Just an update...

In a previous post, I discussed the suicide of Megan Meier who killed herself after an ex-friend's mother, under the pretenses of "Josh," posted and sent cruel messages over MySpace.



Today, according to CNN, there will not be criminal charges filed against the person behind the fake MySpace page not because there is no fault involved, but because there is no way to prove any wrongdoing, as well as no charge to fit the crime.

A Missouri prosecutor said Monday no charges would be sought in the
case of a teen who hanged herself last year after chatting on MySpace, although
he said adults should have prevented the tragedy.
[...]
"There is no way that anybody could know that talking to someone or saying
that you're mean to your friends on the Internet would create a substantial
risk," Banas said. "It certainly created a potential risk and, unfortunately for
the Meiers, that potential became reality. But under the law we just couldn't
show that."
But Banas said that conclusion doesn't mean no one is to blame.
"Regardless of what we can charge or what we can't charge, there is no question
the adults should have said something to stop this," he said.
[...]
Missouri's harassment statute says nothing about the Internet, and the
stalking statute requires repeated conversations, so neither would apply in this
case, Banas said.
The purpose of the neighbor who arranged for the "Josh"
character "was never to cause her emotional harassment that we can prove," Banas
said. Any case would be based on "what we can prove and what a jury would
believe."

Tragic. Hopefully this has drawn enough attention to Internet crimes that we will soon have laws offering even a little bit of protection against this sort of an incident.