We, the undersigned friends of John Burroughs, are petitioning Facebook to reconsider their action of removing John Burroughs from Facebook and rescinding his original account. Our reasons for consideration are: 1.) We, the undersigned supporters and friends of John Burroughs, feel because of his work for and contributions to the poetry community here on Facebook and in the Cleveland and Northern Ohio area he should be given consideration for a review or a possible amendment to the Facebook rules, if, there are enough signatures to warrant it. 2.) We, the undersigned, add our names to this petition as a sign of friendship and support for John Burroughs and all he’s done to promote and further poetry… in the Greater Cleveland area, in Northern Ohio and on Facebook. 3.) Based on how social networks are used today for business networking as well as personal use, we feel it is unfair to discriminate against individuals who have served the proper time for a criminal offense and to treat them in an unequal fashion. Social networks are essential to making and maintaining business contacts and furthering job prospects. John Burroughs, a poet and small press publisher who is just establishing himself needs to be on Facebook to maintain the contacts he’s established here. He has already had to overcome many obstacles in trying to establish himself after his time served for an unjust conviction. Also, people with other types of convictions are not banned from using Facebook. There is no prohibition for their use of the network in your rules of use. Fb should be open to everyone if they are not currently serving a sentence for a crime or have done nothing to harm or harass another individual on Facebook. Usage privileges should be based on current activity not based on an indiscriminate past history. 4.) We feel Facebook’s policy on sex offenders is unusually harsh and unnecessarily discriminatory. It is a blanket policy that treats all sex offenders alike regardless of the severity of their crime or the nature of their conviction. It also is dependent on a self-policing policy of turning others in based on past history not just based on current activity on Facebook. A person can be expelled from Facebook even though they have done absolutely nothing wrong here. It relies on a vigilante form of justice not on a fair use policy. 5.) John has been on Facebook working and promoting his poetry for over 4 years with out any problems or issues with anyone. His family and friends are here on Facebook and he has a community of poets he has built here that support him and what he is doing. He is not a threat to anyone. He has been ostracized merely because he has a prior conviction. 6.) We truly feel your policy in this regard is unjust and should be reviewed and changed to reflect a more equitable treatment of individuals such as John. Rather than a blanket policy that blindly singles them out without recourse to review. Submitted by, we the undersigned, supporters, friends, colleagues and family of John Burroughs -

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