Son Gets Mom Charged With Harassment Over Facebook Account Hijacking
from the uh,-is-that-harassment-or-hacking? dept
Slashdot points us to a story of a kid who is got his mom charged with harassment over his Facebook account. While the Slashdot version (and the opening of the news article) make this sound like it was filed over posts from his mom on his profile, the details suggest something quite a bit different. This isn't him being upset that his mom wrote stuff on his wall (hell, he could just block her or unfriend her), but about her apparently hacking into his account, changing his password and posting "slanderous" things as him. That seems a lot more like hacking and unauthorized access, rather than "harassment." Update: According to some, the son had left a computer where he was logged in, and the mother access his account that way.But, alas, it appears that in Arkansas, where this is taking place, is one of those states that has passed some sort of cyberbullying/cyberharassment law that make it illegal "to harass, annoy or alarm another person without good cause." These laws tend to be way too broad, and risk criminalizing very minor activities (basic trolling, for example). So while it seems clear that, if the son's story is true, the mother clearly deserves some form of legal punishment, it's still troubling that the choice here was to use a harassment law, rather than a hacking law.
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Minor infraction
So I ask the question: does a 16 year old have the legal right to have a Facebook account that his legal guardians don't have access to? Or, do his legal guardians have the right to manage a minor's online presence if they so desire?
I am not asking whether this is smart parenting (I presume something less confrontational would be smarter parenting), rather: to what extent does the law give parents control over their minor's online presence?
[And I am guessing the answer is: the law is silent on this as it is too new an issue.]
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Re: Minor infraction
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Re: Re: Minor infraction
If she were his guardian, it would be an entirely different story.
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Re: Minor infraction
your rights start on your Birthday NOT at 21
sue the sit out of your mom kid ac-cert your rights
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Couple points
Secondly, someone claiming to be the mother showed up in the comments for the news organization that broke this, and was kinda all over the place, referring to the child (allegedly her son, though again this could have been an impostor) as a "vindictive little brat".
Anyway, apparently there's a lot of history behind this.
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I'm sure there was a time when someone actually bothered to proofread laws before they were put to a vote.
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Re:
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Harassment sharassment...
The only kind of bullying that counts.
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The TechDirt run-on Sentence. I've only been coming here a month now but they are rather frequent!
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hi tam
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Corrections
First, this boy did not sue his mother. He filed a complaint with the police, and the DA has charged this woman, Denise New, with harassment.
Second, Arkadelphia is in Arkansas, not Oklahoma.
These facts are laid out in the story that you linked to, by the way. :)
See: http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0410/723100.html
And: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=157&sid=10298488
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Re: Corrections
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Crazy Lady...
I would be very alarmed if relatives of my children posted harassing comments to their on-line accounts, and would be happy to utilize the law to protect my children from unauthorized account access resulting in harassment from those relatives. Or strangers, for that matter.
I know that alot of parents are going to be rooting for the birth mother here, but she doesn't really have a moral leg to stand on. If she was informed of or noticed disturbing behavior, she needed to report it to his guardian or speak to him personally. She has no more right to discipline him, have a conversation with him, or to harrass him than a stranger. And a stranger who did this would be prosecuted, which is what is happening to her. Yay. End of story.
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Re: Crazy Lady...
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May have a point
Since the boy is under 18 she could POSSIBLY argue that she has some right of access. If that's the case then a judge might not find for the hacking charge.
With the filing of harassment, access is not the issue. What she did after gaining access is. This could mean a stronger chance of getting the charge to stick and hopefully teaching her a lesson.
After all the grandmother must be guardian for a reason. But I'm not a lawyer.
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How can going to your own computer, seeing someone else logged in left it open and doing things with the account ever be considered hacking?
Maybe if he wasn't such a brat, he wouldn't have left his account open.
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In some places harassment is good cause for jail.
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Nice job.
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So... Kids who cooperated in complaints of abuse or neglect are brats? God, those brats! How dare you want your mom to be charged for beating you!
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Like theft. If doesn't matter if you stuffed a can of beans under your shirt; it doesn't matter if they forgot their purse at your house and you stole money from it; it doesn't matter if you were only able to steal the car because the keys were in the ignition. It's still all theft. How you accomplished your action doesn't matter. Only your action does.
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it appears
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i do not see how a hacking charge could stick
I do see the harrassment charge. She certainly was annoying him. Though i think the legal standard for cyber bullying should be more than annoyance. As another poster pointed out, debt collectors by definition are annoying it is their job and within reason they should be annoying.
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wow
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I love the way the news leaves things out
I love the way most news web sites fail to mention this!
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the mother is joining the discussion on the channel 7 page
From
http://cfc.katv.com/forums/viewmessages.cfm?forum=17&topic=78400&srow=1&erow=10
"
benton wrote:
What gives the mother the right to post anything on her son's personal page? It's not like she was posting as a friend, she was logged in under his name and posting. She even changed his password. She already lost custody of her son, so keep that in mind before taking her side. I'm sure she isn't as innocent as she is coming off to be with all her comments on here. "
"
!st of all I didnt lose custody. I had a mental brk down while going thru a divorce and losing our home in a fire..so that is why grandmother has him...2cnd of HE LEFT HIS FB page LOGGED IN ON MY COMPUTER...and the things I found were mind blowing eyey popping and draw dropping. SO bad they cudnt air it on TV....these types of things are now being looked at by college recruitors and future employers. Maybe if granny was monitoring him I wouldnt have to?????
reply to message from benton posted on Wed 04/07/10 at 9:53 am
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Or can MOM sue son for theft of her electricity? Thief of the computer/hacking using her computer? Can son prove he paid for it? It sure sounds like he is stealing from her, she was using her computer? Her electricity? Or can we all just grow up and not believe everything posted on the internet and who cares what is posted about who because odds are it’s not always 100% accurate. GROW UP!
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The mother does have a point...
Sometimes, some laws really makes me crazy. They're just to irrational when interpreted and USED the wrong way.
Hayz.
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mom cheacking facebook
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mom on facebook
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