Anyone else read recent New Yorker article about gay Rutgers freshman who jumped off GW bridge?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I suspect there may be some answers in Tyler's computer files and the note he left. I'm not totally clear on why they have not been released, at least to Tyler's family. It's not like this is a murder mystery.

I don't understand this either. Anyone have any idea? It makes no sense to me.

I also do not think that Ravi is guilty. This reminds me of the out of control prosecution of the Duke Lacrosse case. The kid was stupid, he did something dumb - but this was not gay bashing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is certainly a tragedy, but I don't think that the room mate is guilty of the crimes charged. The room mate was clearly a jerk and probably a bully, but society should be careful before criminalizing being a jerk. For example, John Edwards is certainly a jerk and perhaps dispicable, but the US attorney is NC may be going to far in stretching the campaign finance laws to charge him with a crime. If being an offensive jerk becomes a criminal offense, the prisons would be more overcrowded than they are now.

This.

[Anonymous]

From what I've read I think Ravi is definitely guilty of violation of privacy. As for the rest of the charges, I don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My young daughter saw me reading this article. I told her it's a reminder that we have to be kind to everyone; you never know whether an act of unkindness on your own part can be the thing that pushes someone too far into despair

That is a really good lesson to take from this.

[Anonymous]

I have a legal question about the "violation of privacy" charge.

Why is it a violation of privacy to record something that is happening in your own bedroom?

[Anonymous]

PP again -- not even ot record something -- but to transmit via webcam? I.e. to leave your webcam on your computer in your bedroom on?

[Anonymous]

I am just remembering something that happened my freshman year.

We lived in dorms that had paper thin walls. One guy had his girlfriend over All. The. Time. His next door neighbor was ticked off by having to listen to it, and would occasionally call us all into her room (this was a co-ed dorm) to listen in and make jokes about it. (all the moaning, etc.)

It honestly seems very similar to what happened, although of course the use of the webcam made it more graphic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP again -- not even ot record something -- but to transmit via webcam? I.e. to leave your webcam on your computer in your bedroom on?

Your roommate has a reasonable expectation of privacy in his bedroom. If your husband secretly put up a camera in your bedroom, assuming that you share one, then asked someone to watch with him, would that be OK?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many teens / young adults kill themselves, many more try. A few are gay, most aren't. About 90% of them have a mental illness. Of course being bullied for anything is bad, being bullied for gay is bad but both bullying and anything directed at someone who is gay are issues people love to get worked up about. Social justice and all. No one cares that the vast majority of males who kill themselves are straight - not going to get publicity for that. Can't sound like you are fighting a cause. Only the gay men's lives matter. Makes national news.

????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I
We lived in dorms that had paper thin walls. One guy had his girlfriend over All. The. Time. His next door neighbor was ticked off by having to listen to it, and would occasionally call us all into her room (this was a co-ed dorm) to listen in and make jokes about it.

What makes the difference is that the guy presumably knew that they could be heard, though I'm not sure about the girlfriend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a legal question about the "violation of privacy" charge.

Why is it a violation of privacy to record something that is happening in your own bedroom?

Because it's your roommate's bedroom too, and if your roommate specifically asked to be alone, locked the doors, etc., then you know he wanted privacy. In this case Ravi turned off his monitor so that (he thought) Tyler would not know the camera was on. I don't know the elements of the specific charge but I suspect intent may have something to do with it. If Ravi had just left the camera on by accident all the time, and Tyler hadn't asked him to leave the room or told him he was having a guest, it would be much harder to say Ravi invaded Tyler's privacy. But that's not what happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is certainly a tragedy, but I don't think that the room mate is guilty of the crimes charged. The room mate was clearly a jerk and probably a bully, but society should be careful before criminalizing being a jerk. For example, John Edwards is certainly a jerk and perhaps dispicable, but the US attorney is NC may be going to far in stretching the campaign finance laws to charge him with a crime. If being an offensive jerk becomes a criminal offense, the prisons would be more overcrowded than they are now.

This.

Sorry but he is guilty of recording and broadcasting illegally!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is certainly a tragedy, but I don't think that the room mate is guilty of the crimes charged. The room mate was clearly a jerk and probably a bully, but society should be careful before criminalizing being a jerk. For example, John Edwards is certainly a jerk and perhaps dispicable, but the US attorney is NC may be going to far in stretching the campaign finance laws to charge him with a crime. If being an offensive jerk becomes a criminal offense, the prisons would be more overcrowded than they are now.

This.

Sorry but he is guilty of recording and broadcasting illegally!

Actually he neither recorded nor broadcasted anything. Learn the facts before spouting off next time. The article that this post is about is a good place to start.

[Anonymous]

The thing I didn't understand was: why haven't Clementi's parents been shown the contents of the suicide note yet? that seems very strange to me. Does anybody know a possible reason?

[Anonymous]

Maybe the note said soemthing hurtful to his mother, along the lines of "I called you to talk and you blew me off; you've never really accepted me and this just proves it!" Such a note would make it harder to convict the roommate which might be why they are keeping it quiet.