University Study: Facebook is Bad for Your Mental Health

UH study links Facebook use to depressive symptoms. Findings suggest amount of time spent and social comparison on Facebook impacts mental health.

The social media site, Facebook, can be an effective tool for connecting with new and old friends. However, some users may find themselves spending quite a bit of time viewing Facebook and may inevitably begin comparing what's happening in their lives to the activities and accomplishments of their friends.

According to University of Houston (UH) researcher Mai-Ly Steers, this kind of social comparison paired with the amount of time spent on Facebook may be linked to depressive symptoms. Steers' research on the topic is presented in the article, "Seeing Everyone Else's Highlight Reels: How Facebook Usage is Linked to Depressive Symptoms" published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

Manufactured 'Cascades' on Social Media Can Direct Behavior and Decisions

Heather Callaghan

And how the 'cascade' can be directed...

Was the Internet or Social Media created for your benefit? The current set-up allows for some exposure of new ideas and online connection between friends and family. However, it is also a major surveillance tool and a boon to behavioral psychological researchers observing in secret.

It turns out, human behavior (the most highly studied topic of all time) is so pathetically predictable - especially on social media - that its direction and influence can be cracked using a mathematical algorithm. Information cascades - off or online - are useful for mass behavior modification as they prompt people to do what they normally wouldn't.

A press release asks:

How do people in a social network behave? How are opinions, decisions and behaviors of individuals influenced by their online networks? Can the application of math help answer these questions?

Facebook Censors Author Naomi Wolf On Gaza

Counter Current

Jews, Muslims and citizens of the world in general have been following author Naomi Wolf and her comments about the War on Gaza. Since she walked out of her synagogue recently, when they refused to denounce the killing of civilians in Gaza, as a result of recent IDF operations, she has gained a lot of support from fellow dissidents who want to hear what she has to say.

Today, Naomi revealed that Facebook sent her a warning, suggesting her account could be removed, and explaining that they had censored images she posted from her sources in Gaza.

“We received a warning from [Facebook],” she explains. “Probably due to the graphic nature of the images that were posted by contributors and citizen journalists, of wounded and dying in Gaza.”

Facebook, for their part, did not tell her which specific terms of service her post had violated. She continued, reflecting, “I think of how many horrific Holocaust images I have sat through….”

This act of censorship, she explains, “seems a journalistic/editorial double standard to me. I wrote in a piece in 1995 about abortion, Our Bodies, Our Souls that made the case that ‘the argument that the truth is in poor taste is the very definition of hypocrisy.’”

What do you think? Have you been following Naomi Wolf? Does it seem like her posts violate Facebook terms of service to you?

You can visit our Gaza article archive here.    Poll:  Does the United States' support of Israel make Americans less safe?

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Anonymous Donor Posts $500,000 Bond to Free Teen Jailed For Sarcastic Facebook Comment

image source

Paul Lawrance

19-year-old Texan Justin Carter, who has been jailed since March over a sarcastic Facebook comment, has had his $500,000 bond posted by an anonymous donor.

According to MSNBC, the bail was made by the “anonymous good Samaritan” on Thursday, July 11th.

The comment that landed Carter in jail read, ”I think Ima shoot up a kindergarten / And watch the blood of the innocent rain down/ And eat the beating heart of one of them.” Following the gross remark were the acronyms ‘Jk’ and ‘Lol’. (Just kidding and laughing out loud)

Someone had seen the comment and tipped it off to police.

During the teenagers time in detainment he had been brutally beaten, left in solitary confinement black eyed, concussed and in depression.

Teenager Jailed For Facebook Comment Brutalized Behind Bars

Jailed gamer Justin Carter concussed, black eyed, left nude behind bars.Paul Lawrance

The Texas teen whose sarcastic comment over Facebook led to his arrest has been the recipient of beatings and other cruel punishment behind bars, according to what his father Jack told NPR.

Teenager Arrested for Sarcastic Comment Over Online Video Game

“Without getting into the really nasty details, he’s had concussions, black eyes, moved four times from base for his own protection,” said Justin’s father.

