Instead of taking the gentle hint, Shumsheer Ghumman embarked on a relentless stalking campaign, subjecting the 29-year-old and her father to vile text messages and emails.

Finally, an out-of-control Ghumman, who tracked Rhind’s movements on Facebook, travelled to South Africa to kill her father.

Ghumman, a chartered accountant, is currently awaiting sentencing in a Cape Town jail after being found guilty of fraud, incitement to commit murder, malicious damage and the attempted murder of Philip Rhind.

The case is a chilling reminder for women of the growing threat of cyber-stalking and the need for vigilance to guard against on- line harassment, not just from former partners, but from relative strangers.

The pair met at the dinner party of a mutual friend in the RAC club in Central London in March 2009.

In the months that followed, he inundated her with unwanted phone calls, texts, Facebook messages and emails.

Like many of her generation, Hannah used the social networking site Facebook to connect with friends and acquaintances.

But she was taken aback when Ghumman was the only ‘friend’ who showed up after she posted details of a wine- tasting event she planned to attend in Harrods.

It seems he assumed that she had deliberately invited just him and his persistence grew. She rejected his advances but remained polite and friendly.

Eventually, she agreed to meet him for a picnic, because, as she testified in court, she had “run out of excuses” as to why she couldn’t meet him.

But when she discovered that the setting was a cemetery, she feigned a bout of hay fever to make a hasty exit.

Over the following weeks he continued to bombard her with emails and text messages and began to follow her.

By July 2009 she was nearing breaking point.

When she ‘unfriended’ him on Facebook, he sent her messages asking for a meeting to talk about it. She asked him not to contact her again.

But he continued sending her emails and texts asking to meet her or abusing her for rejecting him.

He turned up at a garden party she was attending and she stormed off. He later sent a message asking her to accept his “sincerest apologies” for ignoring her at the event.

A concerned Rhind enlisted the help of her company executive father Philip (57), who was based in Cape Town. He contacted Ghumman, and warned him to stay away from his daughter.

Despite a restraining order issued against Ghumman in December 2009, the harassment continued unabated, only this time Philip Rhind was also targeted.

In August 2010, Ghumman was found guilty of harassment, fined and ordered to do 180 hours of community service.

The family wrongly believed their ordeal was at an end.

In January 2011 he travelled to Cape Town where Rhind had gone to spend Christmas with her parents.

Posing as a freelance photojournalist, he went in search of a hitman to kill her father.

Through local journalists he arranged to meet with three hitmen, making clear he wanted someone “who has absolutely no compunction about behaving with appalling violence”.

He made an arrangement with one of the men to do the hit, but the man pulled out and warned Philip Rhind. Ghumman decided to take matters into his own hands.

In the early hours of January 14, he threw three petrol bombs at the family’s seafront villa, each with the message “4 Hannah” attached, and slashed the tyres on a car outside.

Although two exploded, strong winds prevented the fire from taking off.

The court rejected Ghumman’s claims that he had been led on.

Speaking after the verdict, Ms Rhind said: “He has made my life hell. This all started in 2009 and he was convicted for it in 2010. But that only caused his behaviour to escalate.

“This shows just how important it is to take stalking very seriously and to react to it very, very quickly.”

George County investigators say a convicted criminal is back in jail, charged with using Facebook to cyber stalk teenage girls. Cyber stalking is a crime where a person harasses a victim using electronic communication.

George County Sheriff’s Investigator Billy Colburn said Willis McManus used the popular site to pursue 14 to 17-year-old girls.

“Two parents that came in and filed a report because their daughter and step-daughters were befriended by a gentleman who we found out later was in prison, previously served time in prison for cyber stalking.

According to Colburn, soon After McManus was released from prison in October, he began searching school websites for teen girls. Investigators said the 41-year-old then set up four fake Facebook accounts with no pictures to request and chat with teens.

“He was having explicit conversations with the juveniles, trying to set up meetings with them, so that they can meet and have physical contact,” Colburn said.

McManus is now charged with two counts of cyber stalking. Deputies said they were able to link him to the Facebook pages by tracing the address on the account.

“This not only causes physical danger, it causing a mental danger for your children, too.”

Investigator Trey Collins applauds the parents for reporting the incident. The father of three said he too tries to always monitor his kids’ computer time.

“If I feel they are going to be exposed to something that is not going to meet my approval, I will not allow,” Collins said. “Parents have to be involved with their children’s Facebooks.”

