Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can’t ever
harm me. Really? Words can’t hurt you or make you feel
bad? If words can’t hurt you, then maybe
a video of you having homosexual sex released on-line will.
On September 22, 2010, a freshman at Rutger’s University,
Tyler Clementi, committed suicide. He
jumped off the George Washington Bridge and drowned in the Hudson River. You might be wondering now, “why did he kill
himself”? He jumped because his
roommate, Dharun Ravi, hid a webcam in their dorm room and recorded Tyler
having sex with another man.
The man he had had sexual relations with that night
(identified as M.B.) testified and said he had noticed the Web camera aimed
directly at Clementi’s bed. The 32 year old said he had met Tyler on a social
networking site for gay men, spoke on-line, sent text messages to each other,
and met three times in the student’s dorm room.
Ravi said he set up the video camera because he didn’t trust
his roommate’s visitor. He later tweeted
that day that when he reviewed the video footage and said “turned on my webcam”
and witnessed his roommate “making out with a dude”. Later that night (after broadcasting the
video) he tried to apologize to Tyler saying that he had no problem with him
being gay.
Last Friday Ravi was found guilty of all counts from a New
Jersey jury. He was convicted of
invasion of privacy, witness tampering, hindering apprehension, tampering with
physical evidence, and the more severe charges of bias intimidation. The prosecutors were able to prove that Ravi’s
actions were committed due to gay bias. He
openly admitted on the first day he “was bothered by Tyler Clementi’s sexual
orientation”. Since he committed a hate
crime towards homosexuals, his jail time doubles. If he gets the maximum of
five years, he would then need to serve ten years in jail. His sentencing will be on May 21. The maximum he could get is ten years in
prison and deportation to his native country of India. Ravi was not charged with Tyler’s death
directly. The prosecution offered Ravi a
plea deal to avoid jail time in exchange for counseling, doing 600 hours of
community service, and giving any information on who the man in the video with
Clementi is. He turned down the plea
deal.
The reason this is
such a big case is because of New Jersey’s law.
It says if one records someone engaged in an intimate act without their
knowledge and broadcast it, it is a criminal offense. Paul Callan, a CNN legal analyst, was quoted
saying the decision was “unprecedented” and it tells the rest of the country
what could happen to them if they use unauthorized webcam usage in a time of
expanding social media.
In the US, we have the freedom of speech. However, do we have the freedom to stream
videos of people without their consent? I don’t believe we do. I disagree with Paul Callan opinion on the
matter. I am in favor of the criminal
law that New Jersey has in place on the matter.
Tyler took his life, but there is a bright side to the story. This case may shine some light on on-line
bullying.
I understand Paul Callan’s opinion, the internet is so new and expanding every day, we have no set rules for its proper usage. We cannot just come up with the rules as we go. Even though New Jersey’s law explains a person cannot broadcast any intimate act without the person’s knowledge, I am sure a man from India may or may not have been aware of the law…not saying that it is an excuse but maybe 10 years in prison and the possibility of deportation is a little harsh. I am not in any way condoning the offender’s actions, he did make a terrible moral decision that he knew would negatively affect another human being…clearly he has a hatred or phobia toward homosexuals and he should be punished. I agree with, Mo people should never be allowed to stream videos of others without their consent, but with the internet being so new and the rules not clearly set in place, I do not think this young man should be the example set for the rest of the country.
ReplyDeleteWow great story. This is such a hot topic at the moment. Not only do we see this more and more in schools today but in everyday life situations the papers do it as well. The hole cyber bulling concept is rediculpus I mean if you want to say something to someone just say it to there face it will actually be better for them to do it that way rather than on facebook were the whole gosh darn world can see it. I think cyber bullying is a cowardish act and that if you get caught doing it you should be punished severely its like you said in your blog people are killing people over this bullying. I think that if you can't say it to a persons face then you. Don't need to be saying it at all or especially being a coward and hiding behind our own computer to try to ruin someone's life.
ReplyDeleteCyber bullying is absolutely ridiculous, as is any kind of bullying. There is no need for it. No good comes from it. Cyber bullying is happening more and more often. As Caleb said people can hide behind their computers and ruin someone’s life with everyone watching. I agree with the criminal law that New Jersey has in place for releasing unauthorized webcam usage. There is no reason situations like this should happen. In this particular scenario if the student had a problem with his roommate being a homosexual, then he needed to take a different approach to remove himself from the situation. Whether you are from this country or another country and did or didn’t know the laws, why would you want to video record someone else without their permission in the first place? More stories like this are occurring and there is just absolutely no reason for it. Cyber bullying is a serious matter and needs to be treated as such.
ReplyDeleteTimes are changing in this world and we are getting more and more advanced. The founding fathers never would have dreamed about the technology that we have today. With this new technology comes new problems. I think it is disgusting that anyone would spy on someones private sexual life and that he deserves to go to jail. I don't even think that he should have been offered the plea bargain that he got but I am happy that he turned it down.
ReplyDelete