Facebook is hilarious. Besides the random groups and fan pages, one of the funniest occurrences on the Web site is a hacked status. On the other hand, a hijacked account is not as funny.
A hacked status is funny because your Facebook friends can usually tell that it’s not you. If a status was hacked by a friend, you as the victim can usually find humor in it. However, what doesn’t seem as humorous is when you find out that your Facebook has been hacked and hijacked by your mother.
Lane New, a 16-year-old Arkansas boy, might have the last laugh in the above mentioned Facebook discretion. Lane is suing his mother for harassment because she hacked his Facebook account.
According to Lane, his mother, Denise New, hijacked his account and changed his password. His mother also posted libelous and personal facts about Lane on his page.
After Lane accidentally left his Facebook open at his mother’s house, she looked on his profile to see what her son’s recent postings and activities were. Denise discovered a post discussing how Lane drove at 95 miles per hour to Hot Springs in the middle of the night.
After that, Lane’s mother had enough. She started editing Lane’s postings on Facebook, removing things she saw as indecent. She did not completely take over the page until she read the posting about his trip to Hot Springs. She argues that what her son had on his page would have any parent concerned.
Denise contends that, “You’re within your legal rights to monitor your child and to have a conversation with your child on Facebook whether it’s his account or your account or whoever’s account.” However, it is important to know that Denise is not the legal guardian of her son. His grandmother is.
Denise did not stop at just hijacking her son’s page; she hacked into his e-mail account as well. She changed his e-mail settings so that he was unable to change his password. The mother said, “I probably made maybe three, maybe four actual postings — the rest of it was a conversation between my son, me and his personal friends.” As a result, Lane has asked the court to serve a no contact order against his own mother.
A case like this will easily bring out critics, people deeming wrong the idea of a minor suing his parent over a Facebook account. Wasn’t Denise just trying to protect her son? If this is the question, where do we draw the line when it comes to privacy and minors?
This isn’t a case of a 12 year old creating a MySpace account and their parents cancelling it. Neither is the issue involving a 14-year-old girl posting half naked pictures of her on Facebook. This is a case of a mother who legitimately invaded the privacy of her son.
Lane had the right, as a 16-year-old, to open a private Facebook account — the keyword here is private.
Like a normal parent, if Denise was dissatisfied with what she saw on her son’s page, she should have scolded him and asked him to take it down. If necessary, she could have even taken down the profile. She chose, however, to hijack her son’s account.
There is a time where we, as a society, can shake our heads at the failings of those younger than us. This, however, is not the time. Lane’s mother acted immaturely and she deserves to be punished within the bounds of the law.
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