As the popularity of the Internet has continued to grow throughout the past two decades, the addition of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have taken communication among individuals to an entirely new level; and not always for the best. In 2006, thirteen year-old Megan Meier began an online friendship through MySpace with whom she thought was 16 year-old “Josh Evans”. However, the user’s real name was Lori Drew, mother of Sarah Drew who apparently Meier had spread rumors about (3). But after awhile, the tone of the messages changed, turning very negative; this included such things as “I don’t know if I want to be friends with you anymore because I’ve heard that you are not very nice to your friends”, and a final message that read “Everybody in O’Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a shitty rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you.” (3). After this, Meier proceeded to hang herself in her closet. Drew was brought to court in California and charged on one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress. She was also charged for violating MySpace’s terms of use by using a fictitious name. (3). Many have questioned how closely Drew’s online torturing of Meier linked with her death. “I don’t think she set out to- in any way, shape or form- have this girl commit suicide. No, I don’t… But I think that in her knowledge of this girl having depression and suicidal tendencies, I think that she made poor judgment,” said forewoman Valentina Kunasz on the NBC morning program. (5).
Since the advent of these and many other cases of cyber bullying and/or stalking, Linda Sanchez (D-California) introduced the Megan Meier Cyber Bullying Prevention Act. This bill would change the Section 881 of Title 18 and punish cyber bullying as follows: “Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.” (1). Missouri, Meier’s home state, updated an existing law to include communication from computers and text messages. (1).
In a similar scenario, teenaged girl Stefanie Price received between 500 and 1,000 messages on MySpace. Eventually her MySpace stalker took her profile picture and posted it on RateMyBody.com and listed her “hobbies” as various sexual acts. (4). The messages were traced to a boy that went to Stefanie’s high school; his identity was found and he was arrested, charged with harassment (4). The boy apologized for his actions, saying “Anyway, I did not mean any threats I made to her. I am very sorry for what I have done, and the stuff I said does not reflect how I really am. The messages I was sending on MySpace were just a joke. I wasn’t being serious and did not want to hurt anyone.” (4).
I agree that cyber bulling and/or stalking is a horrible thing. Drew demonstrated a total lack of maturity while taunting an already emotionally unstable girl. Similarly, although Stefanie Price’s online stalker was apologetic, his obsessive messaging and horrible comments were inexcusable, and quite frankly, raise questions about his own mental health. I believe that while the passage of the Megan Meier Cyber Bullying Act is a good first step in fighting these types of situations, I think that the government needs to be very careful about what standards are put on web surfers. Earlier this year, Kentucky State Representative Tim Couch proposed a bill that would not allow Kentucky residents to comment anonymously on the Internet. (2). This bill, House Bill 775 would require anyone who wants to leave a moment on a web site to register their real name, address, and e-mail address to the web site. (2). While I agree with the intent to protect the receivers of this horrible speech, I believe that this puts too much pressure on the speaker. The “sword” approach of an active government, while somewhat necessary to prevent further online stalking and bullying, may lead to further suppression of speech on the Internet, especially with a law as overbroad as the Tim Couch bill. Not to mention, this law would be next to impossible to enforce with the vastness of the Internet. Yes, making people be responsible for what they say seems like the right approach, but what about people who have chosen to speak anonymously for safety reasons? Speech of any sort, not necessarily harassing, would have to be attributed to a source, and would breach the right of a speaker to remain anonymous. Obviously, the Megan Meier Cyber Bullying Law is not this regulatory, but I believe that similar laws that may result could follow the trend of the unnecessary burden being placed on the speaker.
(1) “MySpace-hoax trial shines light on federal cyberbullying bill”, by Courtney Holliday, First Amendment Center Online intern, 11/20/08
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=20905
(2) “Rep. Couch Feeling Heat from Ban on Anonymous Web Postings” by Abby Johnson, 3/12/08 at 7:03am
(3) “Suicide of Megan Meier”, Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_Meier
(4) “Something more disturbing that litter came unwanted into this house”, by Steven Pokin, 10/22/07 (blog)
http://stcharlesjournal.stltoday.com/stevepokin/2007/10/something-more-disturbing-than-litter.html
(5) “Juror, mother in MySpace case speak about trial outcome”, AP (USA Today)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-01-myspace_N.htm
