Should state laws against cyberbullying get tougher?

The neighbor WAS doing that to her daughter!! It's Megan's parents fault for being neglectful and not recognizing the warning signs.

The idea that Megan's parents are at fault is idiotic!They had talked to her repeatedly about getting emotionally involved with someone she had never met. Holding the victim or her parents responsible is like saying that if for one minute you turn your back and your daughter and she is kidnapped and raped it is your fault.For everyone that blames Megan or her parents I hope they feel the pain someday of what they went through

LelaRose --- exactly what were the warning signs in this case??????? Tell us all so that we can all become "mind readers"!!! This mother was aware that her daughter had some problems and openly admits that the family was working with her... but who would ever imagine that your "friend" and neighbor (an adult woman with children of her own) was "playing with this girls head" -- friends like that you don't need!!!! And with your attitude, "pass-the buck - LelaRose", please stay away from my neighborhood!!

How about not letting your child browse the internet all day unattended. How about we stop setting the precedent that it is someones elses job to look out for our children. I will admit that she should be prosecuted, however so should Megans parents. She was a minor and her ultimate safety was that of her parents, the fact that she was able to become "infuatiated" with a boy online at her age is as neglectful as handing her the keys to a car.

I worked for 2 years in a call center and got many irate customers. I was not able to hang up on a customer so I had to stay on the line listening to their insults. Compare this to getting bullied online for those of you that voted yes. Should I bring up a lawsuit to everyone that took out their frustration on me or should I have just quit my job and move on the way I did. Everyone has a choice. She didn’t have to pay attention to the insults online, there is a “red X” in the top right corner that makes those insults go away. Think before make idiotic remarks tougher laws will only restrict everyone more. Haven’t our freedoms been restricted enough.

John I am fat, and not really very attractive, but I certainly don't bully other people! In fact, I am a pretty nice person. What is wrong is that this woman is mentally ill and has no morals. Please don't blame her viciousness on her physical shape and thereby lump those of us who have proper values but are overweight in with this monster.

I'm fat and I have a mental illness but I don't bully.

This mother played with some kid 30 years younger.

The kid's mother warned the kid to get off the internet on that day. She couldn't prevent the death because she had to take the other child to a doc's appointment. She called the now-dead child on the cellphone from there too. She did try. Parents can't control children's behavior all the time. Anyway, calling the bully woman an evil b*t@& is an insult to female dogs. Calling her fat and ugly psycho bi*&h would an insult to fat and unattractive person with mental illness like myself. I may have mental illness but I try my best to be a good person.

Lets see how many bricks get thrown thru her windows. If justice can't be done, well maybe someone can pull online bully tactics on that mother the rest of her life. This judge is in the same idiotic column as the judge who sentenced a child rapist to 1 year in jail.

its stupid idiots like you that make me regret fighting for my country. the world would be better off without you...i hope the cops show up to arrest me because you two morons offed yourselves

how hateful. lets not continue the cycle of violence. what you are suggesting is definatly illegal, and rightly so.

This isn't a free speech issue - this is a fraud perpetrated against a young girl by a theoretically grown woman. If she or her daughter wanted to say directly to the deceased girl whether they liked her, or that they were angry about things that she said about the other girl, that is free speech. Insulting her in the way that they did is not free speech! Do you have children, or are you one?

I agree with you 100%. It is obvious that the girl suffered from some serious depression and would probably have committed suicide at some point in her life if she didn't get help.

As for making tighter tighter regulations concerning "cyberbullying" how many others out there have been bullied" in a chat room? i certainlly have, but I didn't go off and kill myself. Just go on any chat room and disagree with some of the people on there. you will be skewered and roasted in a heartbeat. .

Your kidding right?  This woman is sick...and she should be punished!  A civilized society expects and depends upon its people to treat each other with a basic level of respect.  What this woman did was cruel and mean hearted, towards a teenager.  This isn't just cyber bullying it is stalking...she planned to victimize this girl.  She planned to lead her on.  She planned to break her heart.  She has a daughter, she knows how emotional teenage girls get, and she allowed herself to get sucked into a revenge plot.  At some point all adults need to own up to their bad behavior.  If they don't we surely can not expect our children ever to.  Heaven knows our politicians and athletes don't set examples for children, should not at least parents???

