OT: We Are All Now Criminals Under The Law

[Renegade 13]

MrToxin said:
That's a terrible example. In fact, that's even radically different. I'm not even going to argue with you on either point because comparing messaging somebody on MySpace to locking somebody in a room for ten years with a gun is borderline insane.

Hence why I said it was an overblown example in my original post...

You seem to be missing the point anyways. I didn't intend for the two to be exact parallels, I meant to underscore the fact that simply because someone doesn't pull the trigger, doesn't mean they aren't guilty of murder. Is that clear enough to understand? Or should I simplify it further?

[Renegade 13]

Azselendor said:
false imprisonment not equal to bullying people.

Quite true. However, if both lead to the death of the victim, should they not both be said to have been murder?

[AgentZero]

I have to say I do find it a bit odd how people treat the Internet as some sort of special case, because at the end of the day, it's just another medium for communication. If this horrible woman had communicated via text message, would we be calling for nationwide wire tapping? Or if she'd used snail mail, would we be demanding that the Post Office filter all of our mail? What if she'd done it face-to-face (I know that wouldn't work in this particular example, but I'm sure there are other cases where it would)? Would we be demanding that federal agents monitor all of our conversations to make sure we don't say anything mean?

People will say and do nasty thing to each other regardless of the medium of communication used, and when these nasty things pass into the realm of the criminal, suggesting that we hold the medium responsible is to miss the point entirely. The fact that this woman used MySpace as a medium should be completely irrelevant to the case. If you don't think a little note tied to a rose and left outside her door every morning wouldn't have had an equally, if not more devastating effect on this young girl's psyche, then I really don't know what to tell you.

What I'm getting at is that it's the actions committed that should be criminalized, not the medium over which they were committed. I don't know about the US, but here in Canada, instigating someone to commit suicide is a criminal offense. If anything, the focus should be not on MySpace, but on why there are no laws to punish those who push someone to take their own life. But of course, everyone is going to keep talking about MySpace, because Internet bogeymen are more fun to talk about than perplexing holes in a justice system.

[MrToxin]

Eloquently put, Mr. Zero.

One of the biggest problems with MySpace is that it's easy to hate. Kind of a Wal-Mart syndrome there. Similar to IM programs, if you look at it. The news is often full of hysteria about ZOMG!!! PREDATORS ON TEH INTARWEBSSS!!! There's that To Catch a Predator show which acts like the internet is so full of sexual predators that it's about to overflow and engulf the world in a rain of predation.

How often do "special reports" about the unsafe nature of the internet come up? The stereotype of MySpace users is either adults that have nothing to do but prey on younger folk and stupid, attention-starved teenagers. The reality is different, of course, but perception > reality.

[Azselendor]

Renegade, no not really. As in both cases the victim would take their own life. The only thing similar that has happened in recent memory was a debt collector that harassed a lady into suicide. I don't remember what happened in that incident.

[Renegade 13]

Azselendor said:
Renegade, no not really. As in both cases the victim would take their own life. The only thing similar that has happened in recent memory was a debt collector that harassed a lady into suicide. I don't remember what happened in that incident.

Guess we'll have to (to use a massive cliche) agree to disagree