7 Comments »
Cyberbullying is nothing new on the web, especially when it comes to social networks. But one Oceonside teenager is fighting back, suing not only four former high school classmates and their parents, but Facebook as well. According to Newsday, Denise Finkel has brought this cyberbullying case, filed in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, for $3 million. Finkel claims that she was cyberbullied in a private forum on Facebook.
Now a student at the University at Albany, Finkel has named four former classmates as the bullies that created a private group on Facebook with the intention of bashing on Finkel claiming that she participated in bestiality as well as contracted AIDS.
Facebook plans on fighting the lawsuit brought against it by Finkel. But can Facebook win? Even if Facebook wins in court, the public perception of Facebook is at risk with such a potentially high profile Supreme Court case. Cyberbullying is no laughing matter, and can do serious harm and emotional damage to the recipients of calculated defamation.
The creation of these types of groups are largely prohibited on Facebook. And while we’re unsure of Finkle’s correspondence with Facebook as an effort to have the group removed, Facebook is still subject to things like rapid growth, making it increasingly difficult to respond to every direct communication in a timely and personalized matter.
Several regulations have been put in place for Facebook and other social networks, requiring things like the sites responding to such requests within an allotted time frame, giving the sites some additional buffer time to go back and tackle each request on an individualized level.
Additionally there are a number of initiatives on a global scale that are taking on cyberbullying head on, seeking cooperation from the social networks themselves for making online environments safer for all participants. Yet there’s only so much a site like Facebook can do. When self-regulating systems like user-generated reporting fails, and direct correspondence fails, it becomes a major problem for users and Facebook alike.
It seems unlikely that Finkel will be able to hold Facebook responsible for the content Facebook users created. There’s a legal analysis of this case at the National Coalition Against Censorship blog: http://ncacblog.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/woman-sues-facebook-over-user-generated-content/
The next thing you know, parents of kids being bullied at school will be suing the schools for creating this hostile environment their kids are going to. The cycle of ambiguous lawsuits never ends. One day, civilization will cease to be civilized because we’re all suing the heck out of each other. THIS ends up creating a hostile environment in itself!
One thing Facebook can do is stop allowing private chat rooms. People have a right to publish things on the Web, but since the Web is a public media ANYTHING published on the web should be searchable or otherwise accessible to ALL MEMBERS of the public. If this were the case, Denise could have accessed this site and gotten Facebook to take it down at minimum, and then sued the people who published the defammatory material. To me the question is whether the Web is a public place or can portions of it be sectioned of for private use for the purpose of harassment, libel, and discrimination. This form of attack, can and has been, used to harass people in both schools and offices, and if you have ever been on the receiving end of such an attack at your workplace I doubt that you would regard it as frivolous.
Thank you for carrying this report.
I want to focus on two related areas that I think are more important in the long run than the furor over whether any or all of the accused four did it and whether Facebook is liable for content that’s not obviously pornographic.
The first area that I think is more important in the long run is the ongoing effort to make new laws in response to new crimes, especially using new technology. The natural way that we make new laws begins when some people commit acts not specifically covered under the old laws that have terrible consequences. We respond by specifically labeling those new actions as crimes, and attach what we feel are appropriate criminal penalties. Then we see, by trial-and-error, where to draw better lines. The legal system is inevitably slow, inefficient and never perfect.
Given the increasing number of lives ruined by cyber bullying, emotional harassment and abuse, especially in schools, and the number of suicides stimulated by cyber bullying, I think that our society will make laws specifically stating that false and malicious statements and postings, in addition to pornography, are illegal. I don’t think we’ll hold carriers like Facebook, MySpace, etc. liable for their postings. But I think we’ll hold them liable for ignoring complaints about specific chat groups and postings that they continue to carry.
Many states and school districts, including Kansas, Oregon and California are considering such laws to protect children and teenagers from cyber bullying.
One stumbling block in making such laws is where to draw the lines and the hidden assumption that cyberbullying laws can and should be made “just right” for all situations – never too lax, never too harsh. But the letter of the laws can never cover all situations with “just right” justice. We always depend on human wisdom in the law’s application to specific situations. That’s just the way it is – for better or for worse.
