Parents say fake online 'friend' led to girl's suicide

[Avatar]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/17/internet.suicide.ap/index.html

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Missouri (AP) -- Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her.


Teen's parents say she thought she had made a friend through the social networking web site MySpace.

Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.

The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan's.

Get this. The fake online profile was created by the MOTHER of her former friend.

 

[flicka]

This is so sad. And the fact that it was her freinds mother who played this girl is sickening.

 

[JFox1]

That is so disgusting.

 

[Steezie]

This is why it doesnt pay to spy on your kids or thier friends online

 

[kiwimac]

They should be prosecuted as if they had committed manslaughter.

 

[Steezie]

They should be prosecuted as if they had committed manslaughter.

Hopefully

 

[flicka]

I know this stuff happens alot online. I'm one of those parents who is plugged into this whole thing with a myspace and an AIM account and seeing online journals people post. I've seen my kids being played and know that they have played around with other people as well, and have always put a stop to it. All this online stuff is scary, and some people don't act the same way they do IRL. You see it with the trolls and POE's on forums like this. Pretending to be something you aren't is way to easy. I take advantage of the internet but I have never formed any kind of relationship with anyone I didn't know in person, not even here and I've been around over 4 years.

 

[Mr.Pious]

They should be prosecuted as if they had committed manslaughter.

Come again?

 

[kiwimac]

They played on a child's emotions, setting her up to take an emotional fall that they knew she was ill-equipped for. They should carry the responsibility for their actions.

 

[simplicity]

I'm hoping eventually there will be security features online so the people we chat with can be authenticated. It really shouldn't be necessary, but just like in this girl's case people do terrible things online. I really feel for this little girl confiding with somebody only to be heartbroken. The adult in this case should have known better. She really violated the girl.

Just last week I heard on the radio about a pilot project to introduce biometrics to chat systems so we can guarantee that children are chatting with children. So records have to be signed off by an attorney or other accountable individual. For my part, I kind of want to know if a person identifying herself as a woman actually is a woman. I had my share of fun in the past, identifying myself as a cow with mad-cow disease, a mystic knight and Ruler of Canada, but those are obvious whimsical screen identities.

 

[Trogdor the Burninator]

They should be prosecuted as if they had committed manslaughter.

Huh?

I really think that the internet needs to come with a disclaimer – Warning: Not to be taken seriously.

I’m constantly amazed at the number of people who put their full details online, who treat everyone they meet online as genuine etc etc. People have been faking themselves online since the days of MUDs, text chat and internet news. Obviously, I will be teaching my kids exactly that.

As for this case – while what the other child’s parents did was pretty screwed up, making a law to prevent communication with minors, or preventing fake (or real) people breaking up with their GF/BF online would be unenforceable, not to mention silly.

 

[kiwimac]

What they did was to create deliberately a scenario intended to take the girl in. They then cut the ground out from under her in a callous and hurtful way which led the girl concerned to suicide. How are they not responsible for that death as surely as if they had pulled a trigger or driven drunk?

 

[Trogdor the Burninator]

What they did was to create deliberately a scenario intended to take the girl in. They then cut the ground out from under her in a callous and hurtful way which led the girl concerned to suicide. How are they not responsible for that death as surely as if they had pulled a trigger or driven drunk?

I actually agree with your sentiment in many ways – but this is just completely unenforceable. We would also end up in a society were everything that anyone ever said would need a legal disclaimer to prevent prosecution.

 

[Mr.Pious]

What they did was to create deliberately a scenario intended to take the girl in. They then cut the ground out from under her in a callous and hurtful way which led the girl concerned to suicide. How are they not responsible for that death as surely as if they had pulled a trigger or driven drunk?

They hurt her feelings, I have had my feelings hurt millions of time, I haven't killed myself yet.

 

[kiwimac]

They hurt her feelings, I have had my feelings hurt millions of time, I haven't killed myself yet.

I love Christian compassion.

 

[Mr.Pious]

I love Christian compassion.

It isn't a lack of compassion, I don't think someone should spend the next 10 years in prison for hurting someones feelings....

While cruel, it probably never crossed the meany face's minds that the girl would kill herself.

 

[kiwimac]

And that is an excuse? If I pulled the trigger of a gun not knowing it was loaded, I would likely still be charged with manslaughter.

 

[Trogdor the Burninator]

I love Christian compassion.

First up – why the “Christian compassion” remark? Mr Pious doesn’t claim to be Christian for starters…

And he has a point. People have their feelings hurt all the time. That doesn’t make it a good thing, but we can’t legislate against it. Society won’t work that way. I don’t think that makes him (or the rest of us) uncompassionate.

 

[thenewageriseth]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/17/internet.suicide.ap/index.html



Get this. The fake online profile was created by the MOTHER of her former friend.

The mother who set up that HOAX, must have very limited brain capabilities, an off-kilter personality and must be on the same level as her daughter. And it gets me sometimes, how some cases such as these could have been prevented by divine intervention, and how such cases develop because of lack thereof...

 

[thenewageriseth]

It isn't a lack of compassion, I don't think someone should spend the next 10 years in prison for hurting someones feelings....

While cruel, it probably never crossed the meany face's minds that the girl would kill herself.

Probably never crossed her mind, cuz the woman MUST be some kind of wacko or something...