Now here's a good topic

[Unstoppable]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/17/internet....e.ap/index.html

 

Myself included. Considering in BCG forums I was not a good person and raged a lot. Will the internet ever have accountability? What would it take for such a measure to be passed? When is enough really enough?

 

I guess you can say the freedom should never be taken away and the responsibility rests on the individuals and family. It sure does but could other measures be taken to protect people who are under 18 and really have a very limited view of what's out there?

 

Should the internet be limited to those who are under 18 regardless of content for their own protection? hmmm

[Tels]

»Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.« -Mark Twain.

[SplaTtzZ]

I don't see how anyone other than the victim can be 'blamed' for suicide; my understanding of the term is that people make conscious decisions to off themselves, no one does that for them. Those adults that made the fake account are pretty sick people but.

[Tels]

I don't see how anyone other than the victim can be 'blamed' for suicide; my understanding of the term is that people make conscious decisions to off themselves, no one does that for them. Those adults that made the fake account are pretty sick people but.

 

I do think you can certainly blame other for the suicide, too, because the decision to "do it" was certainly not done by a "sane" person - and other either failed to help her (her parents) or "messed with her" (the other family).

 

However, I really don't see the "internet angle" here - the "internet" is just a tool - and nobody would want to regulate or ban for instance, the postal service or the telephone service.

 

Think about it, 100% of these people messing with a poor girl and driving her to suicide did wear underpants - we should ban underpants!

 

(in some cases, I would even in favour of this hehe

[oDDity]

Of course others can be blamed for a suicide. Victims of bullying often end up killing themselves, and the bullies are certainly responsible. People say it's the coward's way out, but I think it's actually a very brave thing to actually go though with it. You either have to be totally mental or have a lot of guts.

You have to draw a distinction between suicide attempts and actual suicides. In the former case, the people aren't really trying to kill themselves, just seeking attention.

[Vadrosaul]

Where are the girls parents the whole time? It seems they had an inkling that their daughter was distraught, so why didn’t they cut her back on her Internet usage. The ‘net is no place for someone who has a chip on their shoulder or wears their heart on their sleeve, especially for minors who on-average take the Internet way too seriously & don’t build up proper social interaction & thicken their skin.

[sparhawk]

There was a court case about an incident one year ago. Several prisoners of some prison (with the aid of some of the guards) have abused and tortured a young guy (about 17) and forced him into suicide. The trial is happening at the moment here in Germany.

[oDDity]

Yes, I think it should certainly be at least manslaughter if you bully someone so much that they kill themselves because of it.

[Unstoppable]

The parents have split up. They were pretty useless in my opinion. I blame them.

[OrbWeaver]

No it's not a good topic. It's a very, very tedious topic and I'm sick to death of hearing about it. As far as I'm concerned the "OMG TEH INTERWEBS ARE DANGEROUS FOR TEH CHILDREN!" crowd can fuck off back to the dark ages where they belong. It's not like they even care about the children in reality, they just can't stand the idea of an international communication medium that they don't control.

 

People say it's the coward's way out, but I think it's actually a very brave thing to actually go though with it. You either have to be totally mental or have a lot of guts.

 

I agree, suicide gets far too bad a press these days. Drooling conformists who think that life is about mortgages, SUVs and the television just can't understand why anybody wouldn't want to live according to the rules they've created, and label as "insane" or "irrational" anybody who makes a decision to do something about it.

[OrbWeaver]

The parents have split up. They were pretty useless in my opinion. I blame them.

 

Well thanks for that detailed expert analysis of the situation. I'm sure we can all rest easy now in the knowledge that Official Blame has been correctly apportioned.

[Unstoppable]

You're very welcome =D.

[Ishtvan]

I agree that the internet is totally irrelevant to this case. The same thing could have happened in any anonymous communication medium, for example in 1800 with letters and ye olde' towne message post. I'm sure girls killed themselves in 1800 because someone posted up a physical note saying that "so and so is a slut" and everyone saw it.

[Ombrenuit]

She only knew the guy online for a month. If she killed herself over someone she had known over the internet for a month, I feel like there are some more serious issues going on here.

[Domarius]

Where are the girls parents the whole time? It seems they had an inkling that their daughter was distraught, so why didn’t they cut her back on her Internet usage. The 'net is no place for someone who has a chip on their shoulder or wears their heart on their sleeve, especially for minors who on-average take the Internet way too seriously & don’t build up proper social interaction & thicken their skin.

That's a very good point, and works well in practice. My friend's younger sister was getting "addicted", spending wayyy too much time online at the detriment of other things, so they just pulled the plug and took control over how long she was on for, enough for her to do her research for school.

 

I agree that the internet is totally irrelevant to this case. The same thing could have happened in any anonymous communication medium, for example in 1800 with letters and ye olde' towne message post. I'm sure girls killed themselves in 1800 because someone posted up a physical note saying that "so and so is a slut" and everyone saw it.

It's much easier and quicker to convince a kid this Josh person existed, using MySpace though. Really, letters aren't any comparison - pen pals weren't as popular before the internet started. MySpace is pen pals x 1000.

 

 

She only knew the guy online for a month. If she killed herself over someone she had known over the internet for a month, I feel like there are some more serious issues going on here.

Well yeah, it actually tells you this in the article...