He’s been put in solitary confinement, nude, for days on end because he’s depressed. All of this is extremely traumatic to this kid. This is a horrible experience.

A woman in Canada saw Justin's comment – a comment which has been described as being sarcastic by Justin and his father – and gave a tip to police.

Facebook Privacy Blunder Highlights Online Security Gaps

image source

Activist Post

Facebook and the corporate media are trying to downplay a glitch that exposed the personal information of 6 million users. The problem occurred with their Download Your Information tool when it was revealed that additional email addresses and telephone numbers of user contacts were automatically shared. Facebook asserts that this gap has so far been proved benign, since it occurred only between previously authorized contacts.

Nevertheless, it highlights the fact that even the leader of social media can be caught off-guard by a security lapse that can affect a huge number of people. And it isn't the first time.

As mentioned in the video below, the last Facebook security issue was slightly less than benign when the FTC investigated them for exposing users' personal details without legal consent. It's possible that this new breach could bring another investigation and possible lawsuits.

Attorneys File Civil Rights Lawsuit Over Wrongful Arrest, Detention in Psych Ward of Marine Brandon Raub

Rutherford Institute Attorneys File Civil Rights Lawsuit Over Wrongful Arrest, Detention in Psych Ward of Marine Brandon Raub Because of Facebook Posts
Activist Post

RICHMOND, Va. — Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a civil rights lawsuit against law enforcement and other government officials on behalf of Marine veteran Brandon Raub. Last August, he was arrested by a swarm of FBI, Secret Service agents and local police and forcibly detained in a psychiatric ward for a week because of controversial song lyrics and political views posted on his Facebook page.

The complaint, filed in federal court in Richmond, alleges that Raub’s seizure and detention were the result of a federal government program code-named “Operation Vigilant Eagle” that involves the systematic surveillance of military veterans who express views critical of the government. Institute attorneys allege that the attempt to label Raub as “mentally ill” and his involuntary commitment was a pretext designed to silence Raub’s speech critical of the government and that the defendants violated Raub’s rights under the First and Fourth Amendments.

FBI thinks they don’t need warrants to spy on email, Facebook and other electronic communication

image: cliff1066/Flickr

Madison Ruppert

New documents reveal that the Department of Justice takes a similar stance to that of the IRS in claiming that they do not necessarily need warrants to spy on emails, Twitter direct messages, Facebook chats and other private communications of Americans.

In the case of the IRS, the head of the agency said last month that they would abandon their policy that claimed the authority to read the emails of Americans without a warrant. However, the agency did not say that they would extend the new policy to all private electronic communications.

The new documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are excerpts from the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG) of 2008 and 2012.

The fact that the two guides both say that FBI agents don’t need a warrant for unopened emails or other electronic communications if they’re over 180 days old is incredibly important.

Facebook bans Gandhi quote as part of revisionist history purge

(NaturalNews) The reports are absolutely true. Facebook suspended the Natural News account earlier today after we posted an historical quote from Mohandas Gandhi. The quote reads:

"Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest." - Mohandas Gandhi, an Autobiography, page 446.

This historical quote was apparently too much for Facebook's censors to bear. They suspended our account and gave us a "final warning" that one more violation of their so-called "community guidelines" would result in our account being permanently deactivated.

They then demanded we send them a color copy of a "government issued identification" in order to reactivate our account. Our account was removed from suspension just minutes before InfoWars posted its article on this Facebook censorship, and the Facebook page is now functioning at:
www.Facebook.com/NaturalNews
This is a separate account from our primary Facebook account, which has nearly 250,000 followers at:
www.Facebook.com/HealthRanger

Man Buys 1 Million Facebook Users’ Personal Information for $5

Anthony Gucciardi

How much is your personal information worth? How about a data set consisting of over 1 million individual’s personal information complete with their full legal name, personal E-mail address, and URL to their Facebook account as confirmation?

