394 results for author: James R. Marsh
Harvard’s Berkman Center Sells Out to the Man – AGAIN
Once again, Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society has sacrificed the public good for the large corporate interests which fund this so-called "academic research center." Fed at the special interests trough by some of America's most powerful Internet corporations such as AT&T, Google, Microsoft, and AOL, Berkman has been openly hostile to victims of online exploitation and child pornography. (See this blog's Cyber Conflict of Interest - Harvard Law School's Berkman Center Calls Online Threats to Children Overblown)
Not surprisingly, Berkman is at the forefront in criticizing French President Nicolas Sarkozy's effort to impose Internet ...
Second Circuit Nixes Student Newspaper’s Sex Ed Cartoon
In late December 2004 or early January 2005, the faculty adviser of the Ithaca High School newspaper, The Tattler, excised a cartoon and article written by a former IHS student entitled: “Alumni Advice: Sex is fun!” The cartoon depicted a doorway with the phrase “Health 101” written over the door. Near the doorway, a teacher pointed to a blackboard that contained eight drawings of stick figures in various sexual positions with the phrase “Test on Monday” written on the blackboard underneath the drawings.
In the February 2005 issue of the newspaper, The Tattler editors sought to print the same stick-figure cartoon ...
Lesson 1 for Presidential Candidates: No daycare for sex offenders
The Minneapolis City Pages' reported yesterday that presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty pardoned sex offender Jeremy Giefer in October 2008 so his wife could open a day care center in their home.
This is the same home where Giefer was having sex with his daughter for six years prior to his pardon. He would often make his daughter have sex with him or perform oral sex on him as a favor before he would give her permission to do things. He put her on birth control when she was 15 years old so that she wouldn't get pregnant when he raped her without a condom. The abuse started when she was 9 years old.
This is the same wife who Giefer was convicted of ...
Facebook – 7.5 MILLION users under age 13
According to newly released figures from Consumer Reports, an estimated 7.5 million Facebook users are children under the age of 13, out of the 20 million or so minors who use Facebook each year. Also among this group of minors using Facebook, more than 5 million were 10 and under. A Consumer Reports survey found that their accounts were largely unsupervised by their parents, exposing them to malware or serious threats such as predators or bullies.
Facebook requires users to be at least 13 years of age, according to their terms of service.Facebook warns children under the age 13 against registration. Unfortunately, it is way too easy for kids to ...
Tough Talking Prosecutors Betray Girl Bullied to Death
The case involving the death Phoebe Prince drew wide attention when tough talking prosecutors brought felony charges against six students at South Hadley Massachusetts High School, saying that they had tormented Phoebe, a newly arrived Irish immigrant, after she briefly dated the two male defendants.
Now those same prosecutors have apparently caved in their effort to hold those accountable for Phoebe's death. Last week, criminal charges against students in the bullying of 15-year-old Phoebe, who hanged herself last year, were largely resolved when three former students were placed on probation and a statutory rape charge against another was dropped. ...
Gay Civil Unionists and Religious Adoption Agencies Clash
The AP reported here that "gay rights groups are urging Illinois lawmakers not to let Catholic adoption agencies turn away gay couples," arguing "agencies that get state money to care for children should not be allowed to reject anyone who would be a good parent." When Illinois' gay civil unions law takes effect next month, Catholic adoption agencies "may face lawsuits or lose state funding" if they turn away gay couples. Groups including The Civil Rights Agenda and Equality Illinois are pushing for a law allowing "them to refuse to place children with gay couples on religious grounds."
Highlights of the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) Reauthorization Act of 2010 (S.3817) was signed into law on December 20, 2010, as Public Law 111-320.
The act leaves funding for discretionary grants (research, training, technical assistance, information collection, and program innovations) and for basic State grants at the old authorized level of $120 million in FY 2010 and at "such sums as may be necessary" for FY 2011 through 2015. A new funding section regarding allotments of the basic State grant funds for improving child protective services establishes a minimum State grant of $50,000, with additional distribution based on child ...