Nov

Cyberbullying verdict provokes questions, mixed emotions

The woman who posed as a teenage boy on MySpace to torment her daughter's estranged friend, and perhaps drove that girl to suicide, has been convicted of three misdemeanor counts of computer fraud. In terms of cosmic justice, this seems like an inadequate price for an adult to pay for having done something so hideous on so many levels. On the other hand, the legal precedent it sets for Web sites' (largely unread and ignored) user agreements, is seen as overreaching and scary by some. According to Andrew Grossman at the Heritage Foundation, if the verdict stands, then, "every site on the Internet gets to define the criminal law. That's a radical change. What used to be small-stakes contracts become high-stakes criminal prohibitions."

Posted by Ernesto Digital Media Subscribe to RSS feed