These investigators said keeping young people safe is important, especially in the social media world.

“Try to eliminate any threats where they begin,” Collins said.

George County investigators said additional charges are pending as the investigation continues.

1. Bill Gates

   It’s hard to believe that the genius behind the co-creation of software giant Microsoft never finished college, but it’s clear he didn’t need his diploma to do big things. Gates made the decision to leave Harvard to go work with Paul Allen at Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). This risky decision to leave school truly paid off when Gates and Allen partnered up to create Microsoft in 1975. Today, Microsoft and its line of operating systems are the biggest and most widely used in the world. His entrepreneurial spirit and incredible intellect have made him one of the world’s wealthiest people and most admired entrepreneurs.

2. George Eastman

   George Eastman was the mastermind behind the Eastman Kodak Company, in which he invented roll film and helped make photography a mainstream form of art. Eastman’s roll film invention also paved the way for the invention of motion picture film. His incredible contributions and commitment to the field of photography and filmmaking helped change the industry in so many fundamental ways.

3. Sergey Brin

   Sergey Brin is a co-founder of Google and one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world. Before starting the multinational Internet and software corporation with Larry Page, Brin was a student at the University of Maryland, studying mathematics and computer science. He went on to get his PhD at Stanford University and met his future business partner Page there. Together, the two developed new search engine designs and algorithms, which led to the creation of the PageRank system and later Google.

4. Henry Ford

   Henry Ford gave us the first affordable automobile and prompted the use of assembly lines in mass production. His incredible contributions to the American public changed the way people got from place to place and performed work. But Ford didn’t become a successful businessman overnight. In fact, he had to overcome some adversities, such as dyslexia and rejecting taking over the family farm to pursue his own business ventures.

5. Mark Cuban

   Mark Cuban is best known for his wide range of business ventures, ranging from owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks to the owner of Landmark Theatres, Magnolia Pictures, and chairman of the HDTV cable network, HDNet. But the tech-savvy businessman and investor wasn’t always a huge success. Before Cuban struck gold, he was working as a bartender, then a salesman at a computer software store. Cuban was fired less than a year after working at the store, and decided to turn his attention to starting his own company, MicroSolutions. Cuban diversified his wealth and business ventures as a serial entrepreneur and influential leader in sports business.

6. John Mackey

   Whole Foods Market might be a household name today, but back in the late ’70s it wasn’t quite as promising. Before becoming a supermarket chain, Whole Foods was a small natural foods store in Austin, Texas, called Safer Way Natural Foods. John Mackey and his then-girlfriend Rene Lawson Hardy opened up the store in 1978 and later partnered with Clarksville Natural Grocery owners Craig Weller and Mark Skiles to join the two grocery stores. Together, they opened the original Whole Foods Market in 1980, and it soon became a hit among health-conscious shoppers. It is now a leader of the premium natural and organic supermarkets, and thanks to Mackey’s expert leadership, it has maintained its ranking as one of the 100 best companies in America.

7. Walt Disney

   No one would have guessed that the man who created Mickey Mouse and one of the largest motion picture production companies would have ever been doubted or rejected for not being good enough. But the truth is Walt Disney and his creations weren’t always a hit. In 1919, Disney was fired from his job at the Kansas City Star because he lacked imaginative ideas. He went on to create a cartoon series that later developed into what we now know as The Walt Disney Company. Walt’s undying creativity, drive, and entrepreneurial spirit helped him become one of the most admired and successful businessmen of all time.

8. Mark Zuckerberg

   Who would have guessed that a young brainiac from Harvard would create the biggest and most successful social network in the world? Facebook originally served as a directory-like website for Harvard students, but was later expanded to other colleges in Boston and in the Ivy League. Facebook quickly spread to various universities around the world and eventually became available to anyone 13 and older. The incredibly popular social network now has more than 845 million active users. Zuckerberg’s creation has significantly changed the way people socialize and use the Internet.

9. Oprah Winfrey

   It’s hard to believe that anyone could ever doubt the incredibly powerful and successful Oprah Winfrey, but in the beginning, few thought she had what it takes to be a successful talk show host. The odds were against her as an outspoken black female working in a field dominated by white males. Despite the doubts and negative predictions, Oprah’s talk show career became a huge success. After the initial success of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah began to explore her entrepreneurial side by creating Harpo Productions, Inc., which includes Harpo Films and Harpo Radio, Inc. After seeing how successful her Harpo Productions creation has been, Oprah joined with Discovery Communications to create a new channel called OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in 2011.

