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Criminal Complaint Filed Against Facebook After Girl's Death

An anonymous reader writes "A prosecutor has opened an investigation into how Facebook allowed the publication of insults and bullying posts aimed at 14-year-old Carolina Picchio, who took her own life after a gang of boys circulated a video on Facebook of her appearing drunk and disheveled in a bathroom at a party. The Italian Parents Association has filed a criminal complaint against Facebook for allegedly having a role in the instigation of Carolina's suicide. 'This is the first time a parents' group has filed such a complaint against Facebook in Europe,' said Antonio Affinita, the director. 'Italian law forbids minors under 18 signing contracts, yet Facebook is effectively entering into a contract with minors regarding their privacy, without their parents knowing.''

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  1. Re:facebook is an american company by Cyko_01 · · Score: 1, Troll

    Facebook is an american company freedom of speech, even speech we dont like is legal

    it is so sad that you actually believe that

  2. Re:facebook is an american company by Seumas · · Score: 1, Troll

    That isn't correct, going into the future. We are inching ever closer to making "mean" language a crime: Bullying.

    Instead of holding adults -- parents of the teased, the teasers, the teachers, the administrators and so on -- accountable for things and not letting awful behavior slide in schools and alienating and harming the children therein (school can be a hideous place for children and the adults often just look the other way, meaning you are basically sending your kids to Lord of the Flies camp five days a week) . . . we hold "Facebook" accountable for ever letting someone post mean things on there or videos of someone making a fool of themselves. Or we make it an actual crime to tease someone, if that person ultimately does something to themselves.

    It is exceedingly easy to drive us to the point where this is going to happen (it already is happening), because we all have sympathy for the little girl who harms or kills herself (over and over again with each story, of course) because she was teased and harassed by other children. Once you have our sympathy, it's easy to say "well, god damn it, something should be done about this!" without paying much sense to the more abstract concept of, you know, people's rights and common sense.

  3. Re:facebook is an american company by hjf · · Score: 0, Troll

    What paper trail? Have you studied italian law? Does italian law accept "clicking accept on a web form" as a valid, legally binding contract? My bet is 100% surely positively NOT. A contract, a real life contract, needs a real signature on a real piece of paper Everything else is just bullshit. That doesn't just apply to Italy. I'm pretty sure you can't open a bank account, even in the US, through a web page. You need to fill paper forms and sign them.