Italy Probes 'Kill Berlusconi' Facebook Gang

Italy plans crackdown on social networking sites

(NEWSER) - The attack on Silvio Berlusconi will likely deal a blow to freedom of speech in Italy. Members of his government have publicly blamed social networking sites—where anti-Berlusconi pages have proliferated—for the assault. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has announced plans for a crackdown, saying that the Internet could spawn "a dangerous spiral of emulation" unless censorship is initiated. More»

PM thanks supporters; government will go after enemy websites

(NEWSER) - Silvio Berlusconi thanked his supporters from a Milan hospital today, encouraging them to remain calm in his first statement since the attack that broke his nose and two teeth. "Sincere thanks to the very many who have sent me messages of solidarity and affection," the Italian PM's statement said. "I say again that everyone should stay calm and secure. Love always triumphs over envy and hate." More»

(NEWSER) - The developer whose software was used to create the “Should Obama be Killed?” Facebook poll has talked to the Secret Service. “The conversation with the SS was fine,” Jesse Farmer wrote on Twitter, but “If the goal was to resolve the issue + inform the SS, the way it went down was suboptimal.” Farmer appears to be upset that a third party pointed him out to the "SS," CNET explains. More»

Bloggers alerted law enforcement to potential danger

(NEWSER) - The Secret Service is looking into a Facebook poll that asked users to weigh in on whether the president should be killed. “We are taking the appropriate investigative steps,” said a rep for the agency. The poll, which has already been taken down, offered four possible answers to the question "should obama be killed?": “yes,” “no,” “maybe,” and, perhaps most tellingly, “If he cuts my health care,” Plum Line reports. More»

Social network sees 20% plunge since IPO

(NEWSER) - Facebook shares continue to plummet: They've now dropped more than 20% from their $38 IPO price, falling below $30 today to their lowest point yet, reports Reuters . At about 12:45pm EDT they were trading at $29.44. But among tech stocks, $30 per share still gives it a comparatively "generous" valuation, notes Dan Gallagher at MarketWatch : The site is trading at about 55 times its estimated earnings for this fiscal year. Google, on the other hand, trades at about 14 times its estimated earnings, and Apple, IBM, and Microsoft are in the same ballpark. But he notes that higher valuations seem more common among social sites: Groupon trades at some 64 times its estimated earnings, while LinkedIn is trading at a hefty 145 times its estimated earnings. More»