Online Hoax Victim's Family Demands Reform

Adults Posing As Teenaged Boy Sent Cruel MySpace Messages To Girl, Who Hanged Herself

(CBS/AP)  An Internet hoax that ended with the suicide of a 13-year-old has led to calls from her family for better protections against online harassment, though any solution may run afoul of the First Amendment.

Megan Meier, 13, hanged herself Oct. 16, 2006, just minutes after receiving mean messages on the social networking Web site MySpace. She died the next day.

Megan's parents learned about six weeks after her death that their daughter, who thought she was communicating online with a 16-year-old boy, was being deceived. The boy was created by a mother down the street who wanted to know what Megan was saying about her own daughter, who had had a falling out with Megan.

She reportedly received messages on her MySpace page saying "Megan Meier is fat," "Megan Meier is a slut" and "the world would be a better place without you," reports CBS News station WBBM-TV.

Lt. Craig McGuire of the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department said authorities could not find a crime to charge anyone with in Megan's case.

"How do you legislate bad behavior?" he asked.

Megan's family wants reforms that would make it illegal for adults to misrepresent themselves to children online and make it illegal to harass or bully online.

Aldermen in Dardenne Prairie, the Meiers' hometown of about 7,000 residents about 35 miles from St. Louis, have proposed a new ordinance related to child endangerment and Internet harassment. And Republican Rep. Cynthia Davis, a state lawmaker who represents the area, said she is trying to see if existing Missouri laws can be improved.

But, she noted, any legal reforms must protect freedom of speech rights. And federal reform might be more appropriate since someone from outside the state could interact with Missouri children online, she said.

Even so, it's hard to know what would work as a response to Megan's situation, Davis said. "This girl was not threatened on the Internet. Somebody said some things that were extremely horrid," she said.

What happened to Megan isn't just awful, it ought to be criminal, her mother, Tina Meier, said Monday.

"You cannot, absolutely cannot, as an adult, pose as a 16-year-old boy on a computer and play games with someone," Meier, 37, told The Associated Press.

"If there's not a law out there to punish someone for that, that's despicable," she said.

Tina Meier, who acknowledges she let her daughter open a MySpace account before she was 14 as the Web site requires, said she monitored her daughter's activities, logging on for her daughter and using software that was designed to capture Megan's communications online.

MySpace did not comment specifically on Meier's case, but an employee said the site does have information about keeping teens safe online, with guidelines for what people can do if they feel they are being bullied.

Meier said more needs to be done to protect children.

"We want the law to change so this doesn't happen again," she said.

[Wookiee-1138]

"If there''s not a law out there to punish someone for that, that''s despicable"

I wonder how they''d enforce such a law.

[cybarrera]

it was dam sexual

[cybarrera]

it was *** sexual

[cybarrera]

it was *** sexual

[mercyme884]

Again you people are missing the point. The Mother signed for her to have an account on "MY SPACE" encouraged her daughter to communicate with person or persons totally unknown,and now she cries because her daughter is dead.Lady, you need your head examined with all the stories about child predators and other crazies on the internet, especially "MY SPACE",Parents need to be protecting their children, not putting them out there on "MY SPACE"to face the "worst of the WORST"

[three-o-six]

eggy 1620

Big brother is alive and well.

[glaswolf]

If parents allow a child to play with something that causes death, the parents are guilty of "life threatening" child endangerment and terminal neglect. The parents of the suicide should be prosecuted for parental incompetence. For dysfunctional parents to induce legal constraints on the masses because of their own incompacity is what is criminal here. They, like Class'' father, belong a concentration camp for parents so dysfunctional they can''t raise Darwin proof kids.

[eggy1620]

I cannot believe that CBS censored the word d*a*r*n

[eggy1620]

The Meiers were one of those typical upper middle class famillies in which the parents are both so busy furthering their careers, giving the kids every material thing possible, and not placing limits on independence, trying to be the cool mom and dad. But they don%u2019t pay attention to the needs of their kids.

This girl%u2019s agony could have been prevented if Tina and Ron Meier had given a *** about their daughter and UNPLUGGED HER COMPUTER!

