Cyber bullying needs deleting
By RCC on May 31, 2008 in CyberHood Watch
Used to be that home was a safe haven from bullies. Not so since the rise of “cyber bullying.”
The family of Megan Meier can testify to that. The Missouri teenager committed suicide after a “boy” she met on the social networking site MySpace rejected her. In fact, there was no such person.
According to investigators, the boy was a persona Lori Drew invented to spy on Megan, who Drew believed was mouthing off about her daughter. Reports say the fake boy told Megan two hours before she hung herself that “the world would be better off without you”.
Drew was indicted on federal charges earlier this month, after prosecutors determined she had broken no state laws. She will be tried in California, where the MySpace servers are housed.
It’s unfortunate a girl’s death was needed to prompt any action, but the heartening news is several states are looking to patch similar holes. Missouri has since made it a crime to harass someone over the Internet, and Illinois legislators followed suit.
Here in Wisconsin, it’s already illegal to threaten someone directly via computer, but state Rep. Donald Friske, R-Merrill, is trying to expand that. His bill would make it a misdemeanor to encourage others to harass someone. That could be by posting that person’s financial information on a Web page, for example, or by suggesting someone intimidate that person.
Another legislator initiated the effort in response to a domestic dispute in central Wisconsin several years back, and Friske eventually took the torch. He has introduced similar bills the last three sessions but seen them fizzle each time. Most recently, Assembly Bill 51 passed 93-1 but got lost in the Senate.
Come join us on the 10th of June at 11am mst… to hear Amy Ryan tell her and her son JD’s story, live on: CHWradio.com it’s going to be a great show…
If you want to protect you and your children from CyberBullying then you should try PC Pandora out for free, here… plus a 10.00 discount.
1 Comment(s)
By KenS on Jun 2, 2008 | Reply
Excellent posts and thanks for the update. For all intents, cyberbullying is 100% legal right now. When Lori Drew is let off the fed’s indictment, that will be plenty obvious. Some try to argue that we are losing rights with the passing of new laws that restrict what you can and can’t do on the Internet. BULLSH*T! The Internet has opened one-too-many doors to the jeopardizing of our overall safety. New laws are needed to ensure safety in the digital world. You’re not allowed to beat someone up or threaten them or harass them to the point that their life ends (in whichever manner) in real life, why should you be able to do it on the Internet – especially behind a cloak of anonymity.