Monday, June 16, 2008

Internet Cruelty

A woman is being charged for pretending to be a boy on MySpace and then harassing the thirteen-year-old girl next door. Finally, the girl killed herself. She is being charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This may not work as the law has never been used in this way. If it fails - well, as one lawyer says, 'You can't start imposing liability on people for being cruel.' This is an odd remark as we do that all the time - though, usually, it involves physical cruelty. Does the internet require a special crime of mental cruelty or is there one already? Perhaps I could sue some of my more abrasive commenters or that guy whose headline calling me a wanker is still on the front page of my Google search. It hurts, I tell you, it hurts.

12 comments:

  1. you shouldn't google yourself, you vain man! does that count as abbrasive enough?

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  2. If it hurts then for goodness sake stop doing it Bryan, you left that one wide open.

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  3. My kids and I were talking about that story -- the kids were horrified that an *adult* could be so cruel. They would not have been surprised, though, had it been another kid, a "mean girl." This case is the worst example of America's essence being adolescence. Some people simply refuse to grow up.

    Right now we have another great case unfolding in the Phila. suburbs near me. Two middle-aged, divorced single moms hosted a party for a bunch of teenage boys. They gave 'em booze & one had sex with one of the teens while the other adult -- and other boys -- listened at the door. Can you say, "Sick"?

    Oh, wait, a third story. One of our well-known news anchors has temporarily been removed from his post b/c it seems likely that he has been secretly reading the e-mails of his not-long-ago fired co-anchor and leaking their contents to the media (which helped her get fired).

    Um, you folks in England and Europe: Could you send us a few adults to train these children?

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  4. i find it interesting that the internet seems to encourage cruelty and egomania but not kindness and curiosity. i guess it's because people can be cruel & narcissistic without any real payback, plus they can project whatever they want onto their virtual adversaries/victims; but, on the whole, kindness seems to emerge from human-to-human interactions, rather than between two virtual identities (even if those identities proceed from real human beings, but of course one can never tell how reliable they are on-line).

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  5. As King, in some eyes, it's within your power to level a charge of high treason and have done with it. After a fair trial at which the offenders will be found guilty, the Official Mutilator will step forward with an awful, hunch-backed lurch and saw their keyboard in half.

    I suppose there are always two schools of thought. The first is that our default mode is cruelty, which nurture can soften. The second is that we are innately good but prone to shocking lapses brought on by desire and illusion.

    In the meantime the circus goes on, many participants mad, some good and a few bad I guess. Nothing unpleasant intended here and I would feel crap if you thought it was.

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  6. Oooh! Just read Mr Michael Kelly's pieces on you. My word you've really got his goat, haven't you? There again, to be hated is often better than to be merely admired. As long as we are hated by the right people.

    In this case you are.

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  7. He calls you a tosser too Bryan, if I recall correctly.

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  8. you can't convict the man for using a thesaurus.

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  9. I would jail the revolting bitch myself. Cant say anything about the law on it as I dont know.

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  10. At least he didn't call you an imperialist lackey and fascist bootlicker and Ant & Dec fan - that would drive a man to suicide, for sure.

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  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  12. Would you mind cleaning the trash out of this thread, Bryan?

    March 18, 2009 10:45 AM
    and
    April 03, 2009 11:53 PM

    Thanks

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