Toxic Teen Website Infuriates Parents, Cops

On anonymous message board, free speech becomes personal attacks
By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 17, 2009 12:01 PM CDT
Toxic Teen Website Infuriates Parents, Cops
The message board Peoplesdirt.com is blocked by most school computer labs, since it has sexual and other inappropriate content, but that doesn't stop kids from using it.   (Getty Images)

The creator of the online message board Peoplesdirt.com says he's just providing an "avenue for people to express their feelings," but parents and teachers disagree. The website allows teenagers to anonymously post slurs and false rumors about fellow students. Although it's legal, it's also hateful and humiliating, students and parents tell the Washington Post.

Alfredo Castillo, the site's 23-year-old administrator, presents the board as an outlet that might prevent school violence—and one posting has led to the arrest of a student who made threats. But for the girls who have refused to return to school and the boy who feels like an "outcast," the site is simply a sad example of the dark side of the Internet.
(More anonymous stories.)

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