And you thought your parents were hard on you when you were growing up. An Arkansas teenager is suing his mother for harassment during alleged Facebook infringement.
According to the teen, who lives with his grandparents, and whose mother has no custody over, the woman in question got into his account, changed his password, and wrote unkind notes on his wall, among other things. The child is 16 years old.
The mother claims that she read on her son’s Facebook that he had been driving 95 miles per hour, and that “that prompted me to even actually start really going through his Facebook to see what was going on.” The mother claims that she was withing her legal rights to “monitor [her] child.”
Given that the teen’s grandmother does have custodial rights, she might be wrong. Arkansas law states that “A person commits the offense if with purpose to harass, annoy or alarm another person without good cause, he engages in conduct or repeatedly commits acts that alarm or seriously annoy another person.”
If his mother cannot prove that she was providing oversight, and was not annoying her son, she might get away with this. But given her actions, the fact that she lost custody of her son, and sound a little wacky, we are going to have to side with the angst ridden teen.
Parents, don’t look on Facebook for things that you do not want to know about.
Accessing someone elses Facebook account without permission is illegal no matter who you are. Parent, wife, best friend, boss, etc.
The same thing goes for email, IM, bank accounts, etc.
Accessing someone elses Facebook account without permission is illegal no matter who you are. Parent, wife, best friend, boss, etc.
The same thing goes for email, IM, bank accounts, etc.
Are you sure of this? Have you seen a law that says this? I think the person with legal custody of him would have the right to access his account in a respectful manner, but his mother had/did neither of these.
I don't give a crap who has custody, he's 16, he has no rights as far as I am concerned. That's the problem today with kids, they are overrunning the parents or guardians if you will. Oh, I guess you can't take a belt to him because then you would have child abuse, give me a break!!!!
As far as the Constitution of the United States is concerned, he, and every other American Citizen, has rights. Also, you are subscribing to the idea that parents always know best, which is not always the case if you care to observe reality.
Some of the stuff teens are posting on facebook and myspace just makes me sick to my stomach. Just look at some of the videos on youtube. A friend of mine showed me a video of her 13 year old girls dancing in a video on youtube. They are in bikinis acting like a bunch of sluts and the mother doesn't see anything wrong with it. Teens today have way too much freedom.
I don't care if the mother hacked into the facebook account or not, good for her for doing what she did and I would do the same, I stand behind her fully 100%. If he was 18 it would be a different story, but he is 16 and just like the post before I don't think a 16 year old has any RIGHTS!!!!!! Tell him to get off facebook and cut the grass or do some chores around the house, oh, that might harassment to, ya think???
I’m guessing you think that when someone turns 18 they magically become an “adult”. Check out my comment above yours. Also, I do not see what makes this mother any more intelligent than her son, just because she decided to get pregnant does not make her grow up or gain any insight into what it means to make mature decisions. Legally this mothers problem is with the fact that she does not have legal custody of the boy. Due to that fact, the person who hacked his facebook acount could have been any random person and it would be legally treated exactly the same. You, on the other hand, are essentially saying that anyone over the age of 18 should have complete control over anyone under the age of 18. Yes, this was his biological mother, but, she lost custody of her son. Obviously she was not fit to be responsible for him, a fact that was already established before this situation.
Ok, she don't have custody. But if that was mine I have every right to change what ever I want. If you don't like it you can not use my electricity, eat my food, sleep under my roof. Take your pick. Some freedoms are given but this one isn't.
So, you believe “might makes right”. Nice. You could deny your child access to something such as the internet or facebook, assuming you were the child’s legal guardian, but i think intentionally slandering someone could possibly get you in legal trouble.
Well, she has no custody, so she's got no right to do that. And even if she did, that is not the way to monitor your child. Parental controls, yes, but spying? Come on.
I guess you are one of those that thinks their kids are little angels and can do no wrong!!! She has every right to do that, custody or not she is still his mother, she is the one that gave birth to him. I guess you have no clue to what teens do online these days.
Laws are put in place to protect people, suprisingly, even people under 18. She lost custody, you said that. You fail to realize what that actually means though. She has no control over him. You are not arguing with a modern ideology or even the boy and his lawyer, you are arguing with current law regarding legal guardianship and electronic privacy.
The boy should be ashamed for doing that to her own mother. For all the things that she given him and that's how he respects her by suing her own mother.
Thank you, it was an interesting post
You overestimate what it means to be a biological mother. She obviously had no respect for him. She was acting like a child.
Just because she got pregnant does not make all-knowing or deserve control over this 16 year old.
You are a giant douche people like u are the reason why this country is falling apart. I feel bad for the people who are still alive that fought for this country to make it better to have to watch people like you let it run down the drain. I’m only 28 and I can’t stand the Shit people let kids get away with this absolutely ridiculous and you’re defending him.
Well… that may be your opinion, but you don’t know anything about me. Read my other comments if you haven’t already and then try to argue your side of the issue with some facts instead of just attacking me as a person.
If the mother doesn't have any custodial rights, she is simply spying. Granted she found out he did something wrong while spying, but what prompted her to do so in the first place? There is some reason she does not have custody so why would she be poking her nose into his life?
It's pretty scary to see so many people here arguing that a 16 year old has NO RIGHTS. I'm looking at you wtfruthinking and Jay and others
This is why America is becoming fascist. People like you forget than an INDIVIDUAL ought to have the right to maintain sovereignty over their own property.
