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Myspace 'cyberbully' indicted over suicide

by infomatique | May 16, 2008 at 03:52 pm | 71 views | add comment

Cyber-bullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others."Cyberbullying can be as simple as continuing to send e-mail to someone who has said they want no further contact with the sender, but it may also include threats, sexual remarks, pejorative labels (i.e., hate speech). Though the use of sexual remarks and threats are sometimes present in cyber-bullying, it is not the same as sexual harassment and does not involve sexual predators.
Cyber-bullies may disclose victims' personal data (e.g. real name or workplace/schools) at websites or forums, or may attempt to assume the identity of a victim for the purpose of publishing material in their name that defames or ridicules them. Some cyber-bullies may also send threatening emails and instant messages to the victims. The content in these messages are often so strong that a victim may commit suicide. Suicide is rare but strong bullying material is more common. One example of suicide from being a victim of cyber-bullying is the Megan Meier suicide controversy ... see story below:

A 49-year-old US woman accused of pretending to be a love-struck teenage boy on MySpace and driving a 13-year-old girl to suicide with cruel messages has been indicted on federal charges.

US prosecutors say Lori Drew and others created the fake MySpace persona of a 16-year-old boy to woo neighbour Megan Meier for several weeks, and then abruptly ended the relationship and said the world would be better off without her.

Ms Meier's 2006 suicide by hanging, just hours after she read those final messages, made worldwide headlines and prompted calls for social networking sites like MySpace to crack down on cyber-bullying.

'This adult woman allegedly used the Internet to target a young teenage girl, with horrendous ramifications,' US Attorney Thomas O'Brien said in announcing the indictment in Los Angeles, where MySpace is based.

'Any adult who uses the Internet or a social gathering Web site to bully or harass another person, particularly a young teenage girl, needs to realise that their actions can have serious consequences,' Mr O'Brien said.

Experts said the indictment, which was handed down in Los Angeles after Missouri authorities declined to prosecute Ms Drew, was the first of its kind and could stretch the bounds of the federal statute on which it was based.