    

   http://www.businessinsurance.org/9-unlikely-entrepreneurs-who-changed-the-market/

The 41-year-old, from Attleboro, Massachusetts, is likely to serve just three months after pleading guilty to a charge of misdemeanour assault and battery under a plea deal.

Her name has not been released so that her daughter’s identity can be protected.

Mr Justice Eady said the internet giant was not bound by laws governing publishers, giving the company widespread immunity from English defamation laws.

In the judgement, which will have huge implications for freedom of speech in this country, he said: ‘It is no doubt often true that the owner of a wall which has been festooned, overnight, with defamatory graffiti could acquire scaffolding and have it all deleted with whitewash.’

Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans is about to head back to jail. Jenelle’s attorney Dustin Sullivan confirms to HollywoodLife.com that Jenelle has another warrant out for her arrest.

Jenelle’s former boss James Duffy filed cyberstalking charges against Jenelle on March 2 which lead to a warrant issued against Jenelle.

Jenelle just spent the weekend in NYC filming a reunion show with her Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2 co-stars. She got back to North Carolina on March 5.

Jenelle has a court date set for March 23 — the same day Duffy is expected to appear in court for the cyberstalking charges that Jenelle threw against him.

The new charges against Jenelle “absurd and retaliatory in nature,” says Jenelle’s attorney.

It is an America where history is rewritten to honor dictators, murderers and thieves. It is an America where violence, racism, hatred, class warfare and murder are all promoted as acceptable means of overturning the American civil society. It is an America where humans have been degraded to the level of animals: defecating in public, having sex in public, devoid of basic hygiene. It is an America where the basic tenets of a civil society, including faith, family, a free press and individual rights, have been rejected.

It is an America where our founding documents have been shredded and, with them, every person’s guaranteed liberties. It is an America where, ultimately, great suffering will come to the American people, but the rulers like Obama, Michelle Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, liberal college professors, union bosses and other loyal liberal/Communist Party members will live in opulent splendor.” ~ Thomas Sowell

One of the most ironic aspects of our putative “Age of Obama” is how little impact it has had on the nation’s urban geography. Although the administration remains dominated by boosters from traditional blue state cities–particularly the president’s political base of Chicago–the nation’s metropolitan growth continues to shift mostly toward a handful of Sunbelt red state metropolitan areas.

Our Urbanist in Chief may sit in the Oval Office, but Americans continue to vote with their feet for the adopted hometown of widely disdained former President George W. Bush. According to the most recent Census estimates, the Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas, region added 146,000 people between 2008 and 2009–the most of any region in the country–a healthy 2.3% increase.

In contrast, most blue state mega cities–with the exception of Washington, D.C.–grew much more slowly. The New York City region’s rate of growth was just one-fifth that of Dallas or Houston, while Los Angeles barely reached one-third the level of the Texas cities.

These trends should continue: According to Moody‘s ( MCO -news - people ) Economy.com, Texas’ big cities are entering economic recovery mode well ahead of almost all the major centers along the East or West Coasts. This represents a continuation of longer-term trends, both before and after the economic crisis. Between 2000 and 2009 New York gained 95,000 jobs while Chicago lost 257,000, Los Angeles over 167,000 and San Francisco some 216,000. Meanwhile, Dallas added nearly 150,000 positions and Houston a hefty 250,000.

This leads me to believe that the most dynamic future for America urbanism–and I believe there is one–lies in Texas’ growing urban centers. To reshape a city in a sustainable way, you need to have a growing population, a solid and expanding job base and a relatively efficient city administration.

None of these characteristics apply to places like President Obama’s hometown of Chicago, which continues to suffer from the downturn–but you would never know it based on media coverage of the Windy City.

The New Yorker, for example, recently published a lavish tribute to the city and its mayor, Richard Daley. But as long-time Chicago observer Steve Bartin points out, the story missed–or simply ignored–many critical facts. Mistaking Daley’s multi-term tenure as proof of effectiveness, it failed to recognize the region’s continued loss of jobs, decaying infrastructure, rampant corruption and continued out-migration of the area’s beleaguered middle class.