Not to say the witch down the street is absent of any blame, but parents today should not count on other parents to act like adults.

[lastdance4]

Stalking a Child on the Internet - Is a Criminal Act
It doesn''t necessarily have to be - S*e*x*ual

It needs to be - Enticing

Enticing a Child for Immoral Purposes
(Purposely .....To cause Emotional Stress and Mental Despair)

Lastdance

[ndg1979]

OK crazy people, lets get a couple of things straight here. First, although this woman wrote these degrading things to this young girl, she did not commit murder, a physical act. She could be considered as harrassing though, but can only be charged if doing so does not violate her first ammendment rights to free speech.

Second, why the girl''s mother violated MySpace policy in getting her 13 yr old daughter this site should also be questioned, especially since I am sure she knew all too well from the media how dangerous the internet is. She should have been more protective of her daughter. Now she is instead stuck for the rest of her life trying to blame society for her mistake. How about trying to get your 13 yr old to play a musical instrument or take up a sport as opposed to lazing on their but in front of a computer? Ever consider that?

To try to answer every ill in society with a law is wrong. I am sure that if I broke the food mixer at my parent''s house, someone would say that there should be a law against that! Same deal. I feel bad that a 13 yr old is gone for good, but trying to "build" a law for this situation is only bandaging the real societal issues.

[ralan40]

The only murderer was the victim. The facts speak for themselves. Sounds like anything could have made her commit suicide.
All those people who don''t buy into personal accountability are part of the problem these days.

[Krazcarl]

scientolgy and mormanism both ludichris and a shame to those that practice it, sometimes it''s good to see what''s under the barrel. You look at these faiths all you see is lunacy. Check them out gold tablets no one has seen and UFO''s deciding the way you have to be desperate or mentally challenaged to buy into it, as we see there there is no shortage of either.Jim Jones had a plan and they all died,

[octavianfdlr]

What does this article have to do with science or technology? (NOTHING!)

[slim1h2o]

What''s any one doing to help combat bullies on the internet, or in real life?

Probably nothing, no one cares anymore, but I do, everyone gets this righteous indignation about it, but does nothing.

If I see something, I, at least will intervene, someway, somehow. Do you?

[rudy654-2009]

What happened here is indeed illegal, well at least in some states for sure. In 2004 a man in South Carolina was sentenced under a law against using the internet to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass. What this parent did falls easily into one of these categories. The girl was the victim of targeted harrassment. That is where aggressive behavior is done by one person or group, is carried out repeatedly over and over, and someone who is less powerful is specifically targeted for such harrassment. If this kind of conduct isn''t illegal where this family lives, it should be.

[mkbjon]

No criminal action may be taken against Lori Drew, but citizens everywhere can take action by letting her know just how we feel about what she did. Public sentiment can be every bit as harsh a punishment as jail time. She should be shunned, ridiculed, and made a pariah wherever she goes.

[llamaduck-2009]

They want the law to change - what more can the law DO? The parents *let their kid online alone.* It''s tragic that they lost a child, but they should have taken away the computer, blocked the site, or reported the users to MySpace. Of course they are not to blame - nobody is but the adults who hurt that child. Why not sue them?

[rf35]

It is obvious both Megan Meier and Lori Drew had serious mental imbalances. Ms. Drew should be committed to a mental institution for treatment immediately before she causes more harm to someone else or herself. Now that she knows she can get away with murder, what%u2019s to stop her from targeting other children in this way? The ability to kill a person and face no consequences could produce such a strong feeling of power that she might even target random victims to relive the rush and excitement of getting away with murder. I feel sorry for the family of Ms. Meier. It is sometimes hard to separate mental problems from "normal" teen issues of self-esteem, self-image, etc. She might be alive today if she had received treatment for her own mental problems. Laws are not the answer here%u2026better identification methods and treatment of mental illness is.

[taylpatr]

Lori Drew, what in he*l were you thinking? You are as guilty of this poor childs death as you would be if you had shot her. You need to atone for your sin- and you should never be allowed access to a computer again in what''s left of your miserable existence.This just shows how people can take something as marvelous as a computer and use it for horrible purposes.