Ok, I am the mother of a sweet 15 yr old girl. She informed me that someone created a hateful and evil profile of her on myspace. I checked it out, and was sickened by what I saw and read. They took a picture of her and drew obscenties all over it. They wrote unspeakable things about her. I have been awake since 5 this morning, just sick to my stomach.
My question is....do I have any recourse besides having myspace remove the profile? I am so mad and just physically sick about it.
Any of you techies have any ideas as to finding out who did this? Any help or ideas are appreciated.
Teenage girls have got to be the least pleasant group of people on the planet. When they get together they can be unbelievably vile. I'm sorry that both you and your daughter have to deal with them, but it sounds like you're handling it well, and that your daughter has the good sense not to take their nastiness and vitriol to heart. Good luck!
This kind of thing honestly makes my stomach turn. I can't even imagine what you must feel like right now. (Although, I'd imagine I'd be just as livid as you are!)
I hope the police find the kids responsible for this.
Please keep us updated if you can.
Thanks to Ali and CD for reminding me that I need to do a print screen on my computer (which it would not allow, but I saved the page on my computer) because sure enough, the idiots left up the profile and horrific pic, but deleted all the wording. I am going to fax the whole profile over to the detective today. Hopefully it will all work out, and I will update when I have more information. Thanks to all for the great suggestions!
I did not think of that. Good one, Rd. You guys have helped more than you know.
you can do a print screen on any computer.
That's absolutely horrible! I used to be at a school with some really nasty girls (when i was 11 to 12) and they were capable of this sort of thing. Really it's sad, that they've decided to single her out and scapegoat her. It just shows that they are jealous and insecure and cowardly enough to 'get her' over the internet!!!
But in a serious way, Myspace is awful for this sort of thing. I've heard stories about girls writing blogs about how they've poisoned their mothers/friends on myspace and guys posting videos of 'happy slapping'. If this happened to me, I'd be devastated, so just tell your daughter she is better than these freaks. They've got no business and no right to do it. Report it and make sure Myspace make some sort of active move to prevent this - it's not safe for anyone.
Hope it goes well.
My stepson made a bogus page for a teacher on MySpace. He anonymously invited a bunch of friends to look at it and then removed it the next day (some small amount of sense must have entered his brain!). The police were called in and they tracked him down in about four months. [That's when we found out about it! 
] It took an FBI subpoena to get the IP address which takes awhile. What he put up wasn't nearly that bad but he sure learned a lesson! At any rate, as you can see, just because they take it down doesn't mean the culprit can't be found.
Where do I begin about myspace...
I'm really sorry this situation is happening to your daughter, cnjjeanmard. And I hope everything will be resolved appropriately. Please, keep us updated!
I'm not a fan of social networking online. In fact, CC is the first site I've ever regularly participated in (and I'm a web designer/developer - you'd think I'd be more active in these kinds of communities!)
Let me start out by saying that I recognize that there are teenagers out there that would be responsible enough to handle using a social networking site. Unfortunately, there are many who abuse the privilege of its use and ruin it for everyone else.
On that note, I sincerely believe that when it comes right down to it, I think it is highly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18 to join sites like myspace and facebook (and even CC...oh dear, I'm walking a fine line :/ )
I just don't believe that most teenagers (and, of course, even younger kids) are mature enough to handle the environment. And of course, it's not just an issue with the kids themselves. There are many dangerous people out there who would take advantage of a child's naivety on the web. I can't count how many times I've seen people on these sites giving out personal information in an open area.
Of course, I understand that there is no real easy way to solve this issue. Teenagers will be teenagers and if someone tells them they can't do something, they sure as hell are going to want to do it even more! So you can't force them to stop using these sites. Besides, there's not really a good, solid way to prove you are above 18 anyway.
And I know I can't forget that there are many adults out there who are also just as naive about giving away personal information.
So what kind of solution is there? The best I can come up with really holds true about anything else in life. Adults need to properly educate their children in the dangers and responsibilities of using these kinds of sites. And if the adult isn't educated in the subject themselves? Well, they damn well better step up and learn because it's not going away any time soon!
I suppose people under 18 shouldn't learn to socialize or make friends, either... in any other way in life: real life, over the phone, texting, through mail.... because they obviously aren't mature enough to handle these situations.
And since bullying has only started with the advent of the internet, I'd say we should just torch the whole thing. I call a re-do. That way, no one will ever be bullied again!
