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Missouri lawmakers are finally helping the law catch up with society: as a result of the Megan Meier suicide, lawmakers passed a bill to make cyber-harassment illegal. From the LA Times:

Responding to the suicide of a Missouri teenager who was teased over the Internet, state lawmakers Friday gave final approval to a bill making cyber-harassment illegal.

The measure updates state laws to keep pace with technology by removing the requirement that the communication be written or over the telephone. Supporters say the bill will cover harassment from computers, text messages and other electronic devices.

The measure now goes to Republican Gov. Matt Blunt for his signature. He issued a statement praising lawmakers:

“Social networking sites and technology have opened a new door for criminals and bullies to prey on their victims. These protections ensure that our laws now have the protections and penalties needed to safeguard Missourians from Internet harassment.”

Many of the bill’s provisions came from a gubernatorial task force that studied Internet harassment after reports last fall on details of Megan Meier’s suicide. Police say Megan, 13, hanged herself in 2006 after being deceived on MySpace.

This makes me much happier. While I was glad to see Lori Drew indicted, I think she should be indicted for what she did rather than the only charge someone could find to stick her with. I personally hope she rots in jail, either for cyber-harassment, or 3 counts of whatever it was they figured out could stick.

Lori Drew, a 49 year-old woman (and mother), has finally been indicted in the Megan Meier suicide case. According to the LA Times, she faces “three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress on the girl and one count of conspiracy.” As many of you remember, the authorities in Missouri could not find a statute under which to indict Lori Drew, but now, thankfully, the case has been handed over to federal prosecutors.

I am not a believer in policing internet activity, but I am a believer in preventing harassment, especially the kind that causes severe emotional distress. Lori Drew is a 49 year-old woman who had absolutely no business harassing a young girl on the internet, regardless of her motivation. I’m glad to see that she’s been indicted, and I hope this case becomes an example for future internet harassment cases.

When cases like the Meier suicide don’t get prosecuted, even when we know the identity of the assailant, it sends a message to victims of internet (and in-person) harassment that their pleas for help won’t get any attention when they come forward.

From:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia is the first state to mandate that public schools offer Internet safety classes for all grade levels — and it’s one of many measures being taken nationally to protect young Web users.

Virginia’s requirement initially stemmed from concerns about sex offenders preying on children online and a general increase in Internet-based crime. It took effect this school year.

In a recent presentation at a suburban Richmond high school, Virginia assistant attorney general Gene Fishel flashed an online social-networking profile a 15-year-old who says she enjoys being around boys and wants to meet new people. The real profile user turned out to be a 31-year-old man convicted of sexually abusing 11 children he met online and sentenced to a 45-year prison term.

A 2006 study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children showed that about 13 percent of Internet users ages 10 to 17 received unwanted sexual solicitations.

All I have to say is GOOD, and maybe FINALLY. With so many kids using sites like MySpace, I’m sure that percentage of internet users 10-17 who have received unwanted sexual solicitations has gone up.

Is it just me, or does this make you feel old? Do you remember back in the day when you would go into the Yahoo! Chat rooms and someone would send you a message asking what you’re wearing or if you were in the mood to get frisky? I know chat rooms aren’t the thing anymore - and good thing, too, because they were kind of creepy - but places like MySpace are just as bad, if not worse. Innocent unaware teens are posting pictures of themselves with their friends at the beach, school, or wherever else, and someone is using those pictures and the information in their profiles to stalk them.

I personally do not have a MySpace - anymore. I used to have one a few years back before I transferred to UC Davis and got onto Facebook, but once I got onto Facebook and enjoyed the privilege of privacy, I never turned back. Eventually, I deleted my MySpace, and I wasn’t surprised when I logged in and found several messages from men I did not know that were extremely explicit. Sure, I reported them to MySpace, but we all know how well that works.

All in all, I think every state should mandate internet safety lessons for children in public school ages 13 and up. While I would discourage the lessons from making them paranoid, knowing basic safety tips and how to keep your real identity and location a secret are just as valuable as the ability to be able to read or write.

Facebook crossed a line with its new advertising program, and, apparently, I’m not the only person who thinks so. Other people are getting pretty angry and are starting to write about the frustration they are feeling because Facebook is owned by money grubbing whores.

Even with the changes they made as a result to the outcry, there is still no clear and easy way to opt out.

Facebook just unveiled their latest advertising program. This plan utilizes information from user’s profiles to display ads appropriate to their interests when they browse through their friend’s pages:

Additionally, Facebook has unveiled targeted advertisements that will allow marketers to target by any information inside Facebook profiles, from relationship status to favorite television shows.

This makes sense. Gmail utilizes a tool that skims through your inbox and displays appropriate in-line advertisements. Users are accustomed to this type of privacy invasion.

One thing about the new advertising program that irritates me is Facebook is essentially encouraging advertising companies to provide users with the tools to sell their product for them. Without paying any additional advertising fees:

Called Facebook Ads, the new program is threefold: advertisers can create branded pages, run targeted advertisements, and have access to intelligence and analytics pertaining to the site’s more than 50 million users. […] Through the branded pages program, advertisers can design custom pages with information, content, and custom applications–”any application that was written for users on the Facebook Platform,” Zuckerberg explained. Facebook users can sign up as “fans” of that brand, install branded applications, and other activities that will all show up in their profiles’ “mini feeds” and on the “news feeds” that are broadcast to their friends lists.

So as soon as this program rolls out, I’ll be seeing “Jessica loves Hershey’s! She added the ‘Give me Kisses!’ application to her profile.” and the like scattered throughout my News Feed. Which, by the way, you cannot customize. While you can adjust your News Feed settings to show you “more” or “less” of your friends pictures, relationships status changes, and other options, you cannot opt out of forced announcements such as advertisements and applications. There’s motivation behind this: corporate-branded applications are one of the new components of Facebook’s advertising scheme.
It is one thing to provide companies with access to user information in order to reach a more applicable audience, but it’s another to open the Facebook coding to companies with a desire to create applications in which their only motivation is to make a profit. Facebook is basically allowing advertisers to recruit mindless college students to advertise their products for them. Who needs employees, commercials, and expensive marketing schemes when you have Facebook? The idea of Facebook applications alone irritates me, but applications whose only purpose is advertising and profiting from that exposure? Irritated doesn’t even begin to cover it.

I wonder what social networking site researcher danah boyd has to say about this one…