You must be stupid. It wasn't free speech it was intent to cause harm whether emotional or physical she pretended to be someone else to be mean, not to voice her opinion

Your right I am stupid! I am going to go kill my self now and it's all your fault! Have fun in court explaining that was not your intent.

This woman didn't even have the guts to say it to the poor girl's face. She didn't just tell this girl "the world would be better off without you" she built her up with a ficticious identity, she strung her along, and then proceeded to "wreck" her. That's not free speech. Live bullies are bad enough, but "cyber" bullies?!? She was a teenaged girl, she has a teenaged daughter, she knew exactly what she was doing to this girl emotionally. There is a special place in hell for her and others like her. This is just one more example of the new American way, no one takes responsibilty for their actions anymore.

Both parents are to blame, the woman in question is obviously upset at the other girl for making her daughters life a living hell by spreadig sexual orientation rumors. So she reacts way out of bounds of what would be considered normal behavior for an adult. She should have called the parents of the deceased girl and expressed concern. If the girls parents were paying attention they may have been able to get her into a doctor for some kind of depression treatment. That's what adults should do.

Nice comment; "Do you have children, or are you one?" Seriously girls and boys in high school lead each other on all the time to be cruel. My daughter has been taught not to do that, but some of her peers make a game of it. I agree this woman was out of line. But she did nothing criminal and if you’re going to stretch the definition of fraud than I am going to stretch the definition of free speech.

I'm so glad there is a sensible 15% out there. The girl killed HERSELF. She picked on Drew's daughter and that suddenly becomes "OK" when the lunatic hangs herself. If anyone should go to jail it is her neglectful parents!!!

Either "Give me a break" is a bully or has never been bullied, therefore can't empathize. Cyber bullying is as serious as bullying in the work place, school, home, etc. Bullying is bullying and bullies should be punished. Do I think this woman should go to jail? No, but I do think she needs some serious therapy for finding it so easy to bully a child. While I am very protective of my children and would do anything for them, I would not actually hurt another child to avenge them. Even if I really wanted to. I would talk to the parents or the school counselor, etc. There are better ways of handling kids who get out of line.

Pascale how did you know? Yep that's me.. a big bully. So far I have been called names and had judgments made about my childhood in the last 30 min, online by so called adults who have never met me. Be realistic, everyone has been bullied at one point in there lives and it is horrible to go through, but so are allot of things in life. If you focus on that then you will be unhappy, depressed etc. Sounds like you should talk to someone. Maybe you have repressed bully issues.

"give me a break" sounds like the sort of bully that wants the right to get away with what they want in life and not be acountable. well I say be accountable! , if not to a lenient judge then to the people who she hurt and the girl she helped kill. DLN

86.8% an majority rules, DLN

450 VOTES TO 66

I didn't realize this was a court of law, this would be defined more as a mob.

As the mother of a 12 year old girl I can honestly say that these are very fragile years for children - especially girls. Their hormones are going crazy and they are under enormous pressure to be "cool" and wear the right clothes and be attractive. Even girls from the most stable homes and who have the most attentive parents can become tragically insecure- and that includes the so-called popular girls. This woman had a child the same age and should have understood how unstable girls her age can be. She may not be legally responsible, but I hope she feels morally responsible for the rest of her life. I believe she is the one with the mental disorder. Any grown adult who is immature enough to participate in something like this should not be allowed to keep her own children. She is obviously unfit and not well, mentally.

Give me a break, when your wrong your wrong period!!! DLN

Brilliant comment, Kris! I agree completely! Nobody in this country ever wants to take responsibility for themselves and their actions anymore - it's always somebody else's fault. And now this insidious mentality is being used to justify taking away our right to free speech! Why wasn't the dead girl's mother paying attention to her daughter's psychological state, not to mention her online activities? And furthermore, if the dead girl didn't like being bullied, she could have just turned off the computer. But no, it's always somebody else's fault...

Sorry, I meant to say, "Brilliant comment, 'Give me a break.'!" Not, "'Brilliant comment, Kris!'" I agree completely with your sentiments, Mr./Ms. Give Me A Break.

Hello it is not that she said something mean, it is that she pretended to be a young boy got this little girl to think she had fallen in love with the boy and then had the boy tell her the world would be a better place with out her. Teens are very emotional and don't always deal with heart break good and to have this woman go through all the trouble to break this girl down is the problem how can you not see that are you really that heartless

byrdmom--Hello did you even read what the poll was about?