And I think that in this area, safety should triumph over cyber freedom.
The second area that I think is more important in the long run is parenting for the specific situations involving our kids and teenagers. Our job is to monitor our children:
1. Do they look like they’re having a hard time (maybe being attacked by cyberbullies)? How can we help them stop bullying on their own or do we need to intervene?
2. Are they witnessing cyber bullying and are they struggling to know whether or how to intervene?
3. Are they cyber bullies? How do we stop them and help them develop the character to make amends and do better next time?
4. Should they even be on MySpace or Facebook or any social networking sites? What else would be a better use of their time and energy?
And of course there are no easy answers. No one is really dumb enough to think there are easy solutions.
There are no safe environments. Schools and the real world have never been safe. Schools and social networks are testing grounds for the real world. And the real world is not and should not be safe. Facing risks and danger helps us develop good sense, good character and the qualities necessary to survive. Imagine growing up on a farm, in a wilderness village or in the middle ages. Not safe. I grew up in New York City. Not safe. Millennia ago we had to learn what a saber-toothed tiger’s foot prints looked like and how long ago they were left. The world still requires survival skills, even if different ones.
Our job as parents is to teach our children the skills and grit to survive in whichever jungle or battleground they live, and to protect them when they’re over-matched.
Disclosure: I’m the author of the books and CDs “How to Stop Bullies in Their Tracks,” “Parenting Bully-Proof Kids” and “Eliminate the High cost of Low Attitudes.” I’m available for coaching, consulting and speaking. To find practical, real-world tactics to stop bullies and bullying at home, school, work and in relationships, please see my web site at BulliesBeGone (http://BulliesBeGone.com) and blog (http://BulliesBeGoneBlog.com).
This has happen to me on myspace through a game called mobsters. I would block this person and he would make a new id I block new ID and it keeps going on when I block him he got real mad. My company was tied into myspace and now not anymore. I have gone to mobsters and reported it and nothing and myspace also. I’m not a child and his could happen to a child. The companies with this need to take this very serious for he got my company information and called me also and he made a threat. I think that the companies myspace, facebook and the games they have on them need to make some rules for social paths do hide on the web and it is scary. I hope this helps some people always be on guard you never know who your talking to and if someone gets mad at a game what will they do. Please keep your guards up I also did a blog on myspace about this and they took it down.
that is my warning shot, u tell one more lie about me or call me a stalker one more time. and i will kill you every day until u quit playing this game, and that aint no threat its a promise ~UWH~GENERAL~ENFORC ER~
you tell one more person .. that anyone is being stalked or anything of the sort.. i will personally show you how it feels to have someone attack you over and over and over.. you better lay off that crap as of this moment..
i dont give a shit about that bitch right now, how u gonna sit here and say u didnt threaten me, even your bossses read taht shit and seen you were threatening me with them, do sit here and lie to me dude, cause ill kill your ass for lying like apunk
This is comments left on a kid who is 16 years old and they are from the same person and group and this is also the person who I had blocked and who got a new ID, block new ID, Block New ID and this kid stood up for me and now they have done this to him.
This is coming from a little group on mobsters called unity of honor I call them unity of thugs for this should not happen and it does need to be stopped
I hope that mobsters and myspace looks into it for it is cyberbullying and they need to delete a account when this happens the games and only a game needs to have rules
I’m a bitch ? I’m a tease ? I will bring u 2 your knees ? i dont threat and i dont play ? dont f*ck around here thats all i can say!
you blocked like a puss Chavertycp777 for that you die again ..you say on your page you can tell by my IP address… ok fool whats my IP? lmfao… you are a tard.. im gonna enjoy this
This is a comment the person did leave when he used a new id after I had blocked him not very good by no means and I hope that I can get something done. Which they can track them with the ip address. With me it has become cyberstalking and I want this to end for children do play mobsters hope this helps anyone
other comments are not good for posting here I’m going to contact a attorney and go from there for he has not given up
mobster game needs to stop this and maybe I’m on a one person mission but I’m sick of it.
Mobsters on myspace has gone way to far