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Teen Sues His Mom for Allegedly Hacking His Facebook Account
Filed under: In The News, Weird But True
A 16-year-old Arkansas boy has a new Facebook friend: his attorney.
The New York Daily News reports that teenager Lane New is suing his mom because she allegedly broke into his Facebook account and wrote libelous comments about him.
The mother, Denise New, tells the newspaper she was concerned about her son's online behavior. Now, New adds, she's concerned about a lot more.
"If I'm found guilty on this, it is going to be open season" on parents, she tells the newspaper.
"You're within your legal rights to monitor your child and to have a conversation with your child on Facebook whether it's his account, or your account or whoever's account," Denise New adds in an interview with KATV, the ABC affiliate in Little Rock, Ark.
The Daily News reports that Lane New lives with his grandmother. His mother lives in Arkadelphia, a small college town an hour southwest of Little Rock.
Lane New alleges his mother hacked into his account, changed his password and posted remarks about his personal life.
Denise New tells the newspaper she accessed the account after her son used it at her home and left it logged on.
"The things he was posting in Facebook would make any decent parent's eyes pop out and his jaw drop," Denise New tells KATV. "He had been warned before about things he had been posting."
Among the things she allegedly read is how her son took a girl to Hot Springs, Ark., one night and drove home at 95 miles per hour because he was upset with his date.
"I probably made maybe three, maybe four, actual postings. The rest of it was a conversation between my son, me and his personal friends," Denise New says.
She tells the Daily News she is fighting this case all the way because it threatens to take away the rights of parents to monitor their kids' online activities.
"I'm not gonna let this rest," she tells the newspaper. "I think this could be a precedent-setting moment for parents."
The Daily News and KATV report that Lane New's attorney, Todd Turner, refused to discuss the case because it involves a minor, except to say that Denise New's actions fall under the legal definition of harassment.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
4-09-2010 @ 3:37PM
Heather said...What they fail to mention in this article is that the mother doesn't have legal custody of the child. So whatever he may have written that she deemed inappropriate, it didn't matter. She invaded his right to privacy. She should have brought the matter to the attention of his legal guardian, the grandmother, and let her come up with a solution. Signing into his account, whatever her intentions were, was a violation of his rights.
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4-09-2010 @ 4:36PM
Kathy said...I wish we had the whole story, here. I find this subject matter very troubling. First of all, if she did not have custody of the boy, did she make an effort to deal directly with the child's behaviour with the cooperation of the guardian? Did she speak with the guardian at all? Did the guardian refuse to coorperate and address the problem? If she could get no help from other resourcs, then she may have felt she had no choice but to go directly to the facebook page and address the issues there, but if she did not have cooperation from the guardian, I wonder how much good she thought she was going to accomplish. Stooping to the teenager's level and sabatoging his facebook page seems less than proactive. That said, at my house we have a policy: I have access to all of my kids computer passwords. There is no such thing as cyber-privacy. No, I do not go on their pages and post things, but I am able to look at each of their pages at will, and therefore can keep up not only with what they are posting but what their friends are up to as well. This lets me know what kind of activities they are engaging in and what kind of kids they are associating with. This has been the rule all along, and the kids do not object....they understand what I expect and what my intentions are. I am astounded at what I see their friends post; do their parents never even look at their kids pages? Some of the stuff is truly hair-raising, and I am amazed at how many parents are in the dark. People may say I am intrusive, I say the proof is in the pudding. I have four kids who I am able to trust and who understand how invested I am in their well-being. For our family, this formula has worked wonders.
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4-09-2010 @ 11:38PM
Pamela Bulman said...I am not sure but from reading the artical I did not see that the child's mother did not still have custody, just that the child was living with his grandmother. I see no harm in his mother keeping an eye on him thru his face book. Every parent should have that right as a parent to a minor child. What is up with children thinking it is even ok to sue their parents. Just look at what our government has helped to create. We can't spank them, we can't raise our voice to them, we can't do anything to teach them bonderies or manners or morals. The government has tied our hands and the kids know it. We are bringing up a generation of spoiled, arrogant brats,, who will running this country in a few years. God help us!!!
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4-10-2010 @ 11:13AM
Barb said...It appears that the grandmother and the mother of this child are not communicating with each other. Most sixteen year olds do not have the ability to retain an attorney without the support of an adult. As a matter of fact, an adult has to sue as the "next friend" of a minor because the child is not eighteen years of age in most states. It would be interesting to know if this child is an emancipated minor because that would change the total picture as to the parental rights. The mother would not have any parental rights in that scenario. The same would be true if the grandmother is the legal guardian or has legal custody. It makes me very glad that my children are adults now. The social networks have really complicated parenting in today's world!
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4-10-2010 @ 6:58PM
rm said...ANOTHER WAY THE GOVERNMENT IS TAKING AWAY PARENTS RIGHTS. THE CPS IS REALLY GOOD FOR THIS. I WOULD TRASH THIS LITTLE PRICKS COMPUTER, PUT HIM ON RESTRICTION AND NOT LET HIM SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY UNTIL HE GOES TO SCHOOL. MAYBE WHEN HE HAS A JOB AT THE AGE OF 18, THEN LET HIM OFF. BUT, OH NO, DO I HEAR YOU SAY, CAN'T DO THAT, THE KIDS ARE RUNNING THE PARENTS, WHO GAVE BIRTH TO THIS LITTLE SHIT. MOM DID, THE KID DIDN'T HAVE THE MOM. UNTIL THEN, KIDS DO YOU HOME WORK, DO YOUR CHORSE, AND WE WILL LET YOU OUT AND OFF FOR GOOD BEHAVIOR....
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4-12-2010 @ 4:12PM
gm438am said...the mom should be sentanced to 50 hours of cleaning the boys room!
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4-13-2010 @ 8:26PM
ml4474 said...You're correct... He lives with the grandmother but it says nothing about the grandmother having custody.
Also, guardianship and custody are two VERY different terms (legally speaking)
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5-22-2010 @ 11:28PM
LC said...I completely agree. Children of today have far more rights than that of the parents. The lies they tell carry far more wealth than the truths of the parents. Obviously this mother is concerned for her child, why else would she bother? The son is at the perfect age to use defiance with the mother, hence the new living arrangement. Sure, we do not know the real details of the story, but I say - GO MOM! GOOD FOR YOU! Grandparents do not always have the best interests of the child in mind, sometimes they wish to avenge the parent. Is this the paternal or maternal grandmother? Regardless, this mother is concerned for her own flesh and blood and no court should have jurisdiction over a mother's love or the understandable lengths that she will go to see to the security and well being of her child. Best of luck to you mom!
6-11-2010 @ 9:36AM
Rosie said...Sounds to me like this kid is a sociopath -- who ever heard of driving 95 mph because you're mad at someone -- who also is in the car? That's abusive, bullying behavior. I don't know where the kid got it from, but I think the mom has her hands full. Sure glad I don't have to deal with him. And I agree, we all need to keep an eye on our children's activities, cyber or no.
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10-05-2010 @ 10:52AM
jessie.granger said...If the grandmother has custody of the kid she is NOT doing a grand job of it is she? The kid sounds like an ass. I hope he gets his butt kicked in court. Actually I hope he and his grandmother both get their butts kicked. I'm sure old granny is helping the kid drag the mom through court. And I'm glad to see the mom is fighting it out. I'm a little tired of these type of kids getting away with bad behavior until they go to prison for rape or murder.
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