TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Social Media Crime

  • Megan Meier’s tormentors named

    Megan Meier’s tormentors named

    Blog Readers Out Anonymous Adults that Newspaper Refused to Identify:

    According to this article from Wired, readers of some blogs, not this one, that read the story about Megan Meier have published the names of those responsible for her suicide.

    The St. Charles Journal wrote in the story that it decided not to name the woman and the other adult involved in the incident out of concern for the woman’s own teenage daughter. The two adults haven’t been charged with any crime.

    But readers of various blogs that posted the story were furious with the paper’s decision. By matching certain details in the article with property records, they found the name and address of a woman who they believe created the Josh Evans persona, and published her details online.

    Was the paper right to protect the woman’s identity? Were the bloggers right to publish a name and address that may or may not be correct?

    Even though I think the people involved with Megan’s death are scumbags and I hope eventually they are prosecuted and sent away for a long time, this is nothing more than a blatant case of vigilantism. I also want to add that I will not post their names here.

    Let the law do its job, people. By publishing their names, you’re jeopardizing the chances of justice being served.

  • Charges possible but not likely in MySpace suicide

    Charges possible but not likely in MySpace suicide

    Prosecutor To Review MySpace Suicide:

    The St. Charles, Missouri County Prosecutor, Jack Banas, is saying that there may be criminal charges for the MySpace suicide death of Megan Meier, but he also says it’s unlikely.

    The county prosecutor says he never saw the complete case file. He doesn’t want to give anyone false hope, but he says it’s not yet case closed.

    “Me personally, I’ve never seen anything on this case,” says St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas. He says from what he’s heard he knows hearts are broken, but he doesn’t believe laws were.

    Banas never saw the report but wants to see all the evidence now, but based on what he’s heard he believes what happened was cruel, but not criminal.

    I’m not holding my breath over this one, but I pray to God that Prosecutor Banas can find something to charge the people responsible for Megan Meier’s death.

  • Katherine Lester on Dr. Phil

    Katherine Lester on Dr. Phil

    MySpace teen on Dr. Phil show:

    It seems that our favorite word traveling runaway MySpace teen is back in the news.

    Katherine Lester will be on Dr. Phil today and tomorrow to discuss her trials and tribulations. I thought this might set a bad example to teens willing to run away for some MySpace guy, but Dr. Phil seems to have his act together this time…

    The second segment also will include an interview with Betty Mahmoody, an American citizen who moved to Iran with her husband and fled the country after he and his family became violently controlling. Mahmoody’s story became the 1991 Sally Field film “Not Without My Daughter.”

    I, of course, will not be watching because personally, Dr. Phil disgusts me.

    However, the article seems to reveal that Lester is back in The States.

    The series will have a third part that will air in a couple of weeks centering around Lester’s decision to come back to Michigan, said Wade Simpson, a segment producer with the program.

    “We fully anticipated her getting back on the plane at the end of the second episode,” he said. “And then she said no, so we kept tracking it to see what would happen.”

    Lester returned to Michigan about a week and a half ago, Simpson said.

    The soap opera continues.

    Belch has more on this here.

  • Girl commits suicide over MySpace hoax

    Girl commits suicide over MySpace hoax

    ‘My Space’ hoax ends with suicide of Dardenne Prairie teen:

    This one is so heart-wrenching as a parent that I’m at a loss for words.

    Megan Meier was a 13-year-old girl who had some problems, but things were turning around for her. That was until she got a friend request from someone claiming to be, in Megan’s words, a hot 16-year-old boy by the name of Josh.

    The two remained friends on MySpace for a while, then all of a sudden, Josh started sending disparaging messages to Megan. Comments like “I don’t know if I want to be friends with you anymore because I’ve heard that you are not very nice to your friends.”

    Then MySpace bulletins started circulating about her that said things like, “Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat.”

    It bothered her so much that Megan Meier took her own life.

    That’s not even the worst part.

    Worst Part #1: Josh never existed and this was all done by adults.

    Worst Part #2: No criminal charges are being filed.

