It's All Good Until Someone Posts It on MySpace

By Matt Wood in Miscellaneous on Oct 12, 2006 12:08PM

One of the men convicted of involuntary manslaughter for the death of Nicholas Swanson during a brawl in South Elgin last summer was caught violating his probation because he posted images of himself partying on MySpace. Christopher Leon, 20, known at "Cold Heat" on the site, posted pictures of himself drinking, and left messages for other defendants in the case. He had been sentenced to 90 days in prison and 30 months probation, plus an 11 p.m. curfew after pleading guilty for his role in the brawl. The terms of his probation prohibited drinking or contacting any of the other defendants.

Chicagoist has said this before, but we think it bears repeating: THE INTERNET IS PUBLIC. IF YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING WRONG AND YOU DON'T WANT TO GET CAUGHT, DON'T POST IT ONLINE. SOMEONE ALWAYS FINDS OUT. Jesus, do we need to make kids earn an internet license when they turn 16 too? Of course, we're not saying we'd like to help people violate their probation either, so maybe things should just stay as they are so natural selection can take its course. All these scaremongers worried about kids' safety on MySpace should think twice, because it's turned into a rather effective surveillance tool.