Teen sues Facebook over cyberbullying

Largely as expected, folks are getting awfully litigious over comments made on the increasingly popular social network sites.

Following the hubbub generated by the Lori Drew case, more victims of what they feel to be cyber-abuse are looking to the courts to straighten out the situation. The latest news: A New York teenager named Denise Finkel is suing four former high school classmates, their parents, and Facebook over an alleged bullying incident "in a private forum." She wants $3 million, alleging in her complaint that the students in question created a group devoted solely to tormetning her, one designed "to hold the plaintiff up to public hatred, ridicule, and disgrace."

To be sure, the lawsuit says that the group in question said some pretty awful things, including that she had AIDS and "participated in bestiality." But as with many of the growing number of cases like this, it's unclear to what extent the activities of the group were illegal, and whether Finkel can recover financial damages for online name-calling, no matter how horrible it is. (One of the long-standing tenets of suits like this is that plaintiffs are expected by the courts to have a "thick skin" when it comes to verbal abuse... but just how thick is up to judge and jury to decide.)

In the Drew case, the mother of a teenager posed as a boy who e-romanced a former friend of her daughter. That girl, Megan Meier, ultimately committed suicide when Drew's alter ego "broke up" with her on MySpace. Drew was criminally prosecuted but was ultimately found guilty of three misdemeanors, namely ones regarding her violation of MySpace's terms of service. As near as I can tell, she has not been named in a civil suit over Meier's death, likely in part because Meier's parents feel they don't have much of a case.

There's no great source of statistics on how many suits like this are working their way through the courts, but in my mind, the lesson is clear: Let's all try and keep it civil out there.