Blog 10: Mini Essay Revised/Finished

Kayla Becker

English 202

Mini-Essay for Prof. Sherwood

10-6-09

A Safer Online Life

            The internet has changed so much in the last decade. There are many different social websites that people are connecting to such as facebook, twitter, MySpace, etc. On these sites you are able to post personal profiles and photos for almost anyone to see. What are the risks of having a public online profile; are there certain limitations that should be taken to make you as the user feel safer when using the website?
            The internet has such a huge spectrum of different things that are accessible to the public. You can make up a profile on MySpace and pretend to be someone you are not. In October of 2006 and girl named Megan Meier committed suicide because of a hoax on MySpace. Curt and Lori Drew were neighbors of the Meier family and came up with a plan with their daughter who was a lifelong friend of Megan and, an eighteen year old girl that had been working for the Drew family to help Megan with her self-esteem issues. The boy that they had created on MySpace was named Josh Evans. The Drew family was close with the Meier's so they had knowledge of Megan's medical problems she was dealing with. Megan had been chatting with the made up boy for a while before an unkind message was sent to her from this Josh Evans and Megan could not handle what he said and committed suicide. After she had committed suicide Josh Evans' MySpace had been deleted. The Meier's had kept quiet about the involvement of the Drew's.  But,

"After investigators determined that the Drew's' actions, if cruel, had not broken any laws, the Meier's spoke with Steve Pokin, a columnist at the local paper, the Suburban Journals. Pokin

Becker 2

revealed the ruse in his column, "Pokin' Around," on November 13th of last year. "I know that they did not physically come up to our house and tie a belt around her neck," Tina Meier told Pokin. But when adults are involved and continue to screw with a thirteen-year-old--with or without mental problems--it is absolutely vile." (The New Yorker).

As Tina Meier explained in her interview above they did not physically kill her but the Drew's were somewhat responsible for Megan's actions, but no one could be charged with anything because they had not done anything against the law.

            Virtual rape is something that is happening online today. It is not something that you here about much because there is nothing illegal about it.  Regina Lynn stated that, "Some suggest that the best way to deal with a virtual rape is to ignore it, or simply log off and come back as another user." Is that really the correct thing to do? People are being emotionally hurt when using sites they think are safe. Just logging off of a website is not going to help with emotional pain that has already been put upon you. Virtual Rape is not as harmful as actual rape but there are still emotional complications that go along with it. This is not an issue with just older people either, it deals with younger generations also. If there was something done about this virtual rape issue maybe it would not go as far as people meeting up in real life and getting physically hurt along with the emotional pain.

            The internet is not always a safe place for you to be on. There needs to be some new type of security to help keep the user safe. Virtual rape is something real and that needs to be taken care of by profile sharing and communication websites.

Becker 3

Bibliography:

§  Collins, Lauren. "Annals of Crime: Friend Game: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker." New Yorker 21 Jan 2008. 25 Jan 2008 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/01/21/080121fa_fact_collins.

§  Lynn, Regina. Virtual Rape is Traumatic, But is it a Crime? http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/sexdrive/2007/05/sexdrive_0504/