Recently featured on national TV!!
Online Imposter Profiles: YES! This is cyberbullying!
I have a background in catching online imposters for celebrities and a friend of mine and I will be starting back up after the new year with our Celebrity Protectors project which we have done in the past. However, it is not just celebrities who have imposter or "poser" problems in cyberspace. Kids pose as each other and it goes as far as predators impersonating others online. This is not only a form of cyberbullying but identity theft and we need to take this problem more seriously. Stay tuned for Celebrity Protectors after the first of the year. In the meantime, I want to share a story with you. I do not want to give any names in this as I respect the confidentiality of others. This is a true story and all names are protected. This story is one that needs to be out there and shows how far this problem can go:
My son called me and informed me someone had put up an imposter profile of him on MySpace, he hadn’t seen it yet but kids at school were talking about it. We spent the next 3 days searching for it but couldn’t find it. He called me several times a day for the next two days in utter panic. Some one finally gave him the URL and we were able to pull it up. I can still hear the devastation in his voice as we read it. He said over and over again, “Mom, this is wrong, this is bad, I want to be a business man in this community and I can’t be with this crap out there. What am I going to do?” He started having migraines, upset stomach, and eventually skipped school.
I sent my son to the local Sheriff’s department to have a police report made and the matter investigated however, the detective advised my son to just deal with it on a personal level.
The Imposter Profile on MySpace that included his photo, was a made up pornographic conversation as if it were between my son and another student at his school and also had him admitting to other crimes, some sexual in nature. My son had every right to be devastated. I was devastated; I couldn’t believe how bad my son sounded.
I have known of SafeWave.org and its mission to keep children safe online, so I contacted them first. I thank God they knew who to contact and what steps I needed to take. I also found Debbie Johnston through SafeWave, initiator of ‘Jeff’s Law” in Florida. I spoke with Debbie and she told me to contact Senator B. Senator B, a child advocate, had a bill passed in Tennessee keeping children safe at school.
I flew to Tennessee and there I found no one cared.
I went to his school and explained why he skipped school and showed them the MySpace page and he was excused from school. The school said there wasn’t anything they could do since the MySpace page was not created on school grounds nor could they do anything to the students who made remarks to my son. The assistant principal said “It wasn’t his problem”. The School Resource Officer said he would contact the Sheriff’s office. The Sheriff’s office response was “there was no law broken so nothing can be done.” I had already started the process with MySpace to get the profile taken down and finally after 3 days of going round and round with them, they took it down and they did preserve the data of the person creating this account. I asked them to release it to me and they said they couldn’t, they would have to go through the Sheriff’s Department. MySpace contacted the Sheriff’s office several times but the detective will not return their calls. MySpace told me not to contact them anymore regarding this matter, I should direct all inquires to the Sheriff’s department. I emailed and phoned the school board asking them about policies and procedures for the schools and if they could help. No one ever responded. I contacted Senator B since it was her District and she advised me to do whatever the school and school board says, they know what they are doing, and she let me know she was in the middle of a really tough campaign. I have since emailed her several times but she has not responded.
I spoke with Debbie Johnston many times throughout this process, she has been great. She has offered to work with Senator B and the County School Board.
My son is very angry that no one can or will do anything and I agree with him. Since when is it legal to steal someone’s identity, print lies as if the person themselves was saying it, humiliate, devastate, embarrass, and take away my son’s right to a safe education?
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