Identity Fraud & Web-Assisted Suicide

Identity Fraud & Web-Assisted Suicide
Written by Nicole Ferraro
5/14/2010

Today we begin with a relevant and somewhat embarrassing personal anecdote. Oh boy.

When I was 12, and first got Internet access in my house, I was enamored with the ability to take on various personae online. In addition to creating different screen names to represent the multiple personalities I was testing at that age, I also set up an AOL account called "Mrs. Advice." I signed on that name once a day, went into chatrooms, and told people I was a therapist and was willing to chat privately on IM with anyone who needed help.

A few people bit, and I guessed they were people in my age group. Apart from the fact that their problems were centered on friends, relationships, and their parents, a simple look at my profile would have suggested to any rational being that I was, in fact, neither a therapist nor an adult.

After a few weeks, I realized it was wrong to mislead anyone, even if I was assuredly helping with their problems, and I deactivated the account. And while my intentions were good (I spent a bizarre amount of time as a child worrying about potentially sad strangers and wanted to reach out), the same ruse can be -- and is being -- used to harm people.

The New York Times reports today on William F. Melchert-Dinkel, a 47-year-old man who, in disguising himself as a female nurse, found people online who were considering suicide and helped them do just that. The Times states that he "told some that it was all right to let go, that they would be better in heaven, and entered into suicide pacts with others."

Melchert-Dinkel is now being charged with two counts of assisting suicide. According to the Times, he told investigators that "death and suicide could be considered an obsession," and he claims to have encouraged "dozens."

But, as with most cases related to the Internet, this one might not be as simple as it sounds. The Times writes that "many states have laws barring assisting suicide, but rarely have cases involved people not in the same room (much less the same country) or the sharing of only words (not guns or pills)."

Further, while Melchert-Dinkel was charged under a Minnesota law that criminalizes encouragement of suicide, it may be too broad "to include protected speech that falls short of actually leading someone to suicide."

This is a problem, and a recurring one when it comes to the Web. We all recall Megan Meier, who killed herself after a friend's mother -- Lori Drew -- posing as a boy on MySpace told Meier the world would be better off without her. Since no local laws allowed for Drew's prosecution, prosecutors charged her with violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act on the grounds that she violated MySpace's terms of service. While Drew was found guilty by a jury, she was acquitted by the judge who said that verdict would then make anyone who has violated a TOS agreement guilty of a misdemeanor.

Well-meaning "Mrs. Advice"-types aside, much of the badness on the Internet stems from this ability to be anonymous, something that seems impossible to regulate and unlikely to ever really be done away with, considering the recent rise of new sites that encourage it.

But perhaps, rather than focusing on regulating how social networking sites use people's freely shared data, lawmakers should close loopholes and adapt current laws to fit the digital age -- and maybe stop people on the Internet from essentially getting away with murder.

— Nicole Ferraro, Site Editor, Internet Evolution