Irate teen sues mother in Facebook debacle

by Stevie Smith - Apr 9 2010, 05:48

The world has officially gone mad. An Arkansas teenager is suing his mother after she moved to counter unsettling posts on his Facebook page by posting her own comments to the account and changing the password to block her son's access.

Although unwilling to share information about all the posts she deemed to be disturbing on her son's social networking page, Denise New of Arkadelphia said she took action after reading that 16-year-old Lane New had driven home at 95mph one evening after becoming angry with a girl.

“The things he was posting in Facebook would make any decent parent's eyes pop out and (their) jaw drop,” explained New in an AP report regarding her son's online activity. “He had been warned before about things he had been posting.”

Lane, clearly willing to go to extreme lengths to regain his original Facebook account (he has since opened another), has now filed a complaint with the local prosecutor's office accusing his mother of hacking into his account and posting slanderous comments.

According to the filing, Lane, who presently lives with his grandmother, wants the court to enforce a ruling whereby his mother would be prevented from having any further contact with him.

“Denise first hacked my Facebook and changed my password,” Lane outlined to the court. “She also changed the password to my email so I could not change it. She posted things that involve slander and personal facts about me life.”

Denise New, who claims she was just trying to be a good mother, faces possible charges of misdemeanor harassment. She also insists she did not hack her son's Facebook account and that the page was left open and unattended on her personal computer.

The complaint will be heard at a formal hearing on May 12.

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