I guess I have never thought of how the implementation of technologies would require an entirely new body of laws and precautions. Least of all would I suspect that adults would fall victim to the extent of requiring legal action. I mean, I remember the woman who made a false Myspace account to torment a girl on behalf of her daughter (Read about it here, the Megan Meier case). But adults using a website to post their harassment publicly just seems stupid. It would be like a murderer posting a picture of the murder weapon on Facebook.
I know I am a horrible person, and the first thing that comes to my mind is “You are going to get caught. Harass people more intelligently!”
Interestingly, this article doesn’t really suggest approaching this any differently than any other case of defamation of character or harassment. Simply don’t engage, keep everything on record, and contact the authorities.
Yes, in some ways, this stuff is similar legally to other sorts of problems (at least as far as I understand, and I probably don't understand it fully). But it does add some interesting legal questions...like the one Kat brought up, about whether student can be held responsible by the school for actions that take place off school. As far as I understand, DASA now says yes, though up until DASA, the courts hadn't been too consistent on that. And yes, when kids take part in this stuff, it's frustrating enough...but when adults do it, you just wonder what on earth they are thinking. (I guess it speaks to something (though an extreme example) in the environment and culture that the kids might be picking up on?)
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