Ok, you’re right. Let’s shut down all social networking, blogging, posting etc. until some governmental, binding, oversight committee (paid for by tax payers) can regulate everything online that is social to make sure it is not bullying. Obviously internet can hurt children; a plastic bucket can hurt children too.

you are the one sane person here

Give me a break-- Give us all a break and kill yourself. Does that hurt your feelings? Probably not since bullies usually don't have any.

Great comment, "do you have a child, or are you one."

I love all these so called "parents" who like to mention that they "have a daughter" or "have a child", thinking that it justifies their rediculous comments. Why do all you @!$%#ing @!$%#s think that just because you can use your vagina that you are somehow more qualified to discuss matters of importance. You should just shut your mouth and stick with what you know, cooking, cleaning, and raising children. Although you all probably think that these things are demeaning to women, especially the "raising children" part. You're too concerned with "celebrity scandals", "desperate housewives", and trying to dress like those whores to take notice in your child. And when something does happen you start running around blaming everyone but yourself and @!$%#ing at the government to do something. But you have no one to blame but yourself. The fact that this girl decided to off herself and that her "mother" didn't even notice is proof enough that this woman shouldn't be allowed to breed. And don't start with, "oh, she had neurological disorders, she had depression." That's bull@!$%#. Every one of you would interperet a childs cry for help or acting out as a "neurological disorder" and would rather drug them up with ritalin or prozac than deal with the inconvenience of talking to them. It makes sense I guess, your schedule is too full to have time for your own flesh and blood.

Do your child a favor and kill yourself, because they'll be better off adopted by people that dont think a child is an inconvenience. And before you go and start lashing back, look at some of the previous posts by you hypocrits. You'll find that my comments are quite tame compared to mob killing this woman.

outragedparent just cyber bullied give me a break. Give me a break might be 13 years old like Megan Meier was. Where is the moral outrage?

Give me a break--You are one of the few people on this board that has any sense. The last thing we need is more government involvement to police whether what we say "might' be offensive. Maybe we need an internet police force headed by the internet czar to oversee all such sites to make sure no one offends anyone. Might as well use the bill of rights for toilet paper. Not condoning what Lori Drew did--she clearly is a nutcase that needs therapy because what she did went beyond what any reasonable person would do, but the parents also contributed. This girl was clearly disturbed and would have eventually committed suicide without this. The parents were the one who didn't get her the help she needed and were also the ones who let her have an account that she obviously lied about her age to get and then let her use it unsupervised. And where was all the discussion that internet is not all that it seems or taking away her privelages? Cyberbullying is very easy to prevent with common sense. I have been cyberbullied because people didn't like my opinion--I just ignored the more irritating people and you know what? I didn't kill myself. i just shudder to think about how over sensitive this generation is going to become.

Whats's wrong with all of you people who are blaming the girl and her mother? I think it's all of you who need a wake up call AND some compassion! You want to place judement on a troubled teen and her blame her mother for not noticing. It's not oversensitivity that moved that girl to kill herself. She had issues and belive me, unless you've walked in her shoes, you know nothing! It's awfully easy to hide emotional problems, especially with all the stigma that society places on mental problems. A person gets cancer and everyone is so moved and sympathetic. But, those with depression, bi-polar, anxiety, and other mental disorders are supposed to buck up and just get over it! My point has been proven by all of the ignorant remarks posted on this website. If you're in a fragile state of mind, it's not so easy to block other's cruelty out. How many kids are suicidal and no one is aware?

As for her mother, you can't pay attention to your kids 24/7. Teens that age are moody to begin with. They don't want to share everytinhg with their parents anymore. Why is it always so easy to blame the parents when something goes wrong?

Put the blame where it belongs. On the grown woman who taunted her. She is a sick, evil human being. She should be thrown in prison and made to pay for her ignorance, as well as the blatant disregard for a childs well-being!People go to jail for a lot less that what this woman did.

I worked for 2 years in a call center and got many irate customers. I was not able to hang up on a customer so I had to stay on the line listening to their insults. Compare this to getting bullied online for those of you that voted yes. Should I bring up a lawsuit to everyone that took out their frustration on me or should I have just quit my job and move on the way I did. Everyone has a choice. She didn’t have to pay attention to the insults online, there is a “red X” in the top right corner that makes those insults go away. Think before make idiotic remarks tougher laws will only restrict everyone more. Haven’t our freedoms been restricted enough.

the only law that needs changed are the laws that alowed you to have a kid

C.H.--How old are you? 13? You and Give me a break should hook up and have a gaggle of obnoxious bullying wack-jobs together.

