Missouri town outlaws online harassment

This is an ordinance that's long overdue - but would never have been necessary if state and federal laws were actually enforced.

Last year, a teenage girl in Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, committed suicide after being targeted by a series of harassing Internet messages. The messages were organized by a woman who had a vendetta against the girl because she wouldn't befriend her daughter. The ringleader of this campaign posted a phony account on MySpace pretending to be a teenage boy and enlisted others to harass the victim. (Apparently, many of the posts originated from a private school in that area.)

Shockingly, county authorities and federal prosecutors refused to charge anyone in the case, despite existing laws against online harassment. The harassment campaign was also an open and shut case of racketeering and murder, and why it's treated as anything less is beyond me.

This isn't even the first suicide resulting from online harassment. Authorities are so lax in prosecuting offenders that the Internet has become an attractive nuisance for others who might harass. Online terrorists know crime pays. In the Missouri case, county prosecutors began reviewing the incident only after the victim's parents went to the media.

With such a delay by the county and total inaction by federal prosecutors, the city of Dardenne Prairie realized there was only one thing it could do to prevent future incidents like this. The town's Board of Aldermen unanimously passed an ordinance to make electronic harassment (whether by Internet, text messages, or other means) a citywide offense. It's only a misdemeanor, and it only carries a $500 fine and 90 days in jail, but that's the maximum cities of that size in Missouri can impose. The townsfolk burst into applause when the city passed the ordinance. The law applies if either the sender or the recipient of the harassing messages is in Dardenne Prairie.

Meanwhile, the woman who organized the harassment campaign is said by neighbors to be unapologetic over killing a teenage girl. Including the ringleader, there were at least 2 adults involved in sending these harassing messages. As owner of a local advertising mailer business, the woman who led the attacks is also one of the wealthiest people in the community. And, to the surprise of nobody who's read about her actions, she leads a spoiled life.

Part of the problem with so-called people with a lot of clout thinking they have a birthright to harass anyone who crosses them began in the '90s when Mad Dog Bush pardoned 6 Iran-Contra criminals. These pardons showed young and old alike that even top government officials were immune from punishment if they did wrong. This trend had been going on to some extent even before then, but it's gotten progressively worse as there's a lot of spoiled brats who were never raised with ethics and grew up to be sociopaths who have no conscience.

The woman who created the fake MySpace profile that led to the death of the teenager said she didn't feel guilty because the teen had reportedly tried to commit suicide before. (Suicide is one of the main causes of death for America's young.) The 48-year-old cyberterrorist then has the nerve to call the police repeatedly claiming the neighbors are harassing her. She claims to have caught this alleged "harassment" on tape, but she refuses to let police view the tape.

Looks like Phil Gramm may have some competition for the title of World's Worst Person.

We need to enforce state and federal laws against online harassment. But since America is no longer a nation of laws, these laws are not enforced - so the counties and cities need to shore up this gap by passing their own laws. I know what the reaction is going to be by any self-righteous asshole who gets rightly charged under any law like this. They'll appeal all the way to the Supreme Court crying that the laws infringe on their True Free Speach Now (tm). Congress needs to put a crimp in these efforts by passing a law that bars attorneys from collecting fees if they sue to have laws against Internet harassment overturned.

Also, there should be a mandatory registry for anyone convicted under the laws against online harassment - much like a sex offender registry, except it applies to these 'Net terrorists. I don't know how activist courts will react, seeing how the Georgia Supreme Court has just declared molesting children to be a civil right by tossing out a law that bars sex offenders from living near schools, but something must be done.

(Source: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/C0FD113CFA43DA9D8625739A006C4CC3?OpenDocument;
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/77D27634D36233968625739800167159?OpenDocument;
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/A2D43DB6B8184B718625739B00130514?OpenDocument;
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gg5xCtQtLBF6vJqWXStItGEOsJfwD8T39QMG0;
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004030463_suicide23.html;
http://pysih.com/2007/11/19/lori-drew;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7094466,00.html)