16-year-old to Sue Mother for Hacking Facebook Account
16-year-old to Sue Mother for Hacking Facebook Account
Posted 04/07/2010 at 1:19pm
| by Ryan Whitwam
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If you dealt with a snooping parent in your early years, you probably never thought of filing a harassment suit. But that's just what one 16 year old Arkansas teen is doing after his mother reportedly broke into his Facebook account. The mother, Denise New from Arkadelphia (sort of like Philadelphia, but in Arkansas?) is looking at a May court date.
New does not currently have custody of the teen, but says their relationship was good before the Facebook incident. According to the complaint, New logged into the Facebook account in question and posted "slanderous" content before changing the password. "You're within your legal rights to monitor your child and to have a conversation with your child on Facebook whether it's his account, or your account, or whoever's account," said New.
The county attorney wouldn't comment on the specific case, but clarified the harassment statute as an action "with purpose to harass, annoy or alarm another person without good cause". It seems that the mother's actions may apply, but New intends to fight the charges. Do electronic communications assume a special kind of privacy? More importantly, would you consider this sort of behavior harassment?
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zepontiff
April 08, 2010 at 7:48am
Well if she would be the one sued for actions this child would take then I would say she can do whatever she wants. However she has no custody here... In the end though I don't really give a shit.
LatiosXT
April 08, 2010 at 6:24am
The mother certainly had no right to log onto his account, post fallicious thing in his name, and change the password. If anyone else did this, they'd certainly be charged with cyber crime, but I guess since this is the teen's mother, it's suddenly okay? Especially a mother who doesn't have custody over him
ThunderBolt
April 08, 2010 at 2:19am
Checking your kid's facebook is ok, but making slanderous posts and changing the password is a no-no. She had no business of doing that.
Daemon
April 07, 2010 at 7:58pm
Silly parents, the Internet isn't here to babysit your kids, that's what the T.V. is for. .... Anyhoo, yes the child in this case doesn't live with mummy dearest, but with gramma... so there definitely are things not covered in the article. IMHO under house rules all minors are subject to computer priveledge restrictions until they reach the age of majority. It IS a parents responsiiblity to monitor and determine what a child does on the net, that is why we have netnannies, and logging features availble on software to assist us in looking after our childrens internet activities. The childs safety is a primary concern first, and their games and activities second.
Danielt876
April 07, 2010 at 7:39pm
I think everyone is misunderstanding this article. The kid did not post anything, it was the mother that posted something slanderous and then changed the password.
Deanjo
April 07, 2010 at 8:17pm
I would like to know who they are quoting when they put "slanderous" in quotes. In common law "slander" is verbal defamation, "libel" is written word.
aziobron
April 07, 2010 at 6:11pm
she doesnt hav custody over him, and therefore does not hav any say in what he does. and if he didnt post anything illegal or such, she has absolutely no right to do that.
Queenof1
April 07, 2010 at 3:51pm
Was the mother within her rights? Without knowing more about the parent/child relationship, I can't say. Should there be a lawsuit? Again need more info. For all I know, this could be the last straw in a long line of harrassing behavior. I know that if my son's father broke into his fb acct, I would be furious but I wouldn't allow a lawsuit.
bfree380
April 07, 2010 at 1:39pm
As long as there wasn't anything slanderous posted, I agree that the mother is in the right. The 16 year old is not an adult, and parents have the right to access any accounts the child may have.
Nickompoop
April 07, 2010 at 1:56pm
But, the mother CHANGED THE PASSWORD! If she hadn't done that as well, then she'd be totally fine, but changing the password definitely is harassment.
Caboose
April 07, 2010 at 2:12pm
How dare her!
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
M-ManLA
April 07, 2010 at 1:35pm
So you are telling me a kid I take care of in my house that I pay for can do whatever without me taking a look? If I was the mom, after the case was over, I'll have a warm leather belt waiting on him.
Electronically charged
GIJames
April 07, 2010 at 2:11pm
"New does not currently have custody of the teen"
Said kid is not in the parent in question's house...
mrvander
April 07, 2010 at 1:30pm
And our overly litigious culture continues...
It's called parenting and the lawyer that took on this 16 year old's case should be disbarred. We need to start penalizing the legal profession for frivolity and we may begin to see an end to these stories of ridiculousness.
arcanous
April 07, 2010 at 3:28pm
Depends on what the kid posted.
If the kid posted something that required parenting then yes it is frivolous, but if the kid posted something completely harmless, then this has merit specially if the password was changed.
Nuxes
April 07, 2010 at 3:20pm
"New does not currently have custody"
If the parent doesn't have custody, then as far as the law is concerned, they are just some random person.
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