Some closure in a sad tale

An indictment has been returned in the case of 13-year-old Megan Meier, a Missouri girl who hanged herself in October 2006 after receiving cruel messages from “Josh Evans” via MySpace.

Problem was, Megan wasn’t talking to anyone named Josh Evans. He wasn’t 16 years old. And he wasn’t male.

He was the mother (and her employee) of one of Megan’s schoolmates, who had created the profile to gather information about Megan. Unfortunately, as happens in far too many cases where people try to conceal their identities for information-gathering purposes, the information-gathering took a horrible turn. Lori Drew wrote posts calling Megan all sorts of names, saying he never wanted to speak to her again. It’s these posts which Megan’s parents credit with their daughter’s suicide.

The story says the suit brought into court by Meier’s parents alleges

MySpace members agree to abide by terms of service that include, among other things, not promoting information they know to be false or misleading; soliciting personal information from anyone under age 18 and not using information gathered from the Web site to “harass, abuse or harm other people.”

Drew and others who were not named conspired to violate the service terms from about September 2006 to mid-October that year, according to the indictment. It alleges they registered as a MySpace member under a phony name and used the account to obtain information on the girl.

This case will, undoubtedly, be seen as a landmark in online litigation. It will be cited in any future cases of this nature.

While what happened in this situation is deplorable and Drew deserves to be punished for what she did, what some in the blogosphere fail to mention is that Megan’s parents weren’t necessarily as vigilant with monitoring her online activities as they should have been.

She was 13 years old. While three years’ difference may not seem like much in your later teens or beyond, the age and maturity difference between 13 and 16 are gigantic. No 13-year-old girl should be talking to a 16-year-old boy online.

And, that’s another matter. Parents need to be monitoring their children’s online activities, and they need to verify that the people their children are speaking with have real, flesh-and-bone counterparts. They should not be allowed to talk with people, especially to the point of developing a serious-sounding relationship with them, online unless they know them in person prior to conversing online.

Another issue in this case, compounding the tragedy, is that Megan was being treated for depression before her death. Her parents, then, should have been extra careful in watching what she was doing and who she was talking with. They should have had some more serious discussions with her about the potential dangers of getting too attached, and should have more closely monitored their daughter’s actions.

This situation, while incredibly tragic, could have been prevented by a little more vigilance on the Meiers’ part. Drew could have still created the false MySpace profile, but if Megan’s parents were following what she was doing online and having regular discussions with her, Drew’s actions may not have had the impact that they did.

What do you think?