--Sorry, I know you're dealing with a hard time right now, but saying anyone under 18 shouldn't be allowed to be on myspace or facebook is stupid. Adults need to monitor their children's internet activity just the way they monitor their behaviour at school, at their friends' houses, in their homes, on the phone, etc, etc, etc. The internet is a tool, let's not blame it.
Heather, we all know it is far easier to be an **** with the anonimity of the internet there to protect us. It just ties into John Gabriel's Greater Internet F***wad Theory - anonimity turns otherwise pleasant and rational people into raving lunatics.
Yeh, it's up to the parents to monitor their children's behaviour, but our society allows any Tom, Dick or Mary to spit out offspring, so a huge number have no clue about responsible parenting. Bullying has become more prolific with the advent of the internet, and the bullying garners a far bigger audience, which can make the whole situation even more traumatic - especially when you start feeling like you are being picked on in every aspect of your life. However, while nice in abstract, without parental intervention, I simply can't see a feasible way of preventing kids from accessing whatever the heck they want to. It's all a matter of just changing a few dates.
Just another reason for eugenics!
Can I pick who to sterilize?
Original Post by hgielrehtaeh:
Just another reason for eugenics!
Can I pick who to sterilize?
No ma'am, I commandeer that job for myself.
Anyhow, back on track here, we can't hijack this thread, it is disrespectful.
Well, for the record-when she asked to be on myspace at the age of 14, I said ok, and opened my OWN account. Yes, at the age of 39, I am on myspace. I did it so I could monitor her activity and her friends. I have educated her on the evils of the internet, made her watch programs concerning it and the dangers, so I know that I have not failed in any way to protect her as best I could. Bullying has been around since the dawn of time, the internet has just made it more accessible and easier with the anonymity factor.
Edited to add: On a pleasant note, my daughter ran for, and won a seat on the student council for next year. Let the little b$tches stick that in their ear.
Loved the visual, P0nda. I don't really blame myspace, I blame the insecure kid with issues.
Original Post by cnjjeanmard:
On a pleasant note, my daughter ran for, and won a seat on the student council for next year. Let the little b$tches stick that in their ear.
That is good news! Also, seems to point to the reason that your daughter was singled out, she is obviously doing well. Immature people don't like it when some people do much better than them. Tall poppy syndrome.
In any case, the most important thing in all this business is how your daughter is coping with it all, and from what you say, she is smart and mature enough to be handling it well, which is good to hear.
Original Post by hgielrehtaeh:
--Sorry, I know you're dealing with a hard time right now, but saying anyone under 18 shouldn't be allowed to be on myspace or facebook is stupid.
Surely this is not referenced to me? Perhaps you are as busy as I am, and did not see who posted the diatribe.
Oh! Chris! Forgot to add that your post has made my day! Forgive me, it has been a hell of a week. Perhaps there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.
That is called "Cyber Bullying" and its getting out of control. If your daughter's school has a School Resource Officer let them know. If not, contact your local Police Department for options and advice. They may not be able to help, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
It's a pretty serious issue but the laws are slow to catch on since the people who can do something about it don't realise how frequent it's occurring or how damaging it can be. But some Police Departments are catching up on ways to handle it. It's possible that Myspace can even give the Police information about who created the account based on the I.P. info. Give it a shot. If the account was created at school, well, there's a great opportunity and reason for schools to up their monitoring of computer use.
Definitely contact Myspace and report it if nothing else works. They will immediately remove the fake profile.
I am so sorry someone did that to your daughter! That is ridiculously mean and immature. I hope your daughter knows things like this are usually done out of fear or jealously.
EDIT: Oops, jumped the gun a bit, should have read the entire thread before posting the exact same thing you had already done. Hope they catch who did it. It sounds like you have quite a daughter for her to be handling it with such a cool head.
Original Post by cnjjeanmard:
Well, for the record-when she asked to be on myspace at the age of 14, I said ok, and opened my OWN account. Yes, at the age of 39, I am on myspace. I did it so I could monitor her activity and her friends. I have educated her on the evils of the internet, made her watch programs concerning it and the dangers, so I know that I have not failed in any way to protect her as best I could.
Good for you! we need more parents like you. There are absolutely NOT enough parents out there who watch and protect their children like you do. This is a crappy thing to happen to your daughter. and I'm not trying to diminish what happened to her, but things could be FAR worse. she is lucky to have a mother like you who watches over her. I have friends who work for the government and they deal every day with very young teens who are victims of cyber predators....and I'm talking about the sick kind of child predators.....the sad thing is that if these parents just better monitored what their kids were logging on to, alot of it could have been avoided.
Good job on educating your daughter on all things internet related.
Good luck :)
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