Tragic case of cyber-bullying

Re “A town fights back in MySpace suicide case,” Nov. 22

MySpace is partly responsible for creating an environment in which this cyber-bullying can propagate. The site administrators should implement tighter security controls to verify who is actually posting profiles. The era of Web companies hiding behind yet-to-be-defined laws needs to come to an end. Website owners never want to accept responsibility for crimes committed with the help of their powerful technologies. A car company producing an unsafe vehicle has to face the repercussions for its defective product. So should website owners.

Edward Bonutto

Los Angeles

The case of Megan Meier is appalling and frightening. Because of the relative newness of MySpace and Internet chats in general, there are unclear standards to deal with online harassment. But in this particular case, there is no doubt that the neighbor parents had a malicious intent to inflict emotional harm on Megan. The last line Megan saw told her that the world would be a better place without her. If that doesn’t constitute cyber-bullying and a crime, then what does?

Charles Silver

Los Angeles

Re “How to punish a cyber-bully,” Opinion, Nov. 21

I respectfully disagree with Jonathan Turley’s piece regarding the suicide of Megan Meier. Particularly, Turley wrote, “simply because they had a child, the alleged perpetrators were given the benefit of anonymity.”

That is a mischaracterization of the decision made by my editors and me. The child in this case was an active participant in the hoax. Did we want to subject this girl, 13 years old at the time, to the wrath that so many have heaped on her mother? We did not. She did not have the option of choosing her parents.

Steve Pokin

St. Peters, Mo.

The writer is a reporter and columnist for the Suburban Journals of St. Charles County (Missouri).