Is This Moral?


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What this person is doing is absolutely horrible. Please follow everyone's advise, and save copies of the emails, contact the police and the FBI, and watch your daughter. But also, I agree that you should NOT stoop so low as to start sending this guy a virus or anything. Then yes, he could fight back, and you could become in trouble. Here is another site that I think you should look at:

http://www.cybertipline.com/

The CyberTipline handles leads from individuals reporting the sexual exploitation of children.

Please contact us if you have information that will help in our fight against child sexual exploitation. Your information will be forwarded to law enforcement for investigation and review, and, when appropriate, to the Internet Service Provider.

I hope that you can have this problem resolved quickly, safely, and peacefully.

Matt

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Why hasn't anybody suggested the most obvious solution? Change your daughter's email address silently and without informing jerkwad. Leave the other account open so his emails don't bounce back and totally ignore anything he sends to it. I suggest changing the account password to one only you know, so you can make the judgement calls when it comes to anything that may need to be dealt with there (like, perhaps, legit friends of your daughter who didn't get the notification of a changed address, etc). It will take awhile for jerkface to realize what has happened, and by the time he does he won't really have any way of getting back into contact with your daughter (unless there is something you aren't telling us, like him having some other significant identifying information about her).

It's inconvenient, true, but it's a small price to pay for the safety of your daughter and the removal of a source of obscenity.

I'd forget about any plans of retaliation or even legal action. As you suggested, most police departments aren't anywhere near well enough equipped to track down someone like this, and unfortunately higher jurisdictions that have more power to subpoena the right people generally won't get involved until things are already far more serious than you want this to become. IANAL, but your only current legal grounds seem to be harassment, which could only turn into an ugly lawsuit that you'd probably be better off avoiding. The more serious charges that something like this COULD escallate into are too terrible to think about. The best treatment of this situation is to carefully pack up, as it were, and move out of that particular virtual ego.

Also, I'd make a concerted effort into discovering how the guy got your daughter's email in the first place... Perhaps have a talk with her about the seriousness of being careful with her anonymity and/or monitor her internet activity more closely. This is, of course, totally up to you and your parenting style. You shouldn't interpret this as legal advice, just the concerned advice of someone who knows a thing or two about anonymity and tracking people over the internet.

Disclaimer: What follows is totally my own opinion; treat it as such.

Personally I don't think someone as young as your daughter has any business having a significant online presence. Beyond an email address and perhaps IM account for friends only, I feel a lot of involvement is unneccessary risk. Things like a personal website, chat rooms, even a seemingly harmless blog can divulge a LOT of details about a person to thousands of pairs of eyes that the author was never thinking about nor even aware of. Only a few details are needed to find a significant amount of information out about people on the internet (no, I'm not wearing my tin foil hat, but this has been a topic I've had interest in for a long time). I wouldn't ever presume to tell you how to raise your daughter, but I don't hesitate in strongly urging you to heavily monitor your daughter's activity online and limit what kind of information she posts. Unfortunately a ten year old usually lacks the judgement and sense of the scope of the Internet that more experienced persons may (or very well may not) posess. What seems like some totally harmless information to someone that age could very well be enough to track someone down to a certain date, time, and place.

For example, I have released a fairly small number of personal details about myself over the years, and I have a pretty good handle on where these details are and exactly to what they can lead. Even withstanding that, more than one person in the past has ascertained my identity to a sufficient degree to physically locate me. Now, I'm much older than your daughter, have a much larger online presence, and in general am not terribly concerned if somebody pops by some of the places where I can be found just to say 'hi.'

Granted, this may sound overbearing to some, and probably WILL sound overbearing to your daughter. However, the horror stories involving inexperienced children and the Internet abound, and in our day and age I personally prefer to err on the side of caution.

Good luck in dealing with the problem, hope everything turns out for the best!