Generally speaking, as Urbanophile blogger Aaron Renn points out, the repeated reports of an urban renaissance in older northern cities should be viewed with skepticism. In theMidwest region over the past year the share of population growth enjoyed in core counties–an area usually much larger than the city boundary–actually declined in most major Midwestern metros, including Chicago.

However, it soon became clear to constitutionalists that we are not free from our government continuing to learn so much more about us than we can imagine.

Because of this nation’s use of rapidly evolving surveillance technology, government agencies are able “to comprehensively monitor an individual’s private life without necessarily introducing the type of physical intrusion into his person or property covered by the (Supreme Court’s) ruling,” says the Rutherford Institute’s John Whitehead in one of his regular national news analyses (“U.S. v. Jones: The Battle for the Fourth Amendment Continues,” rutherford.org, Jan. 23).

While growing up in this land of the free and home of the brave, how many of us ever imagined that our government could covertly pry into such extensive areas of what we do, say and plan? Are those we elect to govern us no longer responsible for keeping us a free people?

I have always avoided using the inflammatory term “police state.” But as you think about the rapidly increasing government invasion into our personal lives, aren’t we in the early stages of that kind of America?

Whitehead lists a number of these technological privacy invaders that I expect many of us will find chilling:

“Facial-recognition software is another tool in police forces’ surveillance arsenal in which police take a photograph of a person’s face, then compare the biometrics to other photographs in a database. Such a system can easily be placed onto the back of a smartphone and only weighs 12.5 ounces. Facial-recognition software is currently being used in conjunction with public surveillance cameras at airports and major public events to spot suspected terrorists or criminals.”

When the information collected on these databases is usually done without a warrant, on what basis are these people regarded as “suspects or terrorists”?

Whitehead continues the facial-recognition scope: “Cities such as Tampa have attempted to use this technology on busy sidewalks and in public places.”

Why not? There will be many more people regarded as “suspects” in various police conjectures to fill databases – with taxpayers’ money.

Next: “RFIDs, Radio Frequency Identifications,” Whitehead writes, “have the ability to contain or transmit information wirelessly using radio waves. These devices can be as small as a grain of rice and can be attached to virtually anything, from a piece of clothing to a vehicle.”

Providing, I would add, that the vehicle is not the personal property of the actual individual being surveilled.

Now dig this, fellow Americans being shorn of your Fourth Amendment rights: “If manufacturers and other distributors of clothing, personal electronics and other items begin to tag their products with RFID,” says Whitehead, “any law enforcement officer armed with an RFID reader could covertly search an individual without his or her knowledge.”

If you don’t know you’re personally being searched and with what device, to whom could you file a constitutional complaint – about what?

Here’s John Whitehead again: “Drones – pilotless, remote-controlled aircraft that have been used extensively in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan – are being used increasingly domestically by law enforcement.”

Drones, President Barack Obama’s favorite weapons in the war against terrorism abroad, are now also being used back home in this administration’s war on the Constitution.

Whitehead reports: “Under many states’ proposed rules, they could also be used” – and are already being used – “to track citizens and closely monitor individuals based on the mere suspicions of law enforcement officers.”

Ah, “suspicions.” So, because people don’t know the government is tracking them, they have no possible due-process rights. You also ought to know that Congress is calling for more use of drones here (“Congress Calls for Accelerated Use of Drones in U.S.” fas.org, Feb. 3).

And keep in mind Whitehead’s warning: “The precision with which drones can detect intimate activity is remarkable.”

Our chief digital protector of privacy rights, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, adds that the huge data-collecting capacity of some newer drones is due to “super high-resolution ‘gigapixel’ cameras that can ‘track people … from altitudes above 20,000 feet’” (“Are Drones Watching You?” Jennifer Lynch, eff.org, Jan. 10).

That expanded capacity could be handy for CIA drones to monitor Bill of Rights Day demonstrators. They could detect persons suspected of being associates of organizations dangerous to national security. How will they tell? Do you trust the CIA?

As we Americans become aware of the possibility – though not the specifics – of being caught in this endless government dragnet, will we passively yield to our liberties being indefinitely suspended to safeguard national security? If President Obama is re-elected, we know he will tell us what our safety mandates. But will anything different come from a Republican president?

Whatever political party your congressional representatives belong to, are they even aware of their constituents being watched by the government? Are they disturbed?

And as one of their constituents, what will you do? Watch carefully what you text or whom you associate with? Or maybe protest your representatives to get America back? Protest to whom in government – local, state or national?

(wnd.com)