Nooz Update: The Social Networking Nightmare
Writing by Tim on Monday, 16 of June , 2008 at 12:47 pm
Dear Reader,
That’s a fucking creepy logo, right? Is anyone else as creeped out as I am?
Love,
Tim
I’m taking a break from politics this week to talk about one of the many hot button news issues out there, and this, of course, is the Myspace suicide case. It took long enough, but the mother who orcestrated the entire thing is in federal court. While I hope the jerk gets fifty lashes and all that 1800s era punishment crap, I can see why the case is difficult for prosecuters, as it poses the question of just how responsible one person is for anothers’ actions.
The charges listed are (from CNN) “conspiracy” and “accessing protected material.” The conspiracy I understand, but I fail to see why accessing protected matieral is applicable. Social networking sites, by nature, are public domain. After all, email addresses are public property, as is any information that one places on the internet. Charges of that nature are generally reserved for people who steal credit card numbers or try and nick bits of precious info from the Pentagon or something; hackers. If, and I seriously doubt this will be the case, information of networking sites becomes “private,” the legal system of this nation will be overwhelmed overnight.
Imagine playing Whack-a-Mole against a board the size of a basketball field.
There are other interesting angles in this case. For example, no state charges were filed because in Missouri, there are no state laws covering “internet bullying.” The charges had to be filed in California because that is where Myspace (owned by Fox, the bastards) is located. Also, since the actual suicide took place in 2006, laws against internet slander had to be created in order to charge the woman. The legal system is now seeing that it is inadequately prepared to deal with the new way in which most people communicate.
Well, I take that back. Not the legal system part, but the most people part. One little known fact about teh interwebs is that only a little more than half of the United States is online. Sites like Myspace may have gargantuan memberships, but their actual popularity is questionable. So, the lesson here is to watch when you say things like “most” or “everyone.” The facts may not agree with you.
Which is a perfectly good transition to my next short paragraph. The tragic fact of this case is that a girl is dead. And the only thing that makes it worse is that someone’s parent was so involved in her daughter’s E social life that she makes up a personality to harass one of her daughter’s friends with. And I concede that suicide over something as trivial as an online relationship is (for lacking a better term) screwed up, just because such a thing is trivial to me and by shriveled, greying, cynical heart does not mean it is trivial to a thirteen year old girl. (Warning - Philosophical Question Ahead) We are, to varying degrees, products of our society. With that in mind, what kind of society do we live in where people - parents - who are supposed to be the anchors of maturity, the ones we unruly children look up to - act like complete assholes?
Back to the case. It will be interesting to see how this procdes. I am not the first person to take this position, but you cannot make laws against being a douchebag or being a lying docuhebag. “Moral” laws are just that, unwavering Biblical shit, and saying that one must abide by them or get smacked with a rock is not ethical. And sadly, there is no way to enforce ethical behavior on a social scale. Unfortunately, sometimes when a person is a complete dick to another person, the other person goes and hangs themselves. It is a sad side effect of assholery, but law worthy? Proverbially, it will be for the courts to decide. While I hope the woman is punished for at least manslaughter, there is something to the fact that laws cannot be used to keep assholes acting like assholes.
Category: Social Networking, Columns
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Comment by Mandy
Made Monday, 16 of June , 2008 at 6:38 pm
I think it is also important to point out, there HAS to be more to this story. You don’t kill yourself because a guy you have a crush on Myspace tells you to. So either a) She was crazy to begin with and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back or b)Something else happened that people are not discussing.
Criminally, I don’t think the mother did anything wrong. However, she could be held civilly liable. No surprise she got out on bail - she really has no reason to commit this crime again & if she did I don’t think it would have the same result. It sucks a girl died, but I am still not convinced by the media’s story
