Facebook is launching it location-based service Places quite rapidly in the last two weeks adding up two more countries France and Italy after United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, and Australia.
According to the Facebook Global MOnitor, France has the fifth largest Facebook audience in the world, while Italy ranks sixth.
The launch of Places in non-English speaking countries like Italy, could mean that countries like Germany and Spain who have large Facebook audience might be next in line. Countries with high penetration of smartphones like iPhones can also expect Places well ahead of the others.
Italian police tracked down and captured one of the country’s most-wanted fugitive mafia suspects through Facebook.
Pasquale Manfredi, believed to be an influential figure in the ‘Ndrangheta mafia, was found in Calabria.
Manfredi is said to call himself as ‘Scarface’, after a 1983 epic movie with the same name starring Al Pacino as Godfather Tony Montana.
The 33-year-old, father-of-two faces charges of murder, mafia association and drugs trafficking.
Manfredi was arrested while trying to escape from the roof of an apartment building near the southern city of Crotone, BBC reports.
Authorities believe that Manfredi, who would log on under the Facebook name Georgie, received coded orders via the site and also kept in touch with mobsters, according to a report on The Sun.
Pasquale Manfredi was on Italy’s 100 Most Wanted List and had been on the run for a year with police wanting to question him in connection with two bloody Mob hits; the murder of rival mobster Carmine Arena who was taken out with a bazooka in October 2004 and Pasquale Tripaldi a year later.
In what could be term as very inhuman, an Italian Facebook group came up that calls for children with Down Syndrome to be used for target practice.
Politicians and internet activities were outrage over the page and the page, which had attracted around 1,700 members by late Sunday, had reportedly been shut down.
According to the source, the page proposed what it said was “an easy and amusing solution” to get rid of “these foul creatures” – use them as targets at shooting centers.
The page reportedly featured a photo of a Down syndrome baby with the word “imbecile” written on its forehead.
“Italy will not tolerate incidents of discrimination of any sort, let alone against the disabled,” Equality Minister Mara Carfagna reportedly told Italian television. “Those responsible for creating this madness will be prosecuted by the law.”
A number of rival groups have reportedly been set up on Facebook to denounce the original page, out of which one has attracted more than 17,000 members.
Down’s syndrome is the most common genetic cause of mental retardation. There are an estimated 38,000 people with Down Syndrome living in Italy, according to the Italian Down’s Syndrome Association.
Facebook said Tuesday that it would monitor content on its website dealing with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy following the recent attack that left him hospitalized.
“Promoting violence, or posting threatening content, is not permitted on Facebook. We will take quick action to respond to reports, and remove any content reported to us that makes direct threats against an individual,” the social-networking site said.
The largest fan page for Massimo Tartaglia which had amassed almost 100,000 users in less than 48 hours had been shut down by Facebook. Other fan pages with fewer members are said to have remained open.
Roberto Maroni, the interior Minister, accused social networking sites of instigating violence and “disseminating hatred”, and pleadged to close them down.
Facebook already has its run-in with regulators and lawmakers in Italy even before the attack on Mr. Berlusconi. The company had earlier blocked access to several groups with names like “Let’s Kill Berlusconi,” after government officials complained that it was unacceptable to threaten violence against the prime minister. Last winter, Facebook hold off proposed legistation that would allow the Italian authorities to shut down the site if the company did not block content deemed objectionable, like fan groups of imprisoned Mafia bosses.
Meanwhile, Mr. Tartaglia, is said to be held in the psychological ward of Milan jail and has written Mr. Berlusconi a letter of apology.
[Source: NY Times]
Hundreds of thousands of Italian Facebook users woke up yesterday to discover that they had become friends of Silvio Berlusconi.
La Repubblica newspaper said that members of existing Facebook groups supporting the victims of April’s earthquake in Abruzzo or promoting Italian products had been signed up for new sites such as “We support Berlusconi” and “Thank you Silvio.”
The fake groups “We support Berlusconi against Massimo Tartaglia”, with 380,000 members and “Solidarity for Silvio Berlusconi” with almost two million, had been removed. On the other hand, though the “Fans of Massimo Tartaglia” group with 60,000 members had been cancelled, the sites praising the attaker appeared to be genuine, with comment ranging from “Long live Tartaglia” to “Massimo, marry me, I beg you”.
Roberto Maroni, the interior Minister, accused social networking sites of instigating violence and “disseminating hatred”, and pleadged to close them down.
Facebook said that it will monitor its website dealing with the Italian Prime Minister Silviio Berlusconi.
[Source: Times Online]
