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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) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book. 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