Honestly I don't have any sympathy for this kid. He is an idiot, plain and simple. The cops weren't monitoring his facebook, rather it was HIS friends who tipped them off. IANAL but my guess is the status update would be geotagged (so it can be paired to reported vandalism/car damage) and able to count as an admission of guilt.
I suppose every young person has a moment in which they learn that organizations and structures (corporate, government or other) they thought they could trust can't be trusted. I knew a guy who was about as much of an upright apple-pie eating golden boy as could be. He got pulled over for speeding once as a teenager and when the cop asked if he knew how fast he was going he immediately answered honestly telling the cop he knew he was going 8 over but that it was to keep up with traffic in that lane.
At the time, he felt bad about getting ticketed but glad that he had done the right thing and been honest and that the cop had seen that he was a good kid. Months later he learned that the officer had quoted his admission of guilt and he therefore wasn't eligible for an automatic fine reduction if he paid early by mail or something like that. After that, he said never speak openly with law enforcement again-- he'd try to follow the law, but there would always be a wall up when talking with people in that sort of authority.
This guy just learned that facebook is like that, too. Unless his goal is to report his activity to the authorities, he really can't trust facebook with that kind of comment. It feels private and restricted to his friends, but it isn't.
And yes, I agree with the sibling commenter that he's an idiot. A lot of people are, especially as teenagers.
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[ 4.9 ms ] story [ 879 ms ] threadAt the time, he felt bad about getting ticketed but glad that he had done the right thing and been honest and that the cop had seen that he was a good kid. Months later he learned that the officer had quoted his admission of guilt and he therefore wasn't eligible for an automatic fine reduction if he paid early by mail or something like that. After that, he said never speak openly with law enforcement again-- he'd try to follow the law, but there would always be a wall up when talking with people in that sort of authority.
This guy just learned that facebook is like that, too. Unless his goal is to report his activity to the authorities, he really can't trust facebook with that kind of comment. It feels private and restricted to his friends, but it isn't.
And yes, I agree with the sibling commenter that he's an idiot. A lot of people are, especially as teenagers.