JEFFERSON CITY, US — The 2006 suicide of a St. Charles teen has presented lawmakers with the difficult challenge of attempting to regulate Internet behavior they believe to be harassing or potentially emotionally damaging.
Hearings have occurred in Jefferson City throughout the week to review legislation that seeks to limit cyber harassment. That includes Monday’s testimony by Tina Meier, the mother of a teen who committed suicide after receiving hurtful messages over the social networking Web site MySpace.
If a bill proposed by Sen. Scott Rupp, R-St. Louis, passes through the Senate Judiciary Committee, Missouri legislators could be faced with complicated questions regarding the constitutionality of legislation restricting the use of harassing language over the Internet.
John Coffman, legislative consultant for the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, said Wednesday that electronic communication should not be subject to special laws that target it specifically and that the proposed legislation is “overbroad and clearly unconstitutional.”
The testimony Monday centered on Rupp’s bill, which would make cyber harassment criminal in response to the suicide and complaints he’s received about electronic harassment.
Meier’s daughter, Megan, had begun communication on MySpace with a 16-year-old boy that lasted for four and a half weeks. The conversations were described by her mother as typical correspondence between teenagers. Meier also said she and her husband monitored Megan’s MySpace page regularly to ensure her safety.
“I had the password (to her MySpace account),” Meier said. “We knew of the content. It was very nice communication going back and forth as far as telling her she was nice, beautiful, these types of things.”
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Last update : 13-03-2008 20:34
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