Internet Harassment illegal now?

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. (AP) — City officials unanimously passed a measure making online harassment a crime, days after learning that a 13-year-old girl killed herself last year after receiving cruel messages on the Internet.
 
The six-member Board of Aldermen made Internet harassment a misdemeanor on Wednesday, punishable by up to a $500 fine and 90 days in jail. Mayor Pam Fogarty said the city had proposed the measure after learning about Megan Meier's death.
 
"It is our hope that by supporting one of our own in Dardenne Prairie, we can do our part to ensure this type of harassing behavior never happens again, anywhere," Fogarty said, adding, "after all, harassment is harassment regardless of the mechanism or tool."
 
Several dozen people broke into applause after the measure was passed.
Authorities have said they could not find a crime to charge anyone with in the case of Meier, who thought she had met a good-looking 16-year-old boy on the social networking site MySpace last year. But he began sending her mean messages and others joined in, her family said, then abruptly ended their friendship.
 
Megan hanged herself within minutes of receiving the last messages on Oct. 16, 2006, and died the next day.
 
Megan's parents, Ron and Tina Meier, learned about six weeks after Megan's death that the boy, Josh Evans, was not real. 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.
Her father said he found a message from Josh, which he said law enforcement authorities have not been able to retrieve. It told the girl she was a bad person and the world would be better without her, he has said.
 
The four-page measure defines both harassment and cyber-harassment, essentially making it illegal to engage in a pattern of conduct that would cause a reasonable person to suffer "substantial emotional distress," or for an adult to contact a child under 18 in a communication causing a reasonable parent to fear for the child's well-being.
 
City attorney John Young said constitutionally protected activity would be exempt. The measure would apply when one of the people communicating was in Dardenne Prairie.
During a break in the meeting, Fogarty embraced Megan's mother with tears in her eyes. She said she was sorry there had not been a law previously in place to prosecute Megan's harassers.
Tina Meier said she was thrilled that the city had passed the new measure.
"This is not a stopping point," she said. "We're not done."
 
City officials also passed a resolution encouraging state and federal officials to outlaw cyber-harassment and cyber-stalking.[B] A state lawmaker has questioned how state law could be altered without running afoul of First Amendment issues.[/B]

Stupid Law BTW

I agree. I mean damn, the girl killed herself and that's horrible what those people did. But where the hell do you draw the line. It's not like they strung the noose and coaxed her up into it, she did that shit on her own. And if she didn't want to hear it, get off fucking myspace.

Harassment has always been illegal.
Making a 'cyber harassment' thing is just... bah.

People should use common sense instead.

[QUOTE=DriftGirl;109001]Stupid Law BTW[/QUOTE]

Dang you really know how to find those write-ups. I always see stuff like that on "THE BACK PAGE" titled articles. Thx for the updates, your the official reporter for this forum.:biggthumpup:

This is why 13 year old kids aren't suppposed to have a myspace. 
 
THis is also just a city law, and won't be illegal anywhere else. 
 
This is also a retarded law just so the parents of the deceased girl can have 'justice' and have some retribution for not watching what their kids were doing on the internet. 
 
Myspace ruins peoples lives.

[QUOTE=Caoboy;109032]This is why 13 year old kids aren't suppposed to have a myspace. 
 
THis is also just a city law, and won't be illegal anywhere else. 
 
This is also a retarded law just so the parents of the deceased girl can have 'justice' and have some retribution for not watching what their kids were doing on the internet. 
 
Myspace ruins peoples lives.[/QUOTE]

Her parents were watching her MySpace activity very closely. They just can't know what she's doing 24/7, and she managed to get on there without parental supervision long enough.

If it wasnt MySpace it would be sumthing else that pushed her over the edge....people tend to turn a blind eye on the roots of problem when it involves their kid. The easiest way out is to blame MySpace or the other kids for doing [I]stuff that kids do[/I]. 
 
That poor girl had serious mental issues with or without people picking on her.

hahaha, if Internet Harassment is illegal there wont be any more e-thugs to laugh at.

[QUOTE]The measure would apply when one of the people communicating was in Dardenne Prairie.[/QUOTE]
Only if you live in that part of Missouri...so I guess most of us are safe.

[quote=bOosty.ViP;109146]hahaha, if Internet Harassment is illegal there wont be any more e-thugs to laugh at.[/quote]
if we instituted a rule that people could only talk shit to each others face...we wouldnt have any Ethugs.:sad: 
 99.9211% are pussies in real life anyway:smiley-rofl:

[quote=elpresidente;109225]Only if you live in that part of Missouri...so I guess most of us are safe.[/quote]
 
This miscinception is why I tend to post legal issues. 
 
A law or and decision within our court system sets a precedent for other courts to use as a guidline. Some may institute the same Law and use the verdict to base sentencing. Some (attorneys with clients who can afford a trial) will challenge it....but who wants to be [B]'that guy'[/B]?
 
Battling your case [B][U]and [/U][/B]having that dead girls case to battle all over again? 
:thelaw: 
They'll pick a jury full of soccer moms....And there'll be no keyboard between u and 'Bubba' :smiley: 
 
 
on the real tho, legal decisions like this are [U]very[/U] scary :sad:

Yeah, I see Em's point, like how they cite these cases from the past, or use those as laws as reasoning to make and enforce one in this area. 

 BUT, it could also go the way of forgotten laws, that nobody mentions nor really bothers with. Besides, through the anonymity of the internet,  these such cases could very well be thrown out. 

You can't ever prove it's someone typing these very things to you, unless you had a camera showing their face, and them typing these statements, and unless you had their permission to be doing this, you, at the same time, would be breaking a few more laws yourself. 

Either way, it's a stupid law created, so the NEXT time this happens, you can be punished for some girl hanging herself because of something that was said on the internet. 

I love how the mother of the friend went about and did this, creating an account to find out why they had a falling out and to dig dirt on her daughter. That's another story though.