Missouri Continues Arresting Cyberbullies: Don't Be An Online Jerk In Missouri
from the free-speech? dept
As tends to happen, it appears that Missouri has decided to overcompensate for the mess with the whole Lori Drew/Megan Meier tragedy. After realizing that Lori Drew hadn't committed any actual crime, Missouri passed a new law making it a potential felony for being a jerk online. And, of course, with that new law in place, Missouri prosecutors have wasted little time in filing charges against all sorts of people. The latest involves the arrest of a teenager for creating a mean website about another student. Now, I'm not condoning the behavior of this student, which does seem despicable -- but arresting the kid seems really extreme. Aren't there less draconian methods for dealing with this sort of thing? Kids can be mean and, yes, they do stupid things at times -- but arresting kids every time they're a jerk online is going to lead to a pretty busy judicial system.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: arrest, cyberbullies, missouri
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Welcome to the United States of America...
I'm absolutely appalled such a law was passed in the first place, but considering this all stemmed from a child, neglected by society, committing suicide, it's hard to dismiss the emotional attachment at its passing.
Even still, it sickens me people are defending this nation through active service only to see it's all for nothing when basic rights are stripped without just cause.
Too bad the military oath includes the words "both foreign and domestic" as I can see the latter becoming a problem when more laws such as this pass.
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Re: Welcome to the United States of America...
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Re: Welcome to the United States of America...
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you might as well add "trolling" to the list
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What was said on the site was not a death threat and sounds just like standard bullying. Nothing new to see here.
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Because it's threats ON THE INTERNET!!!
Seriously, the biggest improvement we could make would be to recuse anyone from making a tech-related decision if they're over thirtyfiveish (and yeah, that would include me. I'll take the hit for my peers.)
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Fine them and let the civil courts sort out a slander lawsuit supported by the state's fining the culprit.
Lori Drew is getting all the punidhment the state can do. The trials and publicity are her punishment.
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Maybe. However, why do we accept "standard bullying"? Such behavior among adults leads to assault and harassment charges. So, why are people so willing to let children get by with a "kids will be kids" attitude.
No, for the record, I do think the arrest was probably extreme, though we don't know if there was prior history or other instances that led them to that decision. However, SOME kind of discipline for bullying, both on and off the Internet, is definitely necessary. What seems like harmless fun to a few can scar others for many years to come.
I once knew over 20 different routes to walk 3/4 of a mile home, so that one particular group of kids was less likely to corner me. It was not fun, or adventurous. It was terrifying, and when they did find me, they always made up for their frustration on the other days. Never enough to draw blood, but plenty of threats and fearful anticipation. When you're twelve, you don't have the capacity to filter and ignore it when someone shoves a lit firecracker in the mouth of a box turtle, laughs when it blows apart, and threatens to do the same to you.
Know what the principal said? It was "normal bullying." Didn't help that a couple of the kids hung out with his son. He said there was nothing he could do "off school grounds and outside school hours." Until we got a new vice principal who understood how damaging such things can be. After he showed up, most of those students were expelled or neutralized by threat of discipline within a few weeks. It doesn't take arrests, but enough with the "normal bullying" bullshit. There's no such thing.
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As soon as you allow this subjective level of normal, you open the door to jackasses like my former principal.
So, to summarize, I am concerned with the "standard bullying" language and attitude. I am NOT arguing for this law. I am arguing that school-level discipline is necessary, and should be more active in many cases. I also think that the law should not be afraid to use existing laws (harassment, etc) where applicable. Why my parents did not go to the police after the principal's reaction, I don't know. I certainly would for my own children.
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Men too, and they get even less help from the authorities.
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If someone is getting death threats, veiled or otherwise, on the internet or otherwise, then that is a problem. Not sure what to tell you if you are getting death threats and the police dont care
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I'd like to point out that stalking isn't a female-only crime. Quite a few men are victims as well.
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They don't count.
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Blame the Economy!
Atleast this way only the jerks are the ones who pay!
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Uh, no, the problem is that too many Americans today are pantywaist emotional midgets that either don't have the spine to realize their self worth or else prefer to use the victim role for personal gain (I'm looking at YOU, Sharpton).
Attention citizens of what will soon become Helmerica: if you don't understand your own worth independent of other people's opinions, then you truly aren't worth anything at all and will be so judged shortly....
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Now I have to research this case because no further details were provided in the article.
In that case, why were charges brought up at all if there were was no tangible case for assault?
I assume the worker in city hall who was targeted was "of age". If so, are we now to assume that hurting *anyone's feelings is now punishable as a felony in MO?
Teenagers definitely are more at risk of being victimized by bullying as most have not fully individualized, and seem to rely heavily on the input from others to sustain their self-image. Considering this, a part of me feels maybe teenagers need some protection from bullying. However, the more logical part of me screams that this is, of course, "immature" behavior that should not be reinforced, much less reinforced by the government.
Now we have (presumably) an adult government employee being protected by an anti-bullying law that probably reinforces immature behavior. To what end?
This law is a case where the "ends" should have been better considered before ever affecting a "means".
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I am so ashamed...
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jursidiction nightmare
What if I live in Missouri but created the website while in Kansas, using a VPN internet connection to my company in Washington and uploaded it to my hosting provider in California?
Which state has jurisdiction over the "crime"?
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Holy shit, we've become nothing but keyboard cowboys and pussys
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Kids these days
a military academy and I see people talking when we are saluting the flag as it's being raised I just wish it was back the way things used to be where you respect people and this country. I recently joined the military and went through my basic
training I get so much disrespect from people and they say that I'm going to die in Afghanistan
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Re: Kids these days
And thank you for your service....
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Wouldn't it simply be easier to accept that there are idiots in the world and leave the law to prosecute only those individuals who show direct physical threat to another?
It disturbs me that people are so quick to give up their freedom of speech because their anger is temporarily inflamed by a single incident.
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Freedom of Speech..
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Re: Freedom of Speech..
INCLUDING MISOURI TEENS.
You're fucked, buddy.
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Federal Law
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1A
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