16-year-old sues mom for Facebook harassment

An unnamed 16-year-old boy from Arkadelphia, Arkansas is suing his mother for breaking into his Facebook account and like, totally embarrassing the hell out of him.

Denise New’s son brought action against her last month and requested a “no contact order” after New allegedly broke into the boy’s Facebook account and posted “slanderous” things about her son. New is charged with harassment, and court documents allege the meddling mother hacked into the kid’s account, posted “details that include slander about his personal life,” and then to add insult to injury, changed his password. Burn.

New is pretty unrepentant about her actions, and offers this explanation:

“I read things on his Facebook about how he had gone to Hot Springs one night and was driving 95 m.p.h. home because he was upset with a girl and it was his friend that called me and told me about all this that prompted me to even actually start really going through his Facebook to see what was going on.”

New says that she has the right to monitor her son, who is in the custody of a grandparent, through Facebook:

“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. It’s crazy to me that we’re even having this interview.”

She’s also setting her sights higher than just interfering in her own son’s life, hoping that the case will set a precedent so that all parents can legally shame their children on the internet:

“Oh yeah, I’m going to fight it. If I have to go even higher up, I’m going to. I’m not gonna let this rest. I think this could be a precedent-setting moment for parents.”

If you’re a parent, do you think it’s okay to use social networking sites to spy on and shame your children? Is the harassment charge justified?

[KATV via CNET]