Have you been trying to get the point across to your kids that they need to be careful about what they post on social networking sites? If so, you should show them this recent Associated Press article.

If anything can drive the point home, it will be the possibility of a long time spent behind bars. The story highlights how what a person posts on MySpace could have a negative impact on sentencing if they have been involved in a bad accident.

For example, a California prosecutor was inclined to recommend probation for Lara Buys. Buys, then, was a 22-year-old who was involved in a 2006 drunk driving crash that killed her passenger. While preparing for the sentencing, the lawyer decided to check out Buys’ MySpace page. It showed pics of Buys - after the crash but before sentencing - holding a glass of wine and making jokes about drinking.

If anyone has been on MySpace, those pics and comments don’t sound that unusual. However, in this situation, the lawyer used the photos to argue for a jail sentence and Buys got two years behind bars.

This is just one of the situations highlighted in the AP article. None of the people mentioned in the story set out to do any harm, but poor chocies resulted in tragic accidents. These mistakes then were compounded by poor choices in regards to their online lives, which resulted in extended time behind bars.

Robin

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