MySpace Helps Warn You of Hurricanes

MySpace is giving back to the massively huge online community by teaming with the Departmen of Homeland Security to help warn of Hurricanes and other natural disasters.  MySpace was ordered/asked by the DHS last week during Hurrican Gustav to fast track an alert system for it's users.  On Tuesday they launched software that will feed users developing information on Hurricanes.

"What you are seeing us doing with DHS and FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is the beginning of bigger things to come in the future," MySpace chief security officer Hemanshu Nigam told AFP on Thursday.

MySpace Intervenes and Locks Accounts Without Notice

There have been a few cases rumored around the net of people being blocked on MySpace, without notice, or without apparent reason.  The latest case comes from Slo, California where a local woman could not login to her MySpace profile and feared her account had been compromised.  After contacting MySpace she found out that MySpace had been contacted by local officials to lock up her profile because she was under investigation, as a potential lead to a rape case.

On the other end of the line was Detective Chad Farr who told George that she had been locked out while under investigation for intimidating a witness in a rape case.

This precaution is taken on behalf of MySpace routinely to save information on the profile.  By blocking the user the profile can be kept in identical condition and incriminating evidence safe.

Shiloe George is still under investigation and as of this posting has yet to get access back to her punk rock profile.  Furthermore Shiloe has yet to have charges brought up against her, but is being blocked from removing her children's pictures from the site which will start gaining popularity as news spreads.

“There’s photos of my daughter on there that I can’t take off if I want to,” George said. She went on, “You have such a false sense of security … you think this is my space.”

MySpace Deletes Sex Offenders

In another move to prove that MySpace is supporting law enforcement in the continued effort to keep child molesters and other sex offenders off their social network, they have deleted more than 146 profiles. These 146 sex offender profiles were all from Nebraska, so it's just one small move, but will send a message that hopefully soon all will be removed.

MySpace has a social responsibility and that means keeping potential threats away from underage children. Just as in town's where the offender needs to be kept away from schools, they need to be kept away from our children's online presence as well.

In some states it's actually illegal for sex offenders to take part in social sites like MySpace. This is true for any site that may place the offender in contact with underage children, so FaceBook and Hi5 are not excluded. This law is more important than you may realize, considering statistics show that 1 in 11 children are sexually harrassed or solicited online. Keeping our children as far away as possible from these vile individuals should be priority one. I'm personally glad to see MySpace stepping up to the plate to do their part.

Technorati Tags: myspace, sex offender, ban, banned, profiles, social network

Dane Cook on Myspace

I'm going to start a new section on the Obscene Caffeine blog which chronicles celebrity myspace sites.  Essentially this will be a section to come to and find out where celebrities hang their MySpace hat and what's going on in their pages.  So let's get started with one of my favorite comedians, Dane Cook.

Dane Cook has been on MySpace for several years now and made it public during his Supa Fly HBO series.  he also mentioned that he personally updates and comments on his page, so no stand ins here, just direct contact with the raunchy comic himself. *pickles*

It's great to check out your favorite celebrities MySpace profile because often you can find images you can't find anywhere else.  Above is a photo of Dane when he did a USO show in Iraq for our troops, which has not been widely circulated in popular news outlets.

Visit Dane Cook's Profile Here

Autographed Dane Cook Items for Sale

Private Comments Not Safe on MySpace

It looks like there is a new security hole in MySpace that allows hackers to see private comments left for you by your friends.  Experts suggest that this same vulernability could also be used on Facebook to access pages and delete bulletins that are not the owners.

"MySpace is committed to keeping all users as safe and secure as possible. Today, MySpace was alerted to an issue within the MySpace Mobile WAP site and is working to roll out an immediate fix,"

Let this be a reminder that no information is safe on the internet.  There will always be a new vulernability that allows access to your personal postings, especially on high traffic sites like MySpace.  It's a huge target, so be careful what you post and always keep your passwords safe.

Your MySpace Info Is Open

It looks like MySpace is allowing the user to do with their info as they wish, at least within the confines of a handful of other websites. There has been a movement amongst some MySpace users and even more Facebook users to allow easy transfer amongst information between websites, like age, favorite movies, and generally your whole life crap. Until now Facebook and MySpace a like would ban accounts for scripts that would automatically copy over such info.

As of this posting MySpace has enabled the ability for users to copy over their personal information to Yahoo, eBay, Photobucket, and Twitter. It's believed that in the short run this list of websites will grow significantly and soon your MySpace data will be able to be shared amongst all social networks.

(insert crazy ass laugh)

MySpace Photos Deny Another Teacher

The first few times it happened, ok 'I didn't know' will fly, but by now everyone should be aware of the ramifications of posting questionable pics to social networking sites. Stacy Snyder is just the latest of potential school teachers that are being denied their accredation because of pictures depecting alcohol use or racier images in bikini's.

Christ, if my Biology teacher resembled Tiffany Shepherd, I wouldn't have got any work done. But, thanks to the miracles of the internet her images are posted everywhere and now she has lost her job. Now, was wearing the Drunken Pirate title worth it? Remember kids, if you are looking to get a job in public services...just say no to MySpace.

Absolutely Free Music on MySpace

...I doubt it. However, that doesn't stop the big wigs at MySpace from touting their Music program, rolling out this summer, as being all the music you want, for FREE. Well, I'm throwing out the bull shit flag right now, because there is nothing about MySpace that is free, just think of all Ads on MySpace and spam.

As of now all the big name labels are on board to provide this 'FREE' music on MySpace, but you may remember something called Qtrax where they pulled out at the last minute. According to MySpace they plan on offering free music on a platform that utilizes other revenue streams. Apparently Downloads is just a small portion of the program they plan on offering. No doubt some sort of digg oriented streaming-low-quality-mp3-flash-concoction will be what they go with. Audiophiles need not apply, but this is just my opinion.

Check out the interview Wired had with MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe.

Updating MySpace Resources

Hi guys, I know it's been awhile, sorry, but thought I would let you know I updated the site. I included the use of Gigya into the layouts and images so that you can easily email your friends, 1-click post layouts to your profile, and all kinds of other nifty social buttons.

I'd encourage everyone to take advantage of these new features and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. ObsceneCaffeine.com will be going through some big time changes here soon, with lots more updates, content like images and layouts that will work with Facebook, MySpace, Hi5 and more.  Another important update is that as new content is added it will appear at the top of the section page. No more hunting for new content!

Thanks for using ObsceneCaffeine for images, layouts, themes, contact tables, and general MySpace news and tweaks.

MySpace Charity In UK

MySpace has launched a new channel in the UK that is completely focused on helping others and inspiring charity. Much like it's counter part in the US, Impact, it will be completely dedicated to charities.

Based on the same format as the social network's music and film channels, Impact will let users befriend it, leave comments and watch videos.

The channel will also offer news, information on events and links to charity profile pages. Friends of the Earth, Crisis and Action Aid are just some of the charities with profile pages linked through to the channel.

So get charitable already UK residents.

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