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What does this have to do with libraries or our profession?  This is not the right 
forum for you to state your opinions, whether I agree with them or not.
Blake Norby
Carpenter Elementary School
Cary, NC

________________________________

From: School Library Media & Network Communications on behalf of Nancy Willard
Sent: Wed 12/3/2008 12:02 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Implications of the Lori Drew conviction



Some of you are going to get angry with me for this message. But recognize
that it is my perspective that there has been some very biased news coverage
of this incident and my reason for saying some of the things below are to
raise attention to the things we need to focus on to prevent another
tragedy.

I hope the judge acquits Lori Drew on the grounds that the statute this case
was brought under was simply not drafted for this purpose. There is a story
on this here: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/can-lori-drew-v.html

Further, I heard a presentation by the chief of police in this community
that leads me to believe that this situation was inaccurately reported. I do
believe there was an abject lack of effective parenting on both sides.

Lori Drew should have stopped this bullying behavior - but the picture
painted of Lori maliciously seducing Megan was inaccurate - Sarah, her
daughter, and Ashley, the 18 YO friend were the ones leading Megan on. And
the reason the profile was set up in the first place was that Megan was
bullying Sarah.

This was a 28 day relationship with an online stranger ending in one fight,
in which Megan was as nasty as Josh. I am not an authority on youth suicide,
but even I know that there had to be lots more going on in Megan's life for
this kind of circumstance to have led to a suicide. And none of us really
know what.

The "how can we prevent this from happening" prevention questions that I
think are very important - and that have not been asked  - are why Megan's
parents, who apparently knew of and were reading the communications between
Josh and Megan, did not step in and terminate this relationship. Tina Meiers
told news media that she had been concerned about Megan communicating with
and online stranger who might be a predator and had even called the police -
but thy did nothing. This does not sound credible to me. A parent calls the
police to express concerns that her daughter might be communicating with an
online predator - and the police did nothing. I don't think so.

You simply do not allow an emotionally vulnerable teen, who is under
professional care, on depression medicine, and has expressed suicidal
thoughts, to establish a close relationship with an online stranger who is
apparently sending messages saying he thinks she is "hot." I am sorry if
this sounds like I am coming down on parents who suffered the ultimate
tragedy. But we can't prevent more tragedies from happening if we do not
honestly look at the entirely of the situation to determine what the risk
factors were.

It was possible for Lori to stop what Sara and Ashley were doing - she did
not. This was really, really worng. It was also possible for the Meiers to
have removed their child from an obviously dangerous situation - and they
did not. This was also really, really wrong.

Teens need to know that anyone can create a false persona online and if they
do not know someone in person - or know someone who knows that person in
person - they should proceed with significant caution.

Also, it is essential that teens understand the significant limitations of
online relationships. Apparently there were messages back and forth between
Megan and Josh like "you are so hot." and "I love you." We need to ensure
that these hormone ravaged teens understand that while it may be possible to
deepen a real world relationship online, "online romance" is a myth. A key
indicator that you are communicating with an unsafe person is that the
person sends "overly-friendly messages" (thanks Rep Folely) like, "Wow you
are hot" "I am so glad I met you" "I really love you" when there is NO BASIS
whatsoever for the relationship.

But I had some other thoughts about what I consider to be exceptionally
stupid idea of using a computer fraud law to convict someone of violating
the terms of use of a web site. I realized this has a direct school
connection. Students are all required to abide by Acceptable Use Policies at
school - many of them sign the policies. So the next time you have a student
violate the terms of the Acceptable Use Policy, I suppose you ought to call
the federal prosecutors in to charge this student with a federal felony.
That is how ridiculous this prosecution is.

Nancy
--
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org <http://csriu.org/> 
http://cyberbully.org <http://cyberbully.org/> 
http://cyber-safe-kids.com <http://cyber-safe-kids.com/> 
http://csriu.wordpress.com <http://csriu.wordpress.com/> 
nwillard@csriu.org

Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social
Aggression, Threats, and Distress (Research Press)

Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the
Internet Safely and Responsibly (Jossey-Bass)

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