Son Sues Mother over Facebook problems

[Paladin]

Wow some moms are waaay too over protective. One mom has gone to far.


Son is sueing own mother over her hacking his facebook account, Telling all his friends lies as if she was him, and then locking the account so he can't get back in..... Has she gone to far?   I think so.

http://www.comcast.net/video/family-s-facebook-lawsuit/1467000679/Comcast/newest/

[Oniya]

Did a little poking, and it turns out that she didn't actually 'hack' his account - he left it logged in on her computer.  It doesn't mean that she was right to impersonate him, although I could see confronting him with the information that she'd learned from reading it (according to most articles, it was that he had driven 95 mph after getting upset with 'some girl'.)

[Paladin]

Ah. well that was just the article that popped up on Yahoo. Still she had no right to impersonate him, or to change his password. I think by hacking they meant that she was in his account and changed stuff. If she hadw anted him off facebook she could have just banned the site from any of the home computers and set punishment if he got back on.

[Avi]

"Hacking" is a loose term when it comes to Facebook, and I believe that there is some clause in the site agreement that strictly forbids accessing the accounts of other people.  I know it's not a legally binding contract, but I would assume that they put it in there to protect users from outside legal action.

In any case, yes, what the mother did was way out of line.  There are many other ways of punishing your child than resorting to the tactics of a teenager, and many of those methods are more effective and have much less juvenile behavior involved.

[Oniya]

Ah. well that was just the article that popped up on Yahoo. Still she had no right to impersonate him, or to change his password. I think by hacking they meant that she was in his account and changed stuff. If she hadw anted him off facebook she could have just banned the site from any of the home computers and set punishment if he got back on.

One issue is that apparently she is not the one who is his guardian.  His grandmother has that designation.  Since he's gone so far as to request a no-contact order over this, I'm assuming that she lives elsewhere and he must have been visiting when the incident occurred.  Getting the grandmother in on it would be necessary to enforce such a ban (and, if she had wanted him off Facebook, that should have been done.)

My husband and I let our little one onto certain websites that have low-level socializing (she and some of her friends play fairies together).  As she is a minor, we set up the account, know the password, and actually log in for her.  If it ever occurs that there is a site that we aren't going to let her on, then we share that information with each other, and keep an eye on the computer for that access.  We would also let her Grandma and Nana know, so that she doesn't make use of their (albeit limited) computer access while she visits there.

[Callie Del Noire]

One issue is that apparently she is not the one who is his guardian.  His grandmother has that designation.  Since he's gone so far as to request a no-contact order over this, I'm assuming that she lives elsewhere and he must have been visiting when the incident occurred.  Getting the grandmother in on it would be necessary to enforce such a ban (and, if she had wanted him off Facebook, that should have been done.)

My husband and I let our little one onto certain websites that have low-level socializing (she and some of her friends play fairies together).  As she is a minor, we set up the account, know the password, and actually log in for her.  If it ever occurs that there is a site that we aren't going to let her on, then we share that information with each other, and keep an eye on the computer for that access.  We would also let her Grandma and Nana know, so that she doesn't make use of their (albeit limited) computer access while she visits there.

Wow.. you've thought this out a bit.. I'm impressed. A lot of the folks I know, though tech savvy, haven't given this as much thought. I feel 'squicky' when kids on a few sites try to contact me (I logged an account on the AimeIowa site to find a buddy of mine and wound up with like 3 10-14 year olds contacting me. I immediately took my email/IM notes off thoses sites)

[RubySlippers]

As far as I'm concerned there is no right to privacy for a child until they are eighteen - period. But since the grandmother was the guardian it was her place to set such rules not the mother.

[Oniya]

I think the issue is more of what the mother did with the access.  It reeks of the sort of thing another teen might do given the opportunity, not the sort of thing a mature adult would do.

[Paladin]

since the grandmother was the guardian it was her place to set such rules not the mother.

Exactly. the mother has no rights to do what she did. The grandmother as legal guardianship is the only one who has that right. Also Ruby, In my State 16 is the age at which you can be emancipated. Its also the legal age of consent. At that point parents need a leave their kids business alone... unless its something dangerous like drugs. If a parent dosen't want their kid going on a certain site then they just need to block access to said site. NOT get on it and lie to their kids frieds and do stupid shit.

I think the issue is more of what the mother did with the access.  It reeks of the sort of thing another teen might do given the opportunity, not the sort of thing a mature adult would do.

Then apparently the mother is not mature. After all the boys guardianship was given o the grandmother for SOME reason.

[Torch]

I think the issue is more of what the mother did with the access.  It reeks of the sort of thing another teen might do given the opportunity, not the sort of thing a mature adult would do.

Exactly. My older daughter has a Facebook account. I know the password and I check it occasionally, just to see what she's up to. But the thing is, she knows I check it; I don't go behind her back.

My younger daughter likes to visit the Webkins site, and send messages to her friends. She only does this under adult supervision.

[PaleEnchantress]

I think the grandmother should have the power to enforce or stop the suit. I'm interested in her perspective on the mother's actions. In this situation I would consider the mother a "family friend" and someone who has the rights to govern the teen as much as the grandmother permits. Still the idea that the mother impersonated her child while talking to his friends is very immature and even pathetic. If something fishy is going on then a casual perusal would be enough to reveal it and bring it to the grandmother's attention. If nothing negative is apparent then she should have stopped there too.

Now if it had been the grandmother who had done what the mother did I wouldn't have a problem with it. I would think it rather childish of her to sneak around like that but that is ultimately her decision. Whether friend, teacher, or total stranger no one has the right to do what the mother did on simple virtue of being over 18. It's up to a minors guardian to raise them, and while some may reach out to those close to them for assistance violating a teen's privacy like that without solicitation should be a crime. If I had a child and someone did what the mother did I would be furious regardless of what they found.

[Oniya]

Are you saying that the grandmother should have been able to bar Facebook, or that the grandmother should have had the right to do the whole impersonation thing?  Because I'm with you if it's a matter of banning the website (even so far as changing the password), but the rest of it takes the 'right to swing her fist' closer than the 'end of his nose'.