XIAM007

Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Friday 30 March 2012

Tracking Athletes Online as Legal Red Flags Flutter - Major universities like to keep an online eye on their athletes -

Tracking Athletes Online as Legal Red Flags Flutter - Major universities like to keep an online eye on their athletes - 




The business plan of Varsity Monitor is simple. Major universities like North Carolina, Nebraska and Oklahoma pay $7,000 to $10,000 a year and Varsity Monitor keeps an online eye on their athletes.
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Among the services the company and others like it provide is a computer application that searches social media sites that athletes are active on, looking for obscenities, offensive commentary or words like “free,” which could indicate that a player has accepted a gift in violation of N.C.A.A. rules.


“Every school, we work to customize their keyword list,” said Sam Carnahan, the chief executive of Varsity Monitor, which has offices in Seattle and New York and also provides educational programs to universities. “We look for things that could damage the school’s brand and anything related to their eligibility.” 


Yet what may look to some like a business opportunity, and to universities and their athletic departments like due diligence, appears to others to be an invasion of privacy.


“I think it’s violating the Constitution to have someone give up their password or user name,” said Ronald N. Young, a Maryland state senator who has sponsored a bill aimed at stopping universities from monitoring athletes digitally. “It’s like reading their mail or listening to their phone calls.”


The debate on college campuses mirrors the larger conversation throughout the country over how much access to personal online activities private individuals can be compelled to give to employers. University administrators face a tricky situation when it comes to players on social media, balancing issues of privacy while trying to guard against the possibility that an errant tweet or Facebook posting could result in trouble for an athlete or the athletic department. On March 12, North Carolina’s football program received a one-year bowl ban and lost 15 scholarships after an N.C.A.A. investigation that was spurred by a Twitter message sent by a player.


Read more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/31/sports/universities-track-athletes-online-raising-legal-concerns.html?_r=2&google_editors_picks=true

Memo calls for Ct. State troopers to 'outperform' colleagues by writing hundreds of tickets - and get free pizza -

Memo calls for Ct. State troopers to 'outperform' colleagues by writing hundreds of tickets - and get free pizza - 




An internal state police memo obtained by a Connecticut news station reportedly challenges troopers to "outperform" their colleagues by issuing hundreds of tickets to drivers on Friday. 
The memo, obtained by WTNH-TV, calls for state troopers in one barracks to "issue at least 60 infractions / Misdemeanors each shift for a total of 180 infractions in order to outperform both Troop F and Troop G.
"One day Troop F issued 301 tickets. Troop G responded by issuing 345 in one day. We can do better," Lt. Anthony Schirillo wrote in the memo, according to the station.
"I am asking that everyone, myself included, contribute to this effort," Schirillo said. "NOTE if we happen to issue 350 tickets in one day that would be stellar."
A second memo obtained by the station reportedly says that "The master sergeant and I will buy pizza for the shift with the highest total."




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/30/memo-calls-for-connecticut-state-troopers-to-outperform-colleagues-by-writing/?test=latestnews

A nightclub in Montgomery, Alabama hosts 'Food Stamp Friday' discount night... - with “free shots at the door' -

A nightclub in Montgomery, Alabama hosts 'Food Stamp Friday' discount night... - with “free shots at the door' - 


A nightclub in Montgomery, Ala. is raising eyebrows by hosting a “Food Stamp Friday” party on April 6 that seems to glamorize life on the federal government’s food assistance program.


An invitation for the April 6 party obtained by The Daily Caller tells patrons of the Rose Supper Club in North Montgomery that the Friday night cover charge will be just $5 if a “food stamp card” is shown upon arrival.


The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was designed for Americans living at near-poverty levels.


According to the flashy, postcard-size flier advertising the party, there will be “free shots at the door.” The announcement’s artwork mimics an Electronic Benefit Transfer card, the debit card used by Americans to redeem their SNAP benefits.


Glamorizing federal assistance bothers some who have seen the posters.


“I just don’t understand how they are promoting this without anyone saying anything about it,” Stephanie Pope, a Montgomery resident who has seen the fliers in gas stations, told TheDC.


Orlando Rogers, an employee who answered the telephone at the Rose on Thursday, confirmed that the “Food Stamp Friday” party is taking place at the venue next month.






Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/30/alabama-nightclub-raises-eyebrows-with-food-stamp-friday-party/