myspace privacy., gone too far? Options

[pandamonium]

a girl posted a blog on myspace from washington township, a school close to mine, on that blog she posted about 17 people she hated and one of those people she said she wanted to kill. They arrested her as soon as someone saw this blog. But she went away with a warning and won't be attending school for a while.

Do you think it is right they arrested her? I mean there are probably several other people who right on their diaries or journals (online or not) about what happened in the day and say they wanna kill someone but aren't as serious. Do you think they took this too far by arresting?

(ps - I didnt know whether this was serious enough to go to debate, so move it if it is. )

[iDecay]

Wow, they arrested her because of that? People rant and stuff all the time online though. I think that it's just stupid that they arrested her. It's not like she was going to kill that person.. Right?

[heyyfrankie]

arresting someone may be a little too far but nowadays, ya never know.
some girl posted (on xanga) that all black people needed to go back to georgia and pick her cotton like they used to back in the slave days & she got kicked off our cheerleading team.

;\

[pandamonium]

arresting someone may be a little too far but nowadays, ya never know.
some girl posted (on xanga) that all black people needed to go back to georgia and pick her cotton like they used to back in the slave days & she got kicked off our cheerleading team.

;\

lol thats kind of funny. not the picking cotton but that she was on the cheerleading team.

Yea they actually asked her friends why she did that, and they said she wouldnt really kill them. she was just probably having a bad day. And i dont blame her like i get mad sometimes and i let it go by putting it on a blog or something . you know? thats why you have a blog so you can let go.

[*incoherent*]

it's starting to get serious. theyve blocked all blog sites at my school, but they dont go through and read peoples. they did however find out a bunch of blogs at my brothers school (6th grade) because one girl tipped them off that a lot of girls were cutting.

im a mod on ratemyteachers.com and anything about wanting to kill a teacher has to be reported, the ip traced and they then call the cops, even if they were kidding.

[Chii]

I don't know what was she wrote but I think it really depends on how it was worded. "Ugh I just want to kill that person" and "I just want to slit that person's damn throat with my knife" are very different.

I understand why precaution is being taken but it shouldn't be that serious. She should just be monitored, not arrested. I'm not sure monitored by who but getting arrested is a bit extreme.

[technicolour]

Anything myspace is getting crazy. My school has gone on a mad blocking rampage and if you even try to translate the page or whatever...BAM! you're busted. It's just crazy. And then..get this..there was a meeting, for the parents, that explained every freaking detail about myspace. 'tis crazaay.

[jennyjenny]

they probably thought she was like a serial killer or something. but i mean, things like frankie said if she said it in school, she probably would of gotten kicked off the cheerleading squad and she still said it, but just outside of school. so wouldn't it be like the same thing? i mean, some people take things more offensively and the whole killing thing probably sounded like a threat. of course, it's still kind of extreme.

[*Blow_Don't_SUCK*]

They shouldn't have arrested her. They should've reasoned with her. Arresting someone for threatening can just be like putting oil on a fire depending on how serious she was.

[*My Cinderella.*]

I think they're being a little too paranoid. Maybe they think they were doing the right thing because they thought a murder was going to occur if they didn't stop it.

[innovation]

There's a common misconception that what one says on the Internet will not be taken seriously. However, students need to realize that what they post is just as valid as what they say. If she had given a death threat in school, wouldn't she have been expelled anyway?

[Heathasm]

its safer than waiting for her to actually kill the girl :P

[*AngelicEyz00*]

They didn't take it too far by arresting her. If they had reason to suspect that she wanted to kill someone or was going to - which they had after reading her blog - then they were, by all means, in their right to arrest her.

[akjsd]

---------

[Paradox of Life]

^ ... That's horrible.

And yes, I do think they took it too far. It is within their right to arrest, but they're not being reasonable. How many times does a teenage year old girl post a bunch of people she does like, use the expression, "I hate her so much; I wish I could just kill her!" and then actually execute what she says? Not many times.
Ohh, but it's not professional to even take a chance! Well then you might as well stop every car going 56 mph in a 55 mph street for speeding or arrest every minor that calls someone "sexy" or "yummy" on their MySpace because it would imply sex and they might as well arrest every person that puts gum on the sidewalk because it's littering.
They have a right to arrest the person and make a big deal out of it, but they're not being completely reasonable.

