Decius wrote:

She did it,

I'll admit not following closely but didn't some of the witnesses claim that she wasn't really the primary force behind this... that it was the younger kids' idea?

No.

a 13 year old is dead.

I read a rumor that mom told the cops that the 13 year old tried to go to her with her problems and instead of helping, mom admonished her for using the internet when she had been told not to. Haven't double checked that, but it sounds exactly like the sort of "we're more upset about the fact that you exposed yourself to something complicated that upset you than we are about the fact that you are upset" crap that drives young people to, er, send a clear message about the significance of their emotions. If true, the ironic thing about this narrative is that mom STILL hasn't gotten the fucking picture, otherwise she wouldn't be in a court room. How much does the physical attractiveness of the parties effect the internet mob's opinion of who is at fault here? How much have the 4chan griefers influenced people just because they are bored?

How many of them did so, knowing well their target, that their target was a minor, that their target was an unstable one? Your argument here is the same put forth by the parents of kids who kill themselves and try to blame Ozzy Osborne or Judas Priest. Should the mother have kept better track of what their kid was doing, sure. But this is not like those spurious cases. In this case, the perpetrator did so with full knowledge and malice aforethought. The fact that the local prosecutor didn't do anything was a failure. There are existing statutes that could have covered this, DA Banas simply doesn't have the mental acuity or flexibility to apply them, and when he comes up for re-election, I sincerely hope he joins the ranks of the unemployed.

I also agree though, mom doesn't understand what all happened, and to be honest, I don't think she ever will. This is the kind of thing that won't ever go away for her.

I hope the judge sends her to prison.

Do you really think people should go to federal prison for violating fine print in a website TOS? Shall I make Vile the next test case?

For a website TOS? No, but judges have it well within their purview to examine the circumstances and results when determining sentence. These circumstances and results fall into the same categories as DUI. Didn't mean for anything to happen, but it did, and that changes the ball game.

Should you make Vile the next test case? I think you'd have a problem with that as there have in the past been questions of enforcing that TOS, and to the best of my knowledge, the populace here is generally of age, and I have yet to hear of there being actual damages to anyone. Pissed off people sure, but damages need to be quantifiable, and I'm not sure how you get that here. You're welcome to try, but I don't think you'd find it worthwhile because unless you're able to find criminal charges that a DA is going to pick up the tab for, you're going civil, and that may hurt you more than him.

RE: Jury convicts mom of lesser charges in online hoax