The fact that this guys mother didn't even have custody should make it an open and shut case. She violated his rights. Period
I agree with your first and last paragraphs, Joseph. A minor cannot own property though, his or her legal guardian owns it.
omg
This is absolutely rediculous. I dont care if that mother did not have rights over him or if she did. Guess what he used her computer, he left it open, and she is his birth mother. I want to know also how a child under the age of 18 can sue when they are not allowed to sign legal docuements. For the little brat cause thats what he is, he needs to get over this little publicity high he is having and go to school. If he was that mad at his mother ok stop talking to her. Sue her, wow this wourld and society is getting to be outrageous and I wish I lived in another decade
So, just becuase at one point in his life, he used her computer, which you are assuming he did (he lives with his grandmother), she has the right to hack and deface his account?
Yeah you def. have no idea what your kids are doing.
As a 16 year old you dont have certain rights. You live under my house, my rules. You dont like it then you can leave. Dont give me that crap that a teenager should have rights. Ok ill tell you what, lets let them drink, smoke, have sex with anyone at any age. Thats sound like an awesome idea. Hey lets also give money to all the illegal immigrants in our country, oh wait we do that. This society is getting ruid and its cause of kids like this. He was in her home on her comp. She cant do what she pleases. Oh yeah she doesnt have rights for some reason that is true but obviously the grand parents arent doing that great of a job if he is driving 95 miles an hour.
I’m sorry that those dumb laws give American citizens rights… It makes treating people under 18 like slaves so much more difficult…
It wasn’t his legal guardian. You are bluring the issue. She had no control of anything he did.
Ok Joseph Steinberg, I agree that people should have sovereignty over their property, but NOT A 16 YEAR OLD TEEN!!! Are you blind to what is going on with teens today. Heck, teens bully other kids with texts, send them hate email, even enough for them to commit suicide. Give me a break. I'm just glad that she had enough sense to check out what he was doing. I wish more parents were in tune to what their kids are doing online.
So, if I was 16 and somehow mail ordered a porn mag and my parents intercepted I guess you would call that theft HUH?
Oh, I almost forgot of a case here where I live. A 17 year old posted on his facebook page about a kid in school that he suspected was gay, guess what happened to the kid the next day at school?? He was almost beat to death…Spent a month or more in the hospital due to brain swelling, and the worst of all, he was not gay… Maybe if the parents had paid a little more attention to his online activities this wouldn't have happened, so all I have to say is that I fully disagree with anyone who thinks the mother is wrong in this case period…By golly she is his birth mother whether she has custody or not. The rights a 16 year old has is the ones his parents or guardian gave him, and in my opinion that can be taken away pretty quick…
You overestimate what is means to be a biological mother. Think about it. Also, the “rights a 16 year old has” are not the ones his parents or guardians give him. His rights are given to him by the Constitution. Such as his right to life. His parents cannot legally take that away (by killing him). You confuse rights with privaledges.
* Without leaping straight into some emotional argument, can you please provide one objective argument as to why a 16 year old human being has no rights? What is the qualitative difference between a 16 year old and an 18 year old?
* Is facebook or http://www.dirtyphonebook.com morally at fault if somebody gets beat up for being gay, or is it the responsibility of the humans who did the actual barbaric action?
Thank you.
Try reading the article again. The woman in question does not have custody of the child, nor does the child live in her house or use her computer. She might not like what he's doing while he lives with his grandparents, and maybe they aren't doing enough to guide him or raise him properly either – we really don't know from this limited information – but she has no right to hack into his account any more than she has a right to hack into his email or anyone else's, regardless of age. Now, if the child lived in her household, under her guardianship, she would have the means to control his behavior, and might not allow any internet activity or social networking. But, it's not her call in this case, regardless of the fact that she gave birth to him. It's logic like that that makes people think that they can put credit cards and loans in their kids names, because they are minors. Not so. Fraud is fraud, just as hacking is hacking. This idea that you can do anything in regard to a minor child because you own them like a piece of furniture is what's ridiculous.
For the most part, a parent does have a right to know what thier children are doing, what they are doing and what not. If a mother had custody, then yes her right as a parent would trump a minors right to privacy. However, the issue is that she did NOT have custody so she was wrong. Sueing is a bit far, but given that she had no rights over him she violated the law.
Doesn't matter, try reading the article again, the full article!!! She didn't hack into brats account, the brat left the computer logged in to the account.
It still doesn't matter, what cracks me up is how these little brats think they are adults starting at age 12. OH, a piece of furniture, give me a break.
Read it a third time. It does not say he left it open. And it wouldn’t matter anyways. What you are saying is that if you dropped your credit card, that anyone has the right to pick it up and use it, just because you were dumb enough to drop it in public. The point is that she illegally accessed his account, regardless of how she actually did it.
And, I say again, without legal custody, she is just a random person on the street.
Not here to argue, don't like to argue and I won't argue with anyone. We all have a responsibility as parents to raise our kids the best we can and I can tell you that some parents or should I say a lot of parents just do not care what their kids are doing.
And by the way, who said facebook was responsible for a kid getting beat up because he was gay?
What is the qualitative difference between a 16 and 18 year old? A big difference, an 18 year old can join the service and die for their country!!!! Now, can a 16 year old??? So I guess you are saying that in your eyes a 16 year old is an adult. Well, I guess if a 16 year old is an adult then they should be able to buy liquor and vote and rent a car…
…these comments are so damn ridiculous. It's insane.
Tweens and teens, in the media, but true Weird Arkansas 16-year-old boy) has a new friend Facebook: Lawyer. New York Daily News that the young man is suing his mother a new line because it is poor in alleged.
fucking dirty basterd has no respect for his mum