[d0t0rg]

I think they made a law about it recently or something?

[Jayembe]

nah the shoudlnt of arrested that girl becuase everyone now a days says that but people who hate her might have wanted to get back at her. and its not like ther proposing threats atthe people she was just saying

[*mipadi*]

Most time when students say things like "I want to kill so-and-so", they don't really mean it. The problem is, as recent school shootings have shown, in a tiny number of circumstances the person really means it. This creates a problem for the authorities: If they know about a death threat, even a joke, and do nothing about it, and the person carries through on the threat, can they be held responsible? You can bet the parents of the victim would likely bring such a case to civil court. We live in a society where no one has personal responsibility anymore. A death isn't the fault of the killer; it's the fault of the killer, the media, the authorities for not doing more to stop it, and so forth. Arresting people for these sorts of charges is just a cover-my-ass move by those in control.

Do I think a person should be arrested every time they make such a (likely idle) threat? In an ideal society, no. But we hardly live in an ideal society. I don't have tons of sympathy for people who post things like that online, because by now, they should know better. I'm always quite careful about what I say about people online no matter what the context.

[jue]

they shouldn't have arrested her. it was probabaly anger that made her write that and the next day or so she probabaly wouldn't feel that way anymore. If they were to arrest her, then i'd say like almost everyone around the world would have gotten arrested also. 'Cause im sure that like everyone has held a grudge and said they wanted someone to die. Arresting her? that's kinda unfair to the girl.

[gelionie]

I wonder if they'll start to do the same for every other blogging site or forum out there.

[steezahh]

yeah it is.i agree with the thing. because my dad told me after sept. 11th they are beign stricker. sometimes the us goverment will pull out ever email and check because they are tired of terrorist. so my dad always said never to write about how you want to kill someone online because people aren`t taking it as a joke.

[Smoogrish]

I think if she was serious enough about the killing part, as in "I plan to kill them when they're not watching" and laying out plans, she would have to be arrested. If anyone saw that, they wouldn't feel safe. I certainly wouldn't. I agree with Maggie.

[pandamonium]

Most time when students say things like "I want to kill so-and-so", they don't really mean it. The problem is, as recent school shootings have shown, in a tiny number of circumstances the person really means it. This creates a problem for the authorities: If they know about a death threat, even a joke, and do nothing about it, and the person carries through on the threat, can they be held responsible? You can bet the parents of the victim would likely bring such a case to civil court. We live in a society where no one has personal responsibility anymore. A death isn't the fault of the killer; it's the fault of the killer, the media, the authorities for not doing more to stop it, and so forth. Arresting people for these sorts of charges is just a cover-my-ass move by those in control.

Do I think a person should be arrested every time they make such a (likely idle) threat? In an ideal society, no. But we hardly live in an ideal society. I don't have tons of sympathy for people who post things like that online, because by now, they should know better. I'm always quite careful about what I say about people online no matter what the context.

I know where you are getting at but like i said its a journal/diary people need to vent those things out. thats kind of like their way of taking action. People who get teased everyday might just brush it off but online they try to release that anger, some people play sports to vent.

And i also know if she did kill that girl we would of been like oh yea she should of been arrested when they found out that she wrote that blog on myspace. But i think this went a little too far cause its her blog, her privacy.

[*mipadi*]

I know where you are getting at but like i said its a journal/diary people need to vent those things out. thats kind of like their way of taking action. People who get teased everyday might just brush it off but online they try to release that anger, some people play sports to vent.

And i also know if she did kill that girl we would of been like oh yea she should of been arrested when they found out that she wrote that blog on myspace. But i think this went a little too far cause its her blog, her privacy.

Things on the web are never private. If you post something to the web, you have no expectation of privacy. If someone needs to "vent", the prudent thing to do is write about it in a private journal that she keeps locked away in her desk drawer, or vent to her family or friends.

