John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

Of Course This Isn't What We Meant by 'Make New Friends, Reconnect With Old Ones and Interact in Other Ways.'

Last week MySpace refused to turn over the names of convicted sex offenders to the group of state attorneys general who’d requested them, citing the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, which prohibits such information from being shared without a subpoena. Well, this morning MySpace received that subpoena and complied with it, releasing data on the thousands of registered sex offenders it has identified and removed from its popular social-network site.

“I am pleased that MySpace has heeded our demand, now by subpoena, to provide information about convicted sex offenders and confirm steps to remove them from the site,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in a statement. “There are at least 5,000 registered convicted sex offenders with MySpace profiles posing an immediate, urgent risk to children–potentially violating their parole and probation, and requiring more vigilant measures.”

Yow. Five thousand profiles. Frightening. But what makes the attorneys general think this information will be useful? Surely, convicted sex offenders wouldn’t be so dimwitted as to register on MySpace using their real names? Or would they? Remember, former congressman Mark Foley registered under his own name, and his emails got him in a heap of trouble, too.

Twitter’s Tanking

December 30, 2013 at 6:49 am PT

2013 Was a Good Year for Chromebooks

December 29, 2013 at 2:12 pm PT

BlackBerry Pulls Latest Twitter for BB10 Update

December 29, 2013 at 5:58 am PT

Apple CEO Tim Cook Made $4.25 Million This Year

December 28, 2013 at 12:05 pm PT

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First the NSA came for, well, jeez pretty much everybody’s data at this point, and I said nothing because wait how does this joke work

— Parker Higgins via Twitter