According to one ‘mystery’ company that recently sold 1 million Facebook users’ personal information to a very surprised blogger, not very much at all. About $5, to be specific.

It all started when one blogger, a self-proclaimed seeker of ‘cheap’ deals that pertain to potentially useful or interesting subjects, stumbled across an offer for ’1 million Facebook accounts’ for $5. Skeptical but willing to try it out, the blogger purchased the list to be met with much surprise when he actually personally identified many of the users on the list to be people he actually knew personally. Complete with their personal E-mail address (which Facebook is supposed to keep ‘hidden’), full names, and a link to their page to verify, this blogger had stumbled across a major corporation’s dream come true.

According to the description from the seller of the list, the information was collected through Facebook applications and even checked monthly to ensure validity. The description stated:

The information in this list has been collected through our Facebook apps and consists only of active Facebook users, mostly from the US, Canada, UK and Europe… The list is checked and validated once a month so you won’t get a list full of invalid or duplicate email addresses… this list has a great potential for you.

Brandon Raub: That Crazy Free Speech...

Dees Illustration

Milo Nickels, Contributor

On February 2, 2009 the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) released its now infamous report entitled “The Modern Militia Movement.” This report, commonly referred to as “The MIAC Report”, attempted to demonize a wide range of ordinary Americans as being potential “terrorist threats”.

Suddenly, the word terrorist was being redefined right before our eyes. Under the new definitions, law enforcement was supposed to be on the lookout for “conspiracy theorists”, “right wing extremists”, “militias”, gun owners, “constitutionalists”, people who fear economic collapse, Christians, “anti-abortionists”, “tax resisters”, “Libertarians”, supporters of third party candidates, or even people who cite the Constitution.

As the police began learning the new “warning signs”, the mainstream media began educating the public that the real threat in America was gun owners, returning veterans, and people who question the government. The term “radical Islam” was completely replaced in the mainstream media by the term “right wing extremist” seemingly overnight. It was a constant drum beat of fear and misinformation—propaganda at its finest.

And the propaganda hasn’t stopped. Since that time we’ve been virtually bombarded with an endless stream of similar publications. Now the TSA is molesting our children, Janet Napolitano is trying to convince us all to spy and tattle on each other, and it’s even considered “suspicious” if you pay for something in cash, try to use your cell phone privately, or wear blue jeans. (Source)

But why?

Can the government detain you over Facebook posts?

Tiffany Madison

WASHINGTON, August 22, 2012 - 26-year old Brandon J. Raub, a pro-liberty activist, former U.S. Marine and Virginia resident, was arrested after authorities deemed his Facebook posts threatening. Citing an obscure statute allowing a citizen’s detainment for psychiatric evaluation, the FBI, Secret Service and local authorities swarmed Raub’s property to question and then seize him.

Without a warrant or recitation of his Miranda rights, Raub was taken into custody. After a quick hearing, government officials confirmed Raub’s Facebook posts necessitated his detention, refusing to acknowledge legal objections that the words were wrongly interpreted. The former Marine will undergo 30 days of evaluation at Salem VA Medical Center.

Since the incident, Raub has become an online hero as the arrest video and Facebook pages teeter on the verge of going viral. Citizens from all political persuasions, veterans, civil liberties advocates and the generally curious are discussing the political manifesto and detainment of Brandon Raub.

Read more: Can the government detain you over Facebook posts? | Washington Times Communities

Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter

This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.

Tiffany Madison

Tiffany is a columnist for Communities @ Washington Times.com and Speak Liberty Now.  Her American ancestry dates back to the 17th century with founding fathers attaching her family name to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. An 8th generation Texan, Tiffany is passionately involved in local and state politics and online advocacy. She is a believer in open discussion, net neutrality, representative republican government and bi-partisan, logical, truthful and uncensored exchanges.

  

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Supporters Fear Facebook Marine Being ‘Disappeared’

Brandon Raub forcibly transferred to psychiatric facility 3 hours away from legal team, family

Paul Joseph Watson

Supporters of Brandon Raub – the man kidnapped by police and committed to a mental institution for his political posts on Facebook – fear the former Marine is being ‘disappeared’ by authorities after he was forcibly transferred to a psychiatric facility more than three hours away from his family and legal team.

