Evidently 20-year old London Eley, of Philadelphia didn't check her Facebook privacy settings before posting a message last month saying, "I will pay somebody a stack to kill my baby father." A Facebook 'friend' who also failed to realize 900 million people potentially have access to postings enthusiastically responded (and don't we all get excited when someone answers a status comment?)
Eighteen-year old Timothy Bynum, of nearby Darby, offered to off the ex with his own post. Eley then provided Bynum, on Facebook, an address and description of her ex-boyfriend, who by now is smelling like roses. He called cops, and the rest is social network history.
Law enforcement, not taking such matters lightly in the city of brotherly love, charged Eley with solicitation of murder and weapons charges after finding a .22-caliber handgun at Bynum's home.
Eley's attorney says she was only venting when she posted the online message after an argument with her baby's father. I have Facebook friends who like to vent on occasion. Even rant when the need arises. But posting a murder-for-hire want ad on your Wall makes hillbilly hand-fishin' look like a worthwhile activity.
Facebook's impact on society and relationships is being heavily studied. We know Facebook can reunite lost family members and friends. Conversely, some studies reveal Facebook as a source of problems in relationships. Several news stories have suggested that using Facebook causes divorce and infidelity.
Facebook offers five settings for users to control content visibility:
1. Everyone -- Literally means, content will be visible to everybody on the Internet.
2. Friends and Networks -- Visible only if you are a part of a university or professional organization.
3. Friends of Friends -- Not everyone can see your postings, but friends and friends of friends can.
4. Only Friends -- Self-explanatory.
5. Custom -- Manually select friends who can view your information.
Eley had several options, had she possessed the foresight to take pro-active measures, like any good murder-for-hire wanna-be. She could have used option two -- Start a FB Group. "Women Looking for Hit Men." They would have something in common, enough to at least break the ice. She could have then set options to custom settings and just have friends in this Group as friends.
Perhaps Eley didn't realize, like many of us, the far-reaching effects of social media. Hello? She could have looked no farther than her friends list. Did she not check to see if Baby-Daddy was still on Facebook? I don't detect a lot of axions firing here.
Both defendants are in jail awaiting trial -- Neither made bail.
Hey, here's an idea to get bond money....
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