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Thursday, November 27, 2008
Could MySpace suicide case verdict lead to more online criminal charges?
The New York Times has a story this week about the possible implications of a Missouri woman’s conviction on three misdemeanor charges stemming from cyberbullying on MySpace.
Legal experts expect the case to pave the way for future criminal trials over bullying on the Internet, the Times reports.
In October 2006, 13-year-old Megan Meier committed suicide and it was later revealed that a classmate’s mother had been taunting the girl using a fake profile on MySpace. This particular case made headlines late last year when her parents started talking about their daughter’s death.
The mother, Lori Drew, created a fake MySpace page for a fake boy and used it to get to know Megan. Then she and her daughter and the key witness in the trial, an employee who had helped create the site, sent Megan messages that said he didn’t want to talk to her again and the world would be better off without her.
Hours later, Megan Meier hanged herself in her closet.
Drew was convicted by a federal jury in Los Angeles of three misdemeanor charges of computer fraud. The jury rejected felony charges and it’s unclear what kind of sentence could come from this, but legal experts are saying this case could be the first cyberbullying conviction.
And it could have a big impact on future cases.
Cyberbullying is exactly what it sounds like: sending or posting threatening or cruel information online about someone else.
It takes many forms, like threats made over text or instant messaging, creating fake accounts for someone to hurt their reputation or to spread rumors or spreading private conversations or information.
Most schools block the social networking or blogging sites that are typically associated with cyberbullying. But even through cyberbullying likely takes place outside of school hours, its effects often spill into the school day.
In one school district I covered, someone, most likely a junior high student, started a blog purporting to spread the school’s best gossip. It was an anonymous user and was done outside of school. There were also threats against some of the students.
But soon kids were coming to school very upset and even fighting over the things spread on the site, the principal told me. At the time, they were finding it nearly impossible to figure out who had done it but the site had stopped being used.
About 42 percent of kids have experienced bullying online, according to I-SAFE, Inc., a non-profit group aimed at Internet safety education. More than 50 percent of students have admitted to saying mean things to someone online or having mean things said to them. About 60 percent of them will tell an adult.
The MySpace suicide case is a bit unusual because it’s an adult who is working with her teen daughter to bully a child. Adults can be cyberbullies too but typically not against a young child.
Cyberbullying can be even more harmful than the bullying we experienced as kids because the Web allows for anonymity and the bully doesn’t have to see their victim.
With the rise of technology, educators, parents and law enforcement have been grappling with how to handle cyberbullying. Legal experts are saying that the MySpace suicide verdict could be the first cyberbullying conviction.
Because this is the first time the 1986 federal computer fraud laws were used this way, it could pave the way for future cases to protect people from technology crimes, some experts told the Times.
But others argued it could have negative effects as well because it could allow prosecution for users who lie about their identity online to get information.
Do you think this verdict is a step toward curbing cyberbullying or is it opening the law up to too much interpretation?
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