Montville Goes Social to Communicate in Emergency Situations

Township hoping to build follower base on Facebook, Twitter.

Montville Township is hoping to expand its communication reach by launching pages on social media sites to be used during emergency situations. The Montville Township Facebook page and Twitter page were presented to the township committee and public for the first time at Tuesday night's meeting. As Township Administrator Victor Canning explained, the sites will be used as another avenue to reach the public during an emergency situation. Expanded communication, including through social media, was one suggestion made by the public during a town meeting in the days following Superstorm Sandy. After committee members sought clarification on how the Facebook page would be used, officials explained that the page will only be used for the …

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Police: 'Facebook Stalker' Terrorized Victims Throughout South Jersey

New Jersey State Police say 20-year-old Craig L. Wyatt Jr. used social media to make death threats against random victims.

Can an Employer Force You to Reveal Your Facebook Password?

A state legislative committee approved a bill this week that would bar the practice.

  Can an employer force you to reveal your Facebook or other social media password as a condition for getting hired or keeping your job? That issue began to get some attention in March after a statistician in New York reported that during an interview with a potential employer, the woman interviewing him had searched for his Facebook and, upon discovering that it was private, asked him for the password. The statistician, Justin Bassett refused and left the interview, according to the Associated Press. But the story brought to light other instances where employers have sought similar access to social media accounts, and have led several states to consider legislation to ban the practice. California's assembly voted Thursday to approve such …

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Mikey

1:43 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Done! It is common for employers to do a credit check on potential employees.   more ›

Poll: Can Identity Be Stolen On Facebook?

Should posing as someone else using social media be considered a crime?

As social media has become increasingly popular in the United States, it has provided a forum for people to pose as someone else. A quick Google search of "Chris Christie, Facebook" pulls up multiple profiles claiming to be the New Jersey governor. Sometimes it's just a person creating a profile on Facebook, MySpace or Twitter to pose as a hero of his or hers. Sometimes, it can be disparaging to the person the profile was claiming to be. Last year, a Belleville woman was indicted on a count of identity theft after allegedly creating a Facebook page using a former boyfriend's personal information and photos, according to a report by the Daily Record. The woman allegedly wrote comments ridiculing the victim, a Parsippany detective, and were …

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Poll: Higher Facebook Standards For Teachers?

Recent news has teachers and social media use front and center. What's your opinion?

The First Amendment protects Americans' right to free speech. But how does that affect educators and how they interact with, or in front of, their students. A firestorm has started in Union Township and beyond and beyond by after a teacher allegedly posted comments anti-gay remarks on her Facebook site, according to NJ.com. Social media policies–or the possible creation of them–in districts are becoming a major talking point across the state. A law professor at Rutgers told the Star-Ledger recently that social media interaction between teachers and parents/students may be "buying significant problems," but that the same interaction could "help students and parents." So, what do you think? Should there be policies in place to police …

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MadInNJ

1:07 pm on Thursday, October 20, 2011

The rules are different when your employer is the government, in this case a board of education. We'll see (if she is fired) if the courts decide that her right to free speech trumps the district's requirement to employ people who aren't prejudiced against a particular class of students (e.g., gays, African-Americans, disabled, etc.). Not sure why someone would need to have a Policy in place that…   more ›