Scar-Face-Book

‘Ndrangheta boss Manfredi has been caught by the Italian police. In a weird twist of events that continues to demonstrate the naiveté of a certain generation when using networking sites, Manfredi was snatched by the mobile squad of Crotone after it was discovered that he was a frequent user of Facebook using the nickname “Scarface”.

It’s a plot worthy of a Guy Ritchie movie – complete with the all too ironic nickname and circumstances of arrest. Meanwhile Facebook does not seem to be able to keep out of the news Europe-wide whether in good or in bad. Recently, the Facebook Killer saga in the UK prompted the networking site to issue the following statement:

Facebook issued a statement after Chapman was sentenced saying it urged people not to meet anyone they had been contacted by online unless they knew who they were, “as there are unscrupulous people in the world with malevolent agendas”. It said there were a variety of measures people could use to protect themselves from unwanted contact and that Facebook strongly encouraged their use.

The Facebook Killer story also led to British child protection authorities lobbying Facebook and other social networking sites to install a one-click button which would allow children to get immediate police help if they suspect they’re at risk. Other networking sites like BEBO immediately complied though Facebook remained reluctant about installing this system.