What kind of parent attacks another parents child? What kind of parent encourages and promotes vengence amongst kids.

The internet is sadly here to stay, and unfortunately one can not expect to be able to screen every thing their child sees and reads (oh no is that the aclu after me).

But come on, adults should know better than to behave this way, and if they don't they a) should not be allowed to breed, and b) be punished. She had a victim in sight, plotted to get her attention, and fraudulently played this kid - all as payback for her own kid...talk about a nut.

EXACTLY right, Jan Black! If the bullying was so bad, the girl could easily have Blocked that person, so they couldn't send her messages anymore. She could've also changed her Privacy Settings, so that nobody could send her messages except a select, hand-picked group of friends. Or, she could have deleted her MySpace account, and set up a new one. Or, she could've just turned off the damn computer! The girl had many, many options available to her to stop the bullying. The fact is, she chose to read those nasty messages, and she chose to commit suicide. It's nobody fault but her own (and her mother's, for not paying enough attention to her).

Well isn't that rich?!? Calling a DEAD 13 year old a nut. You should b so proud!

And Linnea--Why would she block them if they were being nice and flirting with her? Duh! They weren't mean until the very end...right before she KILLED HERSELF!! Have some compassion you heartless SOB's.

Exactly right Enron. They led Megan on,deliberately played on her emotions to make her feel wanted by an attractive boy and then crushed her just out of spite.Lori Drew is a vicious monster and laws should be in place to punish filth like her

Enron - that's really not the point. The point is that cyber-bullying is very easy to escape from. All you have to do is Block the bullies, or turn off the computer. It's that simple. We don't need laws to keep us safe from cyber-bullies, when common sense works just as well.

This is no different than the heavy-metal suicides in the '80s, in which Black Sabbath lyrics were blamed for causing a bunch of kids to kill themselves. The prosecutors lost that case, too. This is just the same old garbage, in a different venue.

The fact is, if laws were put in place to prevent cyber-bullying, then you (and half the people who posted here) would be in jail right now. Oh no, you called me a heartless SOB!! I'm gonna go kill myself now, and it's all your fault!! Good luck beating those Manslaughter charges!!

Do you see now how horribly constrained and stifled the internet would be, if laws were put in place to regulate what we say and do online?

There is no comparison between the Black Sabbath case and this. This was a vicious vindictive woman who purely out of spite prayed upon the emotions of a vulnerable 13 year old,went out of her way to ensnare her in her deception,played with her emotions just so that she could crush her emotionally. Lori Drew in beyond contempt and 1st Amendment was NEVER intended to protect vicious thugs that are adults preying on children. Lori Drew was a cyber stalker who deliberately set out to harm the former friend of her daughter and she did it maliciously with forethought.This was no random lyrics interpreted by misguided fans,this was a bully singling out a victim,stalking her and using her weakness to destroy her.

Joe F Las Vegas: Um, how do you know what the Framers intended when they wrote the 1st Amendment? Can you talk to ghosts?

The Supreme Court has long held that free speech cannot, and should not, be infringed upon, unless the words in question create an IMMINENT THREAT of bodily injury or death (i.e., yelling "Fire!" in a crowded building). Calling someone nasty names clearly does not create an imminent risk of injury or death - not even if the victim is suicidal. The fact is, whether or not to commit suicide is a CHOICE, and ultimately, it is a choice that only the suicidal person can make. Therefore, the only person who posed an IMMINENT threat to this girl was the girl herself. Furthermore, an imminent threat is one that is sure to happen at any moment. Since even trained psychiatrists often fail to foresee their patients' suicides, no layperson can reasonably be expected to foresee what might push a suicidal person over the edge.

In other words, this woman's bullying could just as easily have caused the girl to cry for 3 days, eat a lot of ice cream, and eventually get over it. There's no way to tell, until after the fact. And if there's no way to tell beforehand whether or not the person will commit suicide, then by definition the threat is not imminent. Whereas, if someone is about to shoot you, there is no chance that the bullet will simply bounce off you - the gun presents an imminent threat of injury or death. Furthermore, since it is ultimately the victim's choice whether to commit suicide or not, it is the victim herself who poses the imminent threat, not the bully. Whereas, if someone tries to shoot you, you don't get to decide whether or not the bullet will hit you.