-uberpenguin

Edited by uberpenguin
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I've got a jerk who's sending obscene emails to my ten year old daughter. I've told him where to go go but he just keeeps on coming. I can tell just by the way his messages are worded that he's no twelve year old lothlorio (sp?) . I'm thinking of just putting his email out on that other forum and letting the OT crowd have their way. I'm I wrong? What should I do? I've already had one daughter molested and I don't think I can survive another. I can't think straight,help me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

.....you got more than enough good advice here so far.....i'm going to take a different tack..and ask this simple but serious question....how is it your 10 year old daughter has an email account which she can be exposed to this abuse..? my 11 year old has her own account..but it's so restricted that only email addresses that are individually approved by ME..can be received or sent..and forget about the im stuff...i just say no...

you need to take responsibility for your daughters well being and safety if you allow her internet access..imo there is no excuse for a parent not to protect their children from the internet dangers that are well documented...

Does your isp know your daughter is only 10..if they do and don't have protection built into her account then you need to close it and find another..or get your kid off the internet...

this "I can't think straight,help me." is BS.. your the dad...be the dad and get your act together.

QUOTE: from uberpenquin...

"Personally I don't think someone as young as your daughter has any business having a significant online presence. Beyond an email address and perhaps IM account for friends only, I feel a lot of involvement is unneccessary risk. Things like a personal website, chat rooms, even a seemingly harmless blog can divulge a LOT of details about a person to thousands of pairs of eyes that the author was never thinking about nor even aware of. Only a few details are needed to find a significant amount of information out about people on the internet (no, I'm not wearing my tin foil hat, but this has been a topic I've had interest in for a long time). I wouldn't ever presume to tell you how to raise your daughter, but I don't hesitate in strongly urging you to heavily monitor your daughter's activity online and limit what kind of information she posts. Unfortunately a ten year old usually lacks the judgement and sense of the scope of the Internet that more experienced persons may (or very well may not) posess. What seems like some totally harmless information to someone that age could very well be enough to track someone down to a certain date, time, and place.'

perfectly stated... :thumbsup:

and repeated for strong emphasis...

Edited by screi
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Good luck with this one, wolfman2001! I've also got an 11 year old daughter who I constantly worry about when she's out of my sight.

This guy is not moral, he is a pedophile, and therefore dangerous. I would turn this over to the police, FBI.

In the mean time uberpenguin's advice is excellent; he knows a lot about Internet security.

Edited by hitest
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Jesus Christ Goober Puke.

I know it is your policy to disagree with everything I say because I bruised your ego but this is a new low even for you.

While I realize that it used to be legal to marry a 12 year old down there in Georgia, it is no longer acceptable behavior.

Nobody cares about cyber pervs?

How about these people? http://www.cyberlawenforcement.org/

Don't bother with your usual, I seriously doubt that I will ever post here again.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

You seem very upset, please calm down.

Edited by Moderator: hitest

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Jesus Christ Goober Puke.

I know it is your policy to disagree with everything I say because I bruised your ego but this is a new low even for you.

While I realize that it used to be legal to marry a 12 year old down there in Georgia, it is no longer acceptable behavior.

What the hell tj? Somebody has a serious problem and you can't get over your own damn ego for five minutes and try to let go the various times that you've perceived me wronging you. The personal attack and stereotype on Southerners is a real winner for making your point, though... Bravissimo.

Have you ever actually dealt with law enforcement agencies as regards to cyber crime? Try it sometime; local agencies are either understaffed or totally incompetent to deal with it. Higher agencies won't bother with your case unless things have already escallated to a very bad level. Wolfman doesn't actually HAVE any legal grounds for doing much at all except a harassment suit, and the police at any level aren't going to waste their time with something that frivolous when there are simple solutions that can STOP this before it gets worse.

There are much MUCH worse cases of cyber stalking than this; you are only witnessing a very simple and easy to avoid case. This one can be stopped now by simple means, and I refuse to even attempt to step around YOUR enormous ego by recanting anything I've said. Wolfman needs to quickly, quietly, and cleanly cut all ties with the person causing his daughter trouble. End of story.

Either clam up or be nice, it's your choice. I am by no means above posting links to the records of the two major times you've flipped out at me, and I seriously doubt you want people here reading that (I don't mind one bit, on the other hand).

-uberpenguin

Edited by uberpenguin
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OK - Here's the deal. I don't know exactly what is going on here, and it is interfering with the true topic of this thread. I hope that you two can resolve whatever is happening. If you need to, feel free to PM a Mod/Admin if something is wrong. This thread is now locked.

Wolfman2001, I am sorry that this had to be done. My most sincere hope for your situation.

Matt

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