    As usual, I’m not paying justice to the story. Please go and read the entire article.

    And to the people who did this to Megan Meier, I’ll just leave you with that I hope you rot in hell.

    Thanks to Belch for the link.

    Now I’m going to go listen to the song Danny Boy to cheer myself up.

  • Mutant MySpace connection

    Mutant MySpace connection

    The cyber school for killers:

    According to the article, not only were Dillon Cossey and Pekka-Eric Auvinen YouTube buddies, but it seems they belonged to the same pro-Columbine groups on MySpace.

    Police do not believe this to have been a coincidence. The two youths are thought to have made contact over two MySpace groups, “RIP Eric and Dylan” — a reference to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who killed 12 schoolmates at Columbine — and “Natural Selection”.

    And people wonder why I think that sites like MySpace and YouTube need to shut down what basically amounts to hate groups.

    But like I’ve said before, MySpace and YouTube wouldn’t have to if parents just paid better attention to their kids.

    Speaking of parents…

    Auvinen’s parents are regarded as somewhat bohemian in the small dormitory township of Jokela. His father plays part-time in a jazz band and composes his own music; Auvinen’s mother is an activist for the Greens. They are regarded as stalwart members of the community and neighbours describe them as a “normal family”.

    I’ll let you draw your own conclusions on that one.

  • Should YouTube muzzle the mutants?

    Should YouTube muzzle the mutants?

    Should YouTube play the censor and sentinel?:

    In the wake of the Jokela High School shooting in Finland, News.com has written this article asking if YouTube should censor the parent neglected little balls of hate like Pekka-Eric Auvinen. Before I educate people on the definition of censorship, my answer is a resounding yes.

    First of all, if YouTube decides to pull any video for whatever reason, that’s not censorship. Censorship, in the U.S. at least, can only come from the government. When YouTube does it, which last time I checked they were not a branch of the government, it’s called enforcing their Terms of Service.

    Here are all the reasons a YouTube video can be pulled…

    1. Graphic sexual activity
    “Graphic sexual activity” describes content which contains actual visible or implied sex acts.

    2. Nudity
    “Nudity” refers to exposed or see-through coverage of areas typically covered by a bathing suit or underwear. Sometimes nudity is allowed on YouTube, depending on the context.

    3. Suggestive, but without nudity
    “Suggestive” content refers to materials with sexual themes that do not necessarily depict sexual activity or nudity. Sexually suggestive content may not be suitable for all audiences and may include fetish-related content.

    4. Shocking or disgusting content
    “Shocking or disgusting content” refers to disturbing imagery, such as graphic depictions of violence, accidents or gore, which lack an appropriate context.

    5. Promotes hatred or violence against a protected group
    Hate speech is content that promotes or encourages hatred or violence toward a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity.

    6. Harmful dangerous acts
    “Harmful dangerous acts” may include content which is depicts behavior likely to cause serious injury or death to a third party.

    7. Reveals personally identifying information
    This refers to revealing information that identifies another person against their wishes, such as home address, telephone number, social security number or credit card number.

    I think that the videos that Auvinen and his ilk make fall under several of those guidelines. However, the problem is that YouTube, which is owned by Google by the way, really only wants to police the site for copyrighted content. What they rely on is for users to flag the videos for any inappropriate content. That’s what I like to call letting the inmates run the asylum. Craigslist has a similar policy with its “erotic services” section. The problem is similar as well. People going to YouTube to see funny videos aren’t venturing into the depths where the mutants and their killer tribute videos lurk, and the ones that do aren’t going to flag the videos because that’s what they like.

    However, as much as I wish YouTube would shut down these mutants, it really comes down to parenting. Where are these kids’ parents when they’re making these hate-filled videos? Probably happy that their precious little snowflakes are expressing themselves rather than disciplining them for being the dumbasses that they are.