And BTW - "This was no random lyrics interpreted by misguided fans..."? Um...WHAT? The song was called "Suicide Solution," and the lyrics say, "Where to hide, suicide is the only way out."

if the world was a just place, someone would beat you with a stick for being so stupid...looks like neither of us will see the kind of justice we would like

Oh no not another one. By your logic Cyber stalkers and people with child porn on their computers are ok because its just on the computer and its not real (how did you put it make believe) But unfortunatly it all hurts people in one way or another.

Cyber-stalking isn't the same as cyber-bullying. The difference is the same as the difference between stalking and bullying in real life (i.e., if someone teases me at school, they are a bully, but if they follow me home and threaten to kill me, they are a stalker). This girl was not stalked - she invited her bully to join her Friends list on MySpace, and she could have Blocked the bully if she wanted to. The bully did not follow her around all over the internet, threatening to hunt her down and kill her.

And child porn does not take place in cyberspace like cyberbullying does, so it is irrelevant to this topic. It gets distributed on the internet, but it is created in the real world.

I bet you HARD "OLD" Working American would have a different attitude had it been your kid bullied to death and nothing was done about it. DLN

CH, Are you really that angry? Do you really have that much disdain for a differing opinion that you would publically wish violence upon another person? Whoever is hosting this forum needs to bounce your anti-social/borderline personality disordered self ASAP and collapse your posts. Perhaps we should all report you for threatening or at least wishing violence on another person for your own personal enjoyment in such a public forum. Whatever happened to restrained civility inspite of differing opinions?

And, for the record. The judgement was correct. The laws, as the exist presently, do not offer any redress for what Lori Drew perpetrated. Do I agree with what she did? No. It was immature. The Meier girl started the harrassment of Drew's daughter and as a mother I would want to protect my child. BUT as an adult, I would have taken it up DIRECTLY with the other girl's parents and escalated it from there, potentially in a court of law to stop it. As opposed to regressing to a teenaged mentality and acting as Lori Drew did. There is enough blame to go around. Yes, Lori Drew deserves some kind notice by the legal system, but until laws are specific enough to do so, that cannot happen. The law they were using to prosecute her, had the judgement stood, could have left us all vulnerable to some sort of prosecution.

I agree with you. It is tragic that this woman got away with this crime from a legal perspective. However, as the mother of the victim stated, she will definitely suffer in the court of public opinion. If there is any positive from this tragedy, this should be a wake-up call that we as a society need to ensure our legislative bodies create laws addressing cyberbullying and other wrongful doings using the Internet as a tool as criminal acts. The same punishment that would be received if other mediums were used should still be applied to the Internet. Unfortunately though, even in "real life" bullying is not really given significant legal penalties. As this case and others show, using your mouth as a weapon to seriously harm someone should have some since of legal consequences similar to using a physical weapon. Wake-up call. If this outcome angers you, then ensure your legislators are doing something about this for future cases!

Thanks Tyler. I'm not new to these forums but it has been a while. I don't mind if people want to voice their opinions, even forcefully so. I'm just not "down" with anything that advocates violence, even in jest or the heat of passion while defending ones own position. Happy INDEPENDENCE Day!!

gladly. small price to pay for fredom of speach

I do not, in any way, condone what Lori Drew did nor am I advocating for her. It was beyond reprehensible and she will have to deal with her baseless actions for the rest of her life. Why? Because as we 'speak' there are NO laws on the books the address this issue. The federal law that she was prosecuted under is so broad that if the trial had succeeded it would have opened the door for any one of us who did not read the "terms of use" for any website open for federal prosecution had we violated any one of the terms, however innocent. The first thing that they teach you in law school is that ignorance of the law is no excuse. Just because you didn't know the law existed doesn't relieve you of your culpability. Additionally, any new legislation will tread a fine line between protecting the innocent and preserving our ability to freely express ourselves.

That being said, both families bear culpability in the death of Megan Meier. Her parents for not supervising her use of the internet and Lori Drew for immaturity and stupidity. Had Mrs. Drew dealt with this as an adult perhaps Megan Meier could have gotten the help she needed and would be with us today.

So basically John, we should have the internet social networking sites and all message boards heavily regulated, restricting what you can or cannot say just in case another nutcase like Lori Drew *might* do something like this and make sure that anyone no matter how sensitive doesn't get offended? Sorry, but that is just not some path I am willing to go.