MySpace Suicide

**countymounty** · 07-09-2008

This is scary.

Experts Say MySpace Suicide Indictment Sets 'Scary' Legal Precedent | Threat Level from Wired.com

This is a sad but it should of been handled in civil court, but since attorneys are only interested in money and the courts have nothing to do justice we have this……
Since the mother technically never violated a law they decide to twist a current civil law and turn it criminal, now is the precedence that if you violate a online user agreement you can be federally proceuted for it.

So watch out next time someone violates our AUP I’m gona sick the FBI on you!

**jim293** · 07-09-2008

Saw this on the news. Pretty sad story. I am wondering if that girl that killed her self had any problems.

shartley · 07-10-2008

As someone who has been a victim of harassment and stalking (both involving "real world" as well as on the Internet) I can say that while some may think holding people accountable for their actions online is a bad thing, I can say it is a GREAT thing. I don't think using this law is the best way to go about it though since it opens the door to too many other issues.

Far too often people use the Internet as a tool to hurt others though... and GET AWAY WITH IT. And they get away with it because too many people consider e-mail, PM's, IM's, MySpace, and Internet Forums as nothing more than a fantasy land where anything goes with no consequences for their actions.

I find it funny though that they don't apply these same "standards" to other things like child porn, "internet predators", and other things that are PC at this moment of time.

Sadly what this mother did is not an isolated incident (again, myself and my family have been victims of internet harassment and it can get pretty bad), but I believe we have standard laws that already cover the offense without using the law that is being put into play now.

**pcfrisch** · 07-10-2008

I say she needs to be held accountable. What she did to that poor girl was despicable. She should have know better especially due to the age of the girl involved. I don't know about the feds getting involved though.

**JudisStang** · 07-10-2008

In my opinion, this woman (and I hesitate calling her that) is sick in the head. Very. There's a thread about this I had posted a year or so ago...

"Meier and told the girl that the world would be a better place without her." What a real POS.

I agree, Pete - she needs to be held accountable.

**white angel** · 07-10-2008

LOL Marc, some who have been here have threatened to go to the FBI for not allowing them their freedom of speech and such. LOL

**tripleblack** · 07-10-2008

This is definitely over-reaching, "creating" law rather than enforcing it. Its a bad idea when judges do it, and it might even be worse when prosecutors do it.

The woman SHOULD be sued into bankruptcy and hounded forever to pay the damages (which should be very large).

**countymounty** · 07-10-2008

You see this is a very sticky subject.

Missouri does have a harassment law but “the world would be a better place without you” does not fall under it, and I can only assume since that was the only quote released and the fact no charges where brought that none of the other comments violated the law either.

Fact is this grown woman (Drew)most likely is a sick person but so was the young girl (Meire) who killed herself. Drew I am sure is partially responsible for Meire's death but obviously this young girl had other problems and Drew's proding of her puched her over the edge.

Do we also charge Meire's mother for not buying her daugher some designer jeans she wanted, that could of hurt her self-esteam which was one more step towards what this outcome, what about her teacher who gave her an F on her english paper, bet that puched her to it also............see my point.

A civil court would be the place to handel this, but still “the world would be a better place without you” falls under free speech, it may be hurtfull, but so would calling a girl a “butter face”

Excuse me I'm from the FBI here to arrest you for hurting this girls feelings.............

Yes I agree what Drew did was gone but treating this case this way is very dangerous............

shartley · 07-10-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by countymounty

You see this is a very sticky subject.

Missouri does have a harassment law but “the world would be a better place without you” does not fall under it, and I can only assume since that was the only quote released and the fact no charges where brought that none of the other comments violated the law either.

Fact is this grown woman (Drew)most likely is a sick person but so was the young girl (Meire) who killed herself. Drew I am sure is partially responsible for Meire's death but obviously this young girl had other problems and Drew's proding of her puched her over the edge.