  • MutantTube

    MutantTube

    Finnish killer subscribed to jailed US youth’s webpage:

    Well, well, well. It seems that mutant loser and coward Pekka-Eric Auvinen was YouTube buddies with another mutant loser mentioned in these pages, Dillon Cosey. Cossey was the homeschooled kid who was arrested for plotting an attack against Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School outside of Philly.

    Cossey’s YouTube page is still standing in all its mutant “glory” while Auvinen’s was pulled. I guess it takes a mass murder for YouTube to pull someone’s killer worshiping videos.

    YouTuber Warned of Finnish Gunman in June, But No One Listened:

    In other Jokela related YouTube news, a YouTuber by the handle of TheAmazingAtheist was concerned about Auvinen’s and other YouTube profiles.

    But months before the fateful video was posted, one prolific YouTube user known as TheAmazingAtheist called for the police to investigate Auvinen and others who had been posting videos glorifying the Columbine shooters and Timothy McVeigh, saying they were showing warning signs of being more than simply infatuated or interested in violence.

    While his intentions were good, my question is, did he actually contact authorities or someone at YouTube or did he just complain about it on YouTube?

    First, it was AOL, then LiveJournal, then MySpace. Now YouTube is the prominent breeding ground for mutants.

  • Update from Finland

    Update from Finland

    7 die in ‘YouTube plan’ shooting:

    Now reports are coming in that there are seven dead from the school shooting in Finland at the Jokela School Centre.

    There was also a video on his YouTube profile entitled “Jokela High School Massacre – 11/7/2007.” that escaped my notice and now the YouTube profile has been pulled.

    And the gunman has been identified as Pekka-Eric Auvinen.

    Seven dead in school shooting ‘predicted’ in YouTube video:

    One of his victims was the school principal, but it is not known if the principal has survived or not.

    Thanks to ZakkVanDime for that link.

  • Deli owner in Hawaii arrested for molestation

    Deli owner in Hawaii arrested for molestation

    Eatery co-owner held in sex attack:

    50-year-old Lyle Mitsugi Nonaka was arrested last week on sexual assault charges. He’s accused of posing as a girl named Shayna on MySpace and getting a 14-year-old boy to send him nude pictures of himself. Once Nonaka received the pictures, he threatened the boy with sending the pictures to the boy’s friends.

    “Shayna” told the victim that an older Asian male would pick him up and drive him to a friend’s house that had a Web camera. A man introducing himself as “Lyle” picked up the boy and drove him to a home near Pearlridge, police said. The suspect, later identified as Nonaka, allegedly performed oral sex on the boy while being filmed with the Web camera.

    A second incident allegedly occurred on Oct. 23 after Nonaka allegedly threatened to post video footage of the first sexual assault if he didn’t meet the suspect to go shopping.

    That day, Nonaka picked up the boy and drove him back to a Pearlridge home and allegedly molested and performed oral sex on the boy. Nonaka then brought the boy to the Pearlridge Shopping Center and bought about $352 worth of clothing.

    The next day, the boy’s mother reported the assault to the police. Police arrested the suspect at 11 a.m. Thursday at his home.

    Even paradise has monsters.

  • Werribee teens convicted

    Werribee teens convicted

    Seven convicted over Werribee sex DVD assault:

    Seven teens were convicted over the infamous Werribee, Australia rape DVD because let’s face it, it was nothing short of rape.

    The group took her to nearby river parkland where they began filming their activity, surrounding her in a circle and chanting “The Victim” – the title of the segment in which she featured on the DVD.

    The youths cheered and chanted as she was urinated on, set alight, poked with sticks and made to perform sex acts.

    Her clothes are taken and thrown in muddy water with two boys using her mascara to scrawl the title of the movie across her chest.

    You’d think they’d receive jail time, but that’s what we get for thinkin’.

    Of the eight who pleaded guilty six were placed on strict youth supervision orders for up to 18 months and two on year-long probation.

    All will be required to attend a counseling program for young sex offenders.

    I don’t know what it’s like in Australia, but here in The States, we all know how well counseling works. It rarely does. I’m sure these kids will be back in trouble with the law before we know it.

    Thanks to Alan for the link.