cyberbullying
Court: Cyberbullying Threats Are Not Protected Speech
A California appeals court ruled this week that threatening posts made by readers of a website are not protected free speech, allowing a case charging the posters with hate crimes and defamation to proceed. The case raises fundamental questions about cyberbullying and the line between online speech and hate crimes. In her dissenting opinion, Judge Frances Rothschild said the appellate court ruling “alters the legal landscape to the severe detriment of First Amendment rights.” The case involves a teen identified as “D.C.” in court documents, who launched a website in 2005 when he was 15 to promote his pursuit of an acting and singing career.
Continue reading »Tags: appellate, california, case, crimes, cyberbullying, defamation, frances, legal, opinion, plaintiff, posters, result, speech
Parents of Dead Teen Sue School Over Sexting Images
The parents of a teenage girl who committed suicide last year are suing the girl’s ex-boyfriend and several other former high school classmates who circulated a nude photo of her and harassed her about the image. The suit was filed in Ohio by Cynthia and Albert Logan who say that the students’ “degrading sexual insults” caused their 18-year-old daughter Jessica, their only child, severe emotional distress, which led her to kill herself in July 2008, a month after graduating from high school. The suit names Ryan Salyers, Sara Jane Ramsey, Courtney Richardson, and Emily Stachler, as well as a minor identified only as A.
Continue reading »Tags: cyberbullying, daughter, harassment, image, montgomery, sycamore, teenage, the courts
Prosecutors Drop Plans to Appeal Lori Drew Case
Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have filed a notice that they do not intend to pursue an appeal in the Lori Drew cyberbullying case, thus ending the controversial and lengthy case. “We have a notice with the 9th Circuit that we are withdrawing our notice of appeal in the case,” a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles wrote in an e-mail to Threat Level.
Continue reading »Tags: circuit-court, controversial, cyberbullying, family, federal, government, judge-postpones, result, the courts
Virtual Sit-Ins Doom Online Animal Rights Activists
Setting aside claims of vagueness, a divided federal appeals court is upholding the constitutionality of the Animal Enterprise Protection Act, a statute that makes it a crime to encourage “physical disruption” or “economic damage” against animal-research centers. Thursday’s decision by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (.pdf) was the first time an appellate court has grappled with the free speech issues raised by the law, reviewing the case of radical animal-rights activists who were convicted in 2006 of using e-mail and websites to encourage violence — including bombings — against a New Jersey animal-research center, its shareholders, office holders, bankers and others affiliated with it.
Continue reading »Tags: business, censorship, constitutionality, court, cyberbullying, federal, houses, huntingdon, protection
Two cyberbullying bills duke it out in House committee
Cyberbullying is a delicate subject that is better met with education than with laws to criminalize it, testimony before the House Judiciary Committee suggested yesterday. Most experts testifying at the hearing agreed that criminalization would be difficult—both from an enforcement standpoint and also Constitutionally—while education would offer a better approach to some of the nuances of cyberbullying. The two bills discussed at the Committee hearing were Representative Linda Sanchez’s (D-CA) “Megan Meier Cyber Bullying Prevention Act” and Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-FL) “Adolescent Web Awareness Requires Education Act” ( H.R.
Continue reading »Tags: article, better-approach, committee, companion-photo, cyber-bullying, cyberbullying, given-the-name, house, house of representatives, house-judiciary, invalid, news, tech policy/news, web/news, while-education
