Myspace Suicide

The case that involves two parents of a MySpace user who takes her own life is a clear case of defamation. The parents of a young teenager took her own life after receiving hate messages from women who impersonated a young boy. The women who sent the victim hate mail has said, that she created the account so that she could monitor what children were saying about her daughter. Apparently she meet the young victim and over the course of a few weeks became friends with her online. Apparently telling the young child he was new to town and didn’t yet have a number for her to call her on. The young child was told over and over by her parents that she shouldn’t get so involved with someone she didn’t even know. The parents explained that their child had been suffering from depression and poor self esteem. So when this new friend who was really a women came along, the child suddenly felt she had someone to talk to. The older women suddenly turned on the child sending offensive comments about her character. I believe this a example of Defamation (“the harming of a person’s reputation and good name by the communication of a false statement”, Essentials of Business Law, by Anthony L. Liuzzo pg. 45). Her statements were made on a public website that is easily seen across the world. It would also be Libel since (“libel is the spreading of damaging statements in written form-including pictures, cartoons, and effigies(likenesses)”, Essentials of Business Law, by Anthony L. Liuzzo pg. 45). It’s very sad to see that some would feel no remorse for an act like this. Legally I don’t think there is a way to directly prove that the defendant was the cause of the young ladies death. I do however believe the comments she wrote were libel and played a key role in her suicide but still cannot directly say it was the sole cause.