TuscMoms.com

Have you ladies been following the case of the teenager who took her own life after being cyber bullied? And then it turned out the boy cyber bullying her wasn't even real. He was made up by a neighbor playing a prank. Here's a story that talks about it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/us/28hoax.html

Here's some helpful information that includes stats, definitions and tips for parents who want to keep up on cyber bullying.

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_What_Adults_Can_Do/

Yes, I read this story in People mag I was horrified. It has to be a terrible thing to lose your child, but more than that knowing it was some mean joke, between a mother and daughter. Someone she once considered a friend. It is shocking that an mother would agree to do this to a child. Just shocking!

And update on this case.
Do you think Lori Drew should have been indicted?

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080516/NEWS/542632464/1007

I do.

It may be an unpopular opinion, but if they can prove that she asked for the profile to be created and took part in and knew the bullying was going on - she should be held responsible.

True, she didn't know that Megan was going to kill herself, but she took part in the tormenting.

I think this is a horrible and tragic case, and it sickens me to think of an ADULT tormenting a child like this.

That said, I don't think she should be indicted. I think SOMETHING should happen - but I don't think she should go to jail. I only say that b/c what she did was bullying. Kids bully. It's horrible and needs to be stopped, but we don't put kids that bully other kids in jail, right? If this had been the mother's daughter that did this - a 16 year old, right? - it would be chalked up as mean bullying, but we wouldn't be sending her to jail.

So, I'm not sure we should send her to jail just because she was an adult.

ANYONE who bullies like this needs a consequence - counseling, etc etc - but I'm not sure that jail is the answer.

The girl had other mental illness issues, so I'm not sure we can say for certain that the bullying is what led to her taking her life.

You make some good points Moozle. I just have a hard time with the fact that this was an adult - a parent of a teenager - who was participating in this.

And emotional problems or not - you never know how someone is going to react.

Plus - if the mother knew about the emotional problems does that make it worse?

I agree with GG that it is very different when an adult does this kind of thing. That is one sick mother who decides it's ok to pose as a teenage boy and continues to carry on a "relationship" with a girl online.
That all aside, she has not been charged with the bullying. She's charged with one count of consipracy and 3 counts of accessing protected computers without authorization. Of course, every one knows that the reason the feds went after her was because of the outcome of the bullying, but if they've got a legal basis to hang their hats on, more power to them. I wonder if it will stand up in the end, but whether it does or not, the case is highlighting the very real issue of cyber bullying in general. I would expect a civil suit is coming, if not already in the works, too.

I agree with you Moozle. While terrible and dispicable, she shouldn't go to jail. She had no way to know the girl would kill herself, and if she had, probably would not have done what she did. I think maybe community service helping runaway or abused children would be the answer and teach the mother and daughter both a valuable lesson.