Freedom of Speech?

I awoke to the talking heads on the radio all in a blather over lawsuits being filed against people whom are blogging negative opinions on the internet.  Further reading in the newspaper and it appears it is perfectly save for me to say that Bob is a jerk - because that is just my opinion.  Apparently, I am entitled to it and to share it.  However if I say that Otto is two bit crook that would sell his grandmother to a recycler for her gold value.  Well, now I am stating facts that I do not actually know to be true (or could prove in court leastwise, unless he actually did recycle his grandmother !).

In the paper they made the observation that people today are getting far to thin skinned and unable to take criticism.  So are turning to the courts to teach their critics a lesson.  And, that can be an expensive lesson it seems, just in attorneys fees alone!

Somewhere in my destroyed blogs of the past, I know I have commented on how careful you must be at what you allow to be published or taken out of your control.

I have had kids allow or even taken pictures of themselves - only to be every so sorry later when they then appeared on the internet or I Pod land.  Kids whom trashed talked someone in writing, they would come to like many years later - only to be rebuffed because of that publication many years earlier.  ETC!  Yeah, it happens and unfortunately to far too many people!

But, the information danger can be even done in all innocence!  I never have kept count, but I write at least one email to bloggers a month where I warn them about publishing pictures of their children, giving names, school schedules, etc - is just asking for their kid to become a statistic!

I mean really, think about this typical example I shoot an email off to: "this is my daughter, xyz" picture of young daughter in bath "isn't she cute?" "she goes to abc school from 8 to 3 and then walks home, sometimes with friends through this neighborhood...." and on, and on, and on!  Believe it or not, it is like they want their children to be abducted, violated, or worse!  If I was a pedophile it would take nothing to hunt that little child down.  ARGH!  People can be so dumb sometimes.

There are so many other examples I could use as well.  Flickr and DeviantArts both have similar problems as Blog-landia in this regard, though usually the pictorial offering is older, but no less made vulnerable through these postings.

And churches are not exempt either!  I often see youth group publications providing pictures of their happy youth, with full names and towns where they live.  It is an easy task to find said target when you give almost full information out!  Even with only partial information a child can still be put at risk in this day and age of information over availability.

Just as a test, I used our church as an example.  I went to our website, then through pictures within the youth group, I was able to correlate a name of a single child across several different photographs.  Then by Goggling the church, using that child's name I was able to find her parents names and then again with Goggle, get address, phone number, local school locations, etc!

Yeah, it is easily done, even when you are as careful as our church is.....