Raub, a former veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, was involuntarily detained for psychiatric questioning last week by authorities in Virginia’s Chesterfield County for leaving anti-establishment messages on Facebook which questioned the official story behind 9/11 and referred to corruption within the U.S. government. The FBI claims Raub’s posts were “terrorist in nature.”

Raub is being held against his will despite not being charged with any crime under a state law that allows people to be temporarily committed for a period of 30 days.

What Facebook Knows

The company's social scientists are hunting for insights about human behavior. What they find could give Facebook new ways to cash in on our data—and remake our view of society.

TOM SIMONITE

July/August 2012

Cameron Marlow calls himself Facebook's "in-house sociologist." He and his team can analyze essentially all the information the site gathers.

Few Privacy Regulations Inhibit Facebook 
Laws haven't kept up with the company's ability to mine its users' data.

Photographs by Leah Fasten

If Facebook were a country, a conceit that founder Mark Zuckerberg has entertained in public, its 900 million members would make it the third largest in the world.

It would far outstrip any regime past or present in how intimately it records the lives of its citizens. Private conversations, family photos, and records of road trips, births, marriages, and deaths all stream into the company's servers and lodge there. Facebook has collected the most extensive data set ever assembled on human social behavior. Some of your personal information is probably part of it.

And yet, even as Facebook has embedded itself into modern life, it hasn't actually done that much with what it knows about us. Now that the company has gone public, the pressure to develop new sources of profit (see "The Facebook Fallacy") is likely to force it to do more with its hoard of information. That stash of data looms like an oversize shadow over what today is a modest online advertising business, worrying privacy-conscious Web users (see "Few Privacy Regulations Inhibit Facebook") and rivals such as Google. Everyone has a feeling that this unprecedented resource will yield something big, but nobody knows quite what.

Read Full Article

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Update: Retired Marine Arrested by FBI for Patriotic Facebook Posts

A military veteran by the name of Brandon J. Raub was allegedly detained for posts on his facebook page.

Thus demonstrating the police state in America.

Petition | The President of the United States: Free Brandon Raub | Change.org

Then They Came For Me (2012)

YouTube

One of his recent posts reads;

Brandon J Raub

“The Revolution will come for me. Men will be at my door soon to pick me up to lead it.  ”

He couldn’t have been more right. But exactly what prompted law enforcement to come get him?

Another reads;

Brandon J Raub

“Sharpen up my axe; I’m here to sever heads.”

Another;

Brandon J Raub

“The people responsible for poisoning the America people from the sky will be held accountable. And there is going to be justice.”

We will keep you posted with any updates as we are acquiring more information.

Video Description:

This video was taken 8.16.12 around 7:30 pm. This is the video of a fellow patriot, Brandon J Raub, being “arrested” and taken away by Chesterfield County Virginia Police Department. They showed up inquiring his postings on facebook, and then they just took him.

