suicide

Blogs, insults, and suicide

The suicide of a 40-year-old ad agency executive has reignited the debate over the extent to which blog posts targeting a person can be held accountable in that person's death. Paul Tilley, creative director of DDB Chicago, who oversaw, among other things, Dell's "dude" ad campaign, had been the subject of harsh comments--including some posted anonymously--on the advertising blogs Agency Spy and AdScam.

Reaction to Tilley's death runs the gamut, from those who blame the bloggers to others who exonerate them, with a broader conversation on the ethics and rules of online commentary. In that, … Read more

Report: MySpace issued subpoena in teen suicide case

The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that social network MySpace was issued a subpoena in the investigation of a 13-year-old girl's 2006 suicide that involved harassment through a fabricated profile on the News Corp.-owned site. The article also said that "witnesses in the case" had additionally received subpoaenas.

Representatives from MySpace were not immediately available for comment or confirmation. The social network is no stranger to court orders, having been subpoenaed by multiple state attorneys general last year over sex offender concerns.

But the tragic case of Megan Meier's suicide is a very different situation; … Read more

Town bans Net harassment following MySpace hoax

Amid continued outcry over the MySpace.com hoax that preceded a teenager's suicide, the town of Dardenne Prairie, Mo., has passed a law banning online harassment.

Although it's only a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail or a $500 fine, the law is specifically targeted at the kind of online attack that Meier faced in the days prior to her death last year.

"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,&… Read more

Parents of MySpace hoax victim seek legal recourse

Getting ready for work this morning, I caught a Today Show interview with the parents of Megan Meier, the 13-year-old that I wrote about on Saturday, who committed suicide last year after being taunted on MySpace.

Meier believed she had been chatting on the social network with a boy named Josh. At first, "Josh" sent friendly messages, but after a few weeks, he abruptly turned accusatory and insulting.

Meier's parents found out several weeks after their daughter's death that Josh was actually not a boy, but rather the fictional creation of adults, including the mother of … Read more

When grown-ups turn cyberbullies

It's an unimaginably sad story.

Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl who has struggled with issues of self-esteem and depression, is greeted on MySpace by an older boy. He strikes up a flirtation with her over a series of weeks. Then, inexplicably, he starts sending accusatory messages, then nasty ones.

Megan, crushed by the turn of events, takes her own life.

Further twisting the tragedy is the fact that the boy wasn't a boy at all. Rather, he was the creation of adults, including the mother of one of Megan's friends, a girl with whom she had a … Read more

Manning a checkpoint? Put a CounterBomber on your Xmas list

Best watch your step. New strides in radar and gait-analysis software could soon alert authorities to someone packing a bomb from up to 50 yards away, Virginia-based SET told MIT Technology Review.

SET's CounterBomber system detects suicide bombers from a safe (OK, safer) distance by directing a low-power radar beam at the approaching subject. Ideally, the device would be augmented "with video-analysis software that spots bombers by discerning subtle differences in gait that occur when people carry heavy objects."

And the bashful need not worry: This new radar-image technology is supposedly able to reveal concealed objects without &… Read more