[demolished]

why arrest her ? is there any proof that she's a cruel ballistic female?

People will always hate and kill each other. why should it matter?

[extravagantwish]

I think it is right, I mean, you can rant without using someone's name. I think that people should be more careful about what they write on their blog, but arresting is a bit extreme.

Things on the web are never private. If you post something to the web, you have no expectation of privacy. If someone needs to "vent", the prudent thing to do is write about it in a private journal that she keeps locked away in her desk drawer, or vent to her family or friends.

^I agree. The point of a blog is to have a PUBLIC journal.

[scenekidsgo__raw...]

Where else to rant but on the internet? D;

[flc]

Absolutely not..

It's her private space on the web.

It probably went against some MySpace rules, so they should have taken care of it, not the police.

[oneandonlytammie]

No reason to arrest. If the person felt threatened, then she'd most deffinetly need to be questioned or something. I say "I'm gonna kill you" all the time and I deffinetly don't mean it (or do I?Muhahaha ). I could understand if it were in school but this is outside of school. She can say whatever she wants. That goes for that cheerleader girl too. What she said was absolutely horrible, but she wasn't in school and shouldn't be punished in school. I'm sure all the people probably hating her for what she said was punishment in itself.

[xosteffanator]

The same thing happened at the highschool that i'll go it, my friend got really scared, because her brother goes there and he was on that list.
I don't think they got a aressted though, not unless she was 18.

[sprezzatura]

I would rather let MySpace do the the punishment. I mean, everybody has ranted about killing someone, but most of the time with no intention to kill him/her.
If these killing people rants are seen, MySpace should delete that specific MySpace. In BIG BOLD PRINT OF RED WORDS, saying threatening is not allowed and it would result in the deletion of MySpace.

[imnoxonesmemory]

It depends what her blog said because it could have been really detailed?! But i think that arresting her is too much. Lots of people are always saying how "omg i wanna kill her soooo bad" You know?

[*jooleeah*]

Almost the same thing happened to one of my friends.

She posted in her xanga that she hated her teacher, and wanted to punch her in the stomach. Of course, she wasn't serious and was just angry at the time, that's all. Plus, she's actually a very sweet girl and wouldn't do anything to harm anyone. Anyway, her "friend" saw this post and showed it to her teacher, who showed it to the school principal. She got in huge trouble for it- she had to go to court and was sentenced to that thing where you face the wall in complete silence (i forgot the specific word for it.). Also, she risked getting suspended or expelled from her school. Isn't that ridiculous? Blah.

[*I Shot JFK*]

I know where you are getting at but like i said its a journal/diary people need to vent those things out. thats kind of like their way of taking action. People who get teased everyday might just brush it off but online they try to release that anger, some people play sports to vent.

And i also know if she did kill that girl we would of been like oh yea she should of been arrested when they found out that she wrote that blog on myspace. But i think this went a little too far cause its her blog, her privacy.

no, sorry. wanting to rant in a journal isnt an acceptable excuse when the person has full knowledge that what they write will be published on the internet. NO ONE could reasonably assume that no one would read it... if you want a private rant, go all low tech and buy a notebook, and hide it under your mattress

It's her private space on the web.

naivety strikes!

i agree with michael. the idea of reporting myspace postings to the police seems distasteful, and over the top. but, in today's society, one cannot assume that a threat is nothing but a joke. the police have to think ahead, to cover their own asses, and to protect against a potential threat.

and has anyone considered that their may be more to this story? everyone has said that it is normal fo rpeople to say 'oh i wanna kill him' when they're pissed off, which i agree with. do we not think that the police KNOW that? and so there was something different about this instance that called for special attention?

[LiLEthiopian]

arresting someone may be a little too far but nowadays, ya never know.
some girl posted (on xanga) that all black people needed to go back to georgia and pick her cotton like they used to back in the slave days & she got kicked off our cheerleading team.

;\

that's actually quite offensive..getting kicked off the chearleading team should be nothing.