Brandon's Facebook posts are public.  Brandon on Facebook

Here is the post that got Brandon Raub arrested by the FBI: "America has lost itself. We have lost who we truly are. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave. This is the land of Thomas Jefferson. This is the land of Benjamin Franklin. This is the land of Fredrick Douglas. This is the land of Smedley Butler. This is the land John F. Kennedy. This is the land of Martin Luther King. This is the land where the cowboy wins. This is the land where you can start from the bottom and get to the top. This is the land where regardless of you race and ethnicity you can suceed and build a better life for you and your family. This is the land where every race coexists peacefully. This is the land where justice wins. This is the land where liberty dwells. This is the land where freedom reigns. This is the land where we help the poor, and people help eachother. This is land where people beat racism. The federal reserve is wrong. They have designed a system based off of gread and fear. They designed a system to crush the middle class between taxes and inflation. This is wrong, and it is unjust. It is wrong. We have allowed ourselves to be devieced and seduced by the powers of the printing press. It is not a good system. It discourages saving: the foundation for all stable economic activity. The federal reserve is artificially manipulating interests rates and creating phony economic data. This thing has decieved our entire nation. They created it 1913. They also created the income tax in 1913. They encouraged the growth of debt so they can tax you on it. There is interest on the debt. Your government is in bed with these people. They want to enslave you to the government so that they can control every aspect of your lives. It is an empire based on lies. They operate of greed and fear. There is a better way. It's called freedom. Freedom is called a lot of things. But there is a true meaning. It means very simply that you have the right to do whatever you want as long as you are not infringing on the feedoms of other people. I firmly believe that God set America apart from the other nations of the world. He saved a place where people could come to to escape bad systems of goverment. This system we have created works. It really works. There is evil going on all around the world. The United States was meant to lead the charge against injustice, but through our example not our force. People do not respond to having liberty and freedom forced on them. Men and Women follow courage. They follow leadership, and courage. Our example has paved the way for people all around the world to change their forms of goverment. Force is not the way because liberty is a powerful concept. The idea that men can govern themselves is the basis for every just form of government. We can govern ourselves. We do not need to be governed by men who want to install a one world banking system. These men have machine hearts. Machine and unnatural hearts. They have blocked out the possibility of a better world. They fear human progress. They have monopolies on everything. This life can be free and beautiful. There are enough resources on this earth to support the world's population. There are enough resources on this earth to feed everyone. There is enough land for everyone to own their own land and farm, and produce their own energy. These people have been hiding technology. There are ways to create power easily. There is technology that can provide free cheap power for everyone. There are farming techniques that can feed the entire world. They are controlling your media. They have dumbed you down through your school systems. They have systematically dismantled the constitution. It is in rags. The bill of rights is being systematically dismantled. Men have spilled their blood for those rights. Your sons and daughters, your brothers and sisters, and Americas best young men and women are loosing their limbs. They are loosing their lives. They are loosing the hearts. They do not know why they are fighting. They are killing. And they do not know why. They have done some extroadinary acts. Their deeds go before them. But these wars are lies. They are lies. They decieved our entire nation with terrorism. They have gotten us to hand them our rights. Our Rights! Men died for those rights! September Eleventh was an inside job. They blew up a third building in broad daylight. Building 7. Your leaders betrayed you. You elected an aristocracy. They are beholden to special interests. They were brainwashed through the Council on Foreign Relations. Your leaders are planning to merge the United States into a one world banking system. They want to put computer chips in you. These men have evil hearts. They have tricked you into supporting corporate facism. We gave them the keys to our country. We were not vigilant with our republic. There is hope. BUT WE MUST TAKE OUR REPUBLIC BACK"- Brandon J. Raub

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Victory for Speech: Facebook To Allow Marijuana Reform Ads

Facebook Corrects Error and Affirms its Goal of Providing a Politically-Neutral Platform for Election Issues, Including Marijuana Reform

Rainey Reitman
EFF

Last week, news outlets reported that Facebook was rejecting ads by advocacy groups working on marijuana policy reform. The ads in question showed marijuana leaves, sometimes with photos of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, and urged viewers to join campaigns to make marijuana reform an election issue. Several versions of similar Facebook ads were submitted by Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Just Say Now, but both groups were initially rejected. After EFF and the ACLU of Northern California reached out to Facebook about the issue, Facebook did the right thing and restored the ads.

Facebook has publicly established guidelines that state that a Facebook advertisement "may not promote tobacco or tobacco-related products, including cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, tobacco pipes, hookahs, hookah lounges, rolling papers, vaporized tobacco delivery devices and electronic cigarettes." But the language from the banned ads said simply things like: "Registered to vote? Make your voice heard on historic marijuana ballot measures this November" Another read "Marijuana Reform in 2012 | Obama and Romney are mum on marijuana reform. Learn how to make them start talking." Rather than advocate for marijuana usage, the banned ads urged users to get involved with fighting for reform.