What part of: you are not allowed to communicate with this person, didn't she understand?

every stupid news source has that same idiot title. she got arrested for making communication(which a poke is) and violated the restraining order. if Shannon Jackson had responded to the womans' tweet we'd have a stupid title like "Woman arrested for tweeting".

It *is* Tennessee.

If she had a restraining order, why were they friends on Facebook in order for the poke to happen? I call bs.

Fantastic.

Maybe someone hacked her account?

WTF of the day.

hm.. maybe the police are taking that poke a little too far. Sure she had a restraining order placed on her, but come on like a poke really broke that agreement and hurt either one of those women.

Doesn't matter - as stated in a few times above a poke is still a method of communication as it alerts the recipient to the presence and intent to communicate of the poker. As a result that would break the terms of the protection order.

+1 to gabtdw though - why are they still Facebook friends, unless the recipient had a totally open profile and is pokeable by those not on their friends list.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the perspective) the restraining order law isn't about causing harm *per se*. What is certainly interesting is if they intend to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that she was the one that 'poked'.

If you've been stalked or harassed by an individual, sometimes all that person needs to do is remind you they still exist, and a whole flood of emotions can resurface. Poking can definitely be harassment just like calling and hanging up, or leaving "anonymous" notes. These are all just actions for the abuser to continue to assert their control over the victim.

However, just like girls who dress slutty, this person with the facebook profile was clearly asking for it. If someone is harassing you, the first thing you do is make your profile private (and defriend them). If your neighbor is peeping on you, close the goddamn curtains!!!

Wow our legal system is retarded sometimes...or most of the time actually.

You can poke anyone even if they are not your friend. Unless the profile is private. Which if you have a restraining order on someone it most certainly should be a private profile.

The big question is don't we need to look at 21th century solutions to problems. This is all nice and well for 20th century, but we have moved on.

Companies and governments want to treat the internet as an extension of real life and use old rules to determine how things go on the net. On the net the rules are different.

We have hackers who steal our identity every minute (something we see in real life more often too, but it wasn't so bad 10 years ago).

Also the internet doesn't work like RL. I can put up pictures of brad pitt and well everyone knows I'm not brad pitt, but they won't know who I really am. This kind of anonymity is hard to get in real life. The internet is not as nice as the real world, because people aren't always showing who they really are.

But we still use rules of old that are dated. I agree that she should get fined. She got told the rules and if it can be proven she was it, I see no reason why she should get out of it. But for future restraining orders and other rulings made by judges, they should consider better and maybe make a group to think how to implement old rules. Especially have special rules to apply to the net. As the rules now just are made to fit the net and require some rule bending to apply.

Again, this must be pointed out: there are too many lawyers and not enough PRODUCTIVE MEMBERS OF SOCIETY.

Reminds me of a joke I was told:

A man was looking to make his own type of "Frankenstein's Monster" and was in the market to buy a brain. He made his way to a shady doctor who just so happened to have his required product for sale. He had shown him a mechanic brain, costing $150 per US lb. And then he was shown an engineer brain, costing $250 per US lb. After that he was introduced to lawyer brain, costing $5000 per US lb.

The scientist asked the organ dealer, "Why does a lawyer brain cost so much more than anything other?"

Mr. organ dealer responds quite sternly, "Do you know how hard it is to find a lawyer with a brain?"

No BS needed. People usually have restraining orders against people whom they know and were probably at one time on good terms with. Also a lot of people don't "live" on Facebook, constantly updating their status, friends, whatever. Chances are the two were friends on Facebook, had a falling out which led to the restraining order but neither bothered to remove the other from Facebook or other social networking sites. A poke - I'm guessing - would send some sort of notification to the person being contacted who might otherwise not have realized the connection still existed on Facebook.

What do lawyers have to do with this story?

Don't you have to have the person added to your friends in order to Poke? Why were they still friends on facebook if there was a restraining order against one of them?!?

Haha, I'm from Hendersonville, TN. I now live in Murfreesboro, TN

WTF does the case being from TN have to do with anything? Per capita there are far more people with moments of intellectual difficulty in several other parts of the country. I am a law enforcement officer and last I checked we aren't even in the top ten when it comes to dumbass rankings.

"While poking itself is pretty useless and doesn't do much..."

I think that describes MOST of the dumb applets on Facebook. If I had a nickle for every lost cow or mafia hit someone has sent me. I use facebook to keep in touch with folks who live all over the country, check it once every couple days, and once every couple weeks I might actually POST something. It's pretty obvious that some people LIVE on there.

You can poke anyone on facebook, as long as they show up on a search. They do not need to be your friend.

-Facebook Guru

blahblahblah41 10/12/2009 5:53 PM
You can poke anyone even if they are not your friend. Unless the profile is private. Which if you have a restraining order on someone it most certainly should be a private profile.
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Hmmm, Facebook is a Social Network. People usually join to find onld friends, classmates and colleagues. Why should the victim make her profile private? She should be free to live her life unharrassed.

I will admit I spent time doing silly useless application but I have also found and been found by old friends which was the original point of joining Facebook.

What's the point of the extra 29 days? Just make it a year already

wow this is lame

If you were put in prison on 1th january, you would probably reconsider your statement. :-)

When an order is pass in court for "NO CONTACT IN ANY FORM", that means any form. Phone, text, IM, in person, another person, etc.

Its there for a reason. And if you've been stalked, you'd want that and will call the police for any infraction of that order.

I can't find the 1th of January anywhere on my calender.

Girls who dress slutty are asking for it? What exactly are they asking for? Attention? Probably. For someone to commit a crime against them, like sexual harassment or rape? Not at all.

Just because a woman dresses provacatively, doesn't give anyone a pass or an excuse for not being able to control themselves.

Well, poking isn't exactly communicating. However, in order to physically poke someone without breaking a restraining order, one would need a poking finger of at least 50 feet.

poking is communicating!!!!. it is a form of information you send to someone so thus she was illegally communicating with her

The simple act of initiating any kind of visual, verbal or physical interaction is enough to violate yourself in terms of a restraining order.

Pokeing is more then enough.

Why is it so hard for people to grasp the concept of stay the hell away, shut the hell up, and don't even look in their general direction?