (and their parents) to report suspicious activity – by which we mean activity that may be aimed at luring, stalking, or bullying minors – to both Facebook and CEOP.

According to reports on the BBC and in the Register and other international news sources, a complainant in Pakistan has initiated a process against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg which could invoke the death penalty or, at least, life in prison, over the “Draw Muhammad” contest that was being hosted on Facebook.

When I was a child growing up in New England, we had a saying: If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute. The same, it seems, can be said for Facebook’s privacy policies. Barely 4 weeks ago, Facebook announced their new open graph platform that follows you across the web – a privacy policy that seems based on the less (privacy) is more (revenue) principle. A mere 4 months earlier, Facebook announced sweeping privacy policy changes that users found beyond confusing. And a few months before that Facebook announced privacy policy changes that allowed developers to mine your Facebook inbox for data! And now, just today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced yet another change to Facebook’s privacy policies and Facebook privacy settings system, this one, he promises, “making control simple.”

A new Facebook malware notice making the rounds is tricking users into installing malicious adware which then causes countless ads to popup on your PC. The malicious Facebook post, which is made to look as if it was posted by one of your Facebook friends, shows a small image (usually of a woman in a mini skirt on an exercise bike), with a link to click, saying “This is without doubt the sexiest video ever!” Don’t be taken in by it!

A few months ago a gentleman by the name of David Mathews created a Facebook page suggesting, and requesting, that actress Betty White host an episode of Saturday Night Live (“SNL”). Explained Mathews, on the Facebook page, “Betty White has been doing television since before I Love Lucy! What a way to honor her career, her comedic timing, and her life than by inviting her to host Saturday Night Live!!!” Well, Betty White got the SNL gig, and David Mathews got to meet Betty White. All because of Facebook (and Mathews’ efforts). But read on to learn what Betty White had to say about Facebook! (Or just watch and listen – there’s a video.)

At last, someone has come up with a viable alternative to Facebook.  Diaspora, the love brainchild of four self-described nerds, promises to be Facebook without the privacy issues.  The four NYU students, Dan Grippi, Max Salzberg, Raphael Sofaer, and Ilya Zhitomirskiy, were as upset as anyone about the privacy pillaging juggernaut that Facebook has become and, in the time-honored tradition of student nerds, have said ‘Hell no, we’re not going to take it,” and, taking keyboards in hand, are doing something about it.

While trafficking in body parts is not allowed on eBay, apparently there is no such restriction on Facebook. And fortunate that is for Carlos Sanchez and April Capone Almon, of East Haven, Connecticut. This is the story of a desparate Facebook status update, a kind-hearted mayor, and a new lease on life.

Facebook – the site that changes its interface, services, and values almost as often as we change our underwear (hint: daily), has once again announced a major change that affects all Facebook users – and users of other services – in a major way. This week’s announcement is that Facebook is now sharing it’s new “like” system with partners like Microsoft Fuse Docs, Pandora, and Yelp – and any other site that wants to feature the new Facebook social plugins – creating what Facebook calls a “social graph” or “open graph”. This means that when you “like” something on Facebook, that “like” will follow you around to Pandora, Yelp, and Microsoft Fuse Docs – and vice versa. The good news is that you can opt out of it (and we tell you how).

Stories are swirling over a girl named Emma who allegedly committed suicide on Christmas eve, 2008, as the result of some Facebook status update messages aimed at her. The status update messages directed at “Emma” are indeed horrible (see image below), however, there is doubt that a girl named Emma actually committed suicide on Christmas eve, or at all, even though a Facebook fan page entitled “Teenager committed SUICIDE because of THIS status update – Leaked from 2008” would have you think otherwise. However, the story does match quite closely the suicide of Phoebe Prince, which occurred this January.

An Arkadelphia, Arkansas teen is suing his mother for accessing his Facebook account, posting what he claims are slanderous comments, and then changing his Facebook password, effectively locking him out of his own account.  In her defense, Denise New claims that as a mother she has the right to monitor what her son is doing.

Hard though it may seem to grok the connection at first, Facebook has been positively linked to venereal disease. In particular, syphilis has reared its ugly head, with an increase in incidence of the dreaded VD in some areas as high as four times previously quiescent numbers, most of which is being attributed to link-ups for casual sex across multiple partners that are occurring on Facebook.

With recent changes to Facebook, it turns out that Facebook is now choosing which friends’ news feeds to show you in the live feed view, and, essentially, blocking all the rest! Meaning that all of your other friends are blocked from being shown in your live feed update! Here’s how to undo that and get all of your Facebook friends’ live feed news back.

With the recent Facebook poking arrest, a lot of people want to know what it means to “poke” someone on Facebook. A Facebook poke is basically a way of waving at someone from across Facebook. A poke on Facebook is a shorthand way of saying “Yo, I’m thinking of you.” In addition to wondering “what is a poke on Facebook”, a lot of people wonder “When you poke someone on Facebook does anyone else see it?” Keep reading for the answer to that, and all the information about poking on Facebook, including how to do it, and how to know if you’ve been poked on Facebook.

It’s no secret that Facebook has an.. interesting … view of user privacy. In fact, Facebook CEO Mark Zucker recently suggested that Facebook users (should) have no expectation of privacy. Now to add insult to the complete-lack-of-privacy injury, starting a few days ago, Facebook applications now have permission to grab your email address – that is to require that you divulge your email address before you can use their application.