Do we also charge Meire's mother for not buying her daugher some designer jeans she wanted, that could of hurt her self-esteam which was one more step towards what this outcome, what about her teacher who gave her an F on her english paper, bet that puched her to it also............see my point.

A civil court would be the place to handel this, but still “the world would be a better place without you” falls under free speech, it may be hurtfull, but so would calling a girl a “butter face”

Excuse me I'm from the FBI here to arrest you for hurting this girls feelings.............

Yes I agree what Drew did was gone but treating this case this way is very dangerous............

Agreed. But I think there is more to it than just that one line. From what I understood there was a pattern of real world and online harassment that was going on and none of the incidents were an isolated issue.

Free speech is one thing, but again, I can tell you from personal experience that constant harassment from even ONE person ( and I had it from not only one person but also from a GROUP ) can really wear at you over time even if most of the comments are (by themselves) fairly harmless.

I think the reason this may be pushed is that the woman was a MOTHER of one of the other harassing people. Her conduct taken in context was beyond free speech and rather pathetic. It would be like a 5 year old slapping another 5 year old up side the head. Would you press charges? Probably not. But what if someone who was 30 came off the street just walked up to your child and slapped them up side the head? NOW charges might be in order... even if the slap was no harder (or even LESS) than what the other 5 year old did.

So I don't see this simply as a teasing or freedom of speech issue.

But with that said, when someone violates MySpace terms of service (which harassment of ANY kind is against their TOS) all you have to do is document it and report it to their staff. This applies to both things sent TO you, or even said ABOUT you on someone else's MySpace account. I have had MySpace accounts terminated for just that sort of thing.

HOWEVER.... the offender is free to create another account and start all over again. THAT too has happened to me. And not only concerning MySpace, but standard internet access accounts as well.

So IMHO something more needs to be done than getting accounts closed down. And this may be part of what is happening here. I don't agree in HOW it is happening, but I DO agree with SOMETHING happening.

**JudisStang** · 07-10-2008

My opinion is and will be - she was an adult luring a minor and harassment (thank you Sam)...

The adult was posing as a teenage boy.

End of story.

Do a search and find the other post - there was much more to it than just "hurting a teens feelings." There is quite an extensive link there.

{better yet, i did...)

Post - What is the world coming to?

**countymounty** · 07-10-2008

Yes free speech as the founders meant it was free political speech, others types of speech are not as protected, you can still say whatever you want but if it was slanderous you might be challenged to a duel in the founders time. Do I think she is liable, yes to a small degree, I believe she should be taken to civil court and drug through the mud in the press, in a world of no personel responsibility I think there very well ought to be, but creative use of a civil law to try to inflict a criminal punishment is very wrong and dangerous, if it stands, and I believe it will fail under appeal, it could be a great blow to our freedom in this country because this usage can be greatly abused.

Bleeding hearts won't be saying our jails and prisons are overflowing with drug users........

We will be saying our jails and prisons are overflowing with Internet bloggers!

Using this law under these circumstances is no different then filling federal charges because of a flam war on this board.........

**JudisStang** · 07-10-2008

Sorry, it's different when a minor is involved.

**countymounty** · 07-10-2008

No its not, I read the whole article from the first link, nothing printed was illegal, but the victim and her mother apparently violated the same policy when she lied about her age to get a profile, so since the mother supervised all this she “conspired” also is the FBI coming after her? Nope, I guess they want to be selective about who they want to prosecute and who they don’t, which is exactly my point on why this is a practice not to be trusted!

What it come down to is the FBI’s new job is to make people not be mean to other people.

**JudisStang** · 07-10-2008

Yes it is - in my opinion. In yours, it's not.

When an adult woman poses as a teen boy - there's a problem. What makes that any different than a 40 year old man posing as a 13-14-15-16 year old on the net soliciting a teen?

I agree, sir - that we disagree!

**countymounty** · 07-10-2008

There is a legal definition of solicitation, and this does not qualify for that either.