Why The Lori Drew Ruling Could Put More Kids At Risk
from the perverse-incentives dept
We have some serious problems with the implications of the ruling in the Lori Drew case, where Drew was found guilty of computer hacking, because a fake MySpace profile (which she did not sign up for) was blamed for the suicide of a young girl. However, Bennett Haselton, over at Slashdot takes on another problematic aspect of the case: how the ruling creates perverse incentives that could lead more kids to harm themselves. That's because Drew was punished not because of her own actions, but the actions of Megan Meier, possibly due to what Drew (or others) said to her. As such, the ruling effectively says that if a kid does something bad enough or dangerous enough, it's fine to blame someone else for saying something to them. That means if there's a kid who wants to punish someone for saying something mean to them, they can try to kill themselves, and then blame whoever said something mean to them, recognizing they're likely to get punished. It creates dangerous incentives when your punishing someone based on the actions of the actions of someone else.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: computer fraud, lori drew, megan meier, unintended consequences
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Is obvious
Kids are dumb. I know. I am one.
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Way to completely miss the point!
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Haha
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Besides...
Yeah, this isn't introducing anything new. There will always be stupids (children, teens, adults) exploiting the nation's sense of moral outrage.
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Re: Besides...
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If it becomes known that she was being prosecuted for computer fraud because she wasn't who the profile said she was, then kids might start telling the truth about who and where they are online, right down to real names, birthrates, etc.
So much for the safety on anonymity.
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Government sponsored revenge.
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Re: Government sponsored revenge.
The best sentence I can come up with is having to live with herself after girl killed herself and knowing that she had something to do with it.
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Re: Re: Government sponsored revenge.
Truth.
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Re: Re: Government sponsored revenge.
If she didn't do anything illegal, why did she deserve to get sentenced for anything?
I just do not understand this attitude of blaming someone else.
Shit happens, get over it.
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Re: Re: Re: Government sponsored revenge.
The problem is that Lori Drew was the Laxative.
She should be pilloried, humiliated and otherwise totally shamed. This is Olympic class bad judgment. She should be the picture in the dictionary next to stupid.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Government sponsored revenge.
According to which law are YOU getting this, "She should be..." from?
The law that says that parents should be responsible for their own children? Oh. right. there is no law that says that.
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You Said...
"She deserved to get sentenced for something- this was the best the prosecutor could come up with. In the old days Lori Drew would have been put in the stocks for a few days and pelted with things. "
Cool... so you do something bad... or maybe just something to piss me off and you deserve to be sentenced for it? Regardless of if there's a law? Cool... so you run a stop light and cause an accident... so I should charge you with drug trafficking...?!
You also said
"The best sentence I can come up with is having to live with herself after girl killed herself and knowing that she had something to do with it."
As long as you don't make up charges or twist the law. A VERY, VERY dangerous prescedent was set - basically, the federal government said:
"If we don't like you, or like what you did, we will create a charge or twist and existing law so we can get you..."
It's all fine when someone does it to a sleeze bag like Lori Drew... but about...
You're black in a predominantly white community - should they be able to twist the law and prosecute you for something you didn't do?
Let's say you're a Indian resident, but someone thinks you're a terrorist and their buddy died in the 911 attacks... forget the fact that you aren't a muslim... should they be able to make up a charge or twist a law to "get back at you?"
If anyone should be punished... it's idiots who see this ruling and malicious prosecution as a good thing.
Crime: Idiocy
Punishment: Sterilization
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Re: Re: Government sponsored revenge.
This country is supposed to stand for the majority AND the minority, not the majority over the minority.
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That's Not a New Concept
What's new about some kid complaining about WORDS? Whatever happened to the saying "Sticks and Stones can Break My Bones, but Words will Never Hurt Me?"
Get a life, folks. Words an go in one ear and out the other, or you can use them to drive yourself batty. It's your choice, no matter whether you are 2 or 20.
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Cold, I know, but I have no sympathy for this kind of stuff. If you want to kill yourself, I say go ahead.
However, this "look what kids will do now as a result of X" line of argument is a huge stretch bordering on a logical fallacy even.
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Who's to blame for the eggs? Gravity or the person that pushed them off the table?
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Re: Who's to blame for the eggs? Gravity or the person that pushed them off the table?
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Re: Re: Who's to blame for the eggs? Gravity or the person that pushed them off the table?
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Re: Re: Re: Who's to blame for the eggs? Gravity or the person that pushed them off the table?
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the original article sucks
If you say to someone everyday "kill yourself", and eventually that person does, i believe in some jurisdictions you would be guilty of a crime. I do not see how the net would be different.
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TINA MEIER
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um, think about it, mike...
the amount of damage someone's stupidity causes always has been factored into the punishment, and always should be. upholding this verdict won't create a police state. how many people have you killed with your phony internet names? I'm guessing zero.
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responsibility
It's endemic. It's why your society is so litigious. It's always someone else's fault and someone else has to "pay".
Look at that Australian guy who was *invited* by a town (in Tennessee) to race at an event *they* organised (badly, it would seem). He raced, he crashed, several people died. There was very little in the way of safety barriers between the crowd and the racers. It was a horrible accident. What happens? He gets tried for vehicular homicide on so many counts he could be in jail for 90 years. That got downgraded, but now he faces a civil suit. One of the victims' parents said "He killed my child; that's murder". Umm, no, it's not.
Yes it's sad that a young girl took her own life, yes it's appalling behaviour on the part of the adult who should have known better, .. but good god .. it's just a horrible, tragic event, and life is, unfortunately, full of them.
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lori drew
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