The anonymity of the internet has created a safe haven for monsters & other bullies to do their dirty work.

No, we don't need tougher laws on cyberbullying. The same laws that apply to old-fashioned face-to-face or behind someone's back bullying are sufficient (laws against criminal harassment, death threats etc.). What needs to change are how these laws are enforced in the age of facebook, youtube and twitter.

It's a case of bullying and should be prosecuted as such.

My sincere condolences to this young man's family. This is why our country needs to address homophobia in a big way. The government should show it's support by repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell immediately! Tolerance needs to be a basic right that is enforced by law. The two students who obviously have no respect for anyone's privacy should be exposed...literally...to public scrutiny for their actions; maybe they should have to live their lives exposed via the internet 24-7 for the terms of their punishments. Rutgers should suspend them both immediately, and hopefully expel them for cause pending investigation. So much for civility, I guess "Jersey Shore" is in fact reality...

these two are the worst type of person, no regard for those around them and no concept of the consequences. I don't know what charges cyber bullying brings, but if they are worse than invastion of privacy throw the book at them. Their actions led to a young man jumping off a bridge and taking his life... enough said.

Serious prison time should be the consequence for cyber-bullying that results in death. (And the victim must be protected, rather than blamed) The charge against these two should be manslaughter or murder. If someone is drunk and driving and that person causes the death of someone else, or speeding and causes the death – manslaughter – or sometimes even murder is charged. These two could be charged with murder. Obviously Ravi and Molly wanted to hurt and humiliate Tyler – maybe they didn't want him to die – but he did die. I hope they are charged with manslaughter and prosecuted fully. Lori Drew should have been prosecuted for manslaughter (or murder) in the death of her 13 year old neighbor – Lori Drew did not plan to kill the neighbor teen but Lori Drew's actions resulted in the young teen's death (also a suicide). Prosecutors wimped out with Drew and the free speech people stupidly supported Drew. Prison time for cyber bullying that results in death – charge manslaughter or murder. One brave smart tough prosecutor is all that is needed. Maybe this will be the case that changes the landscape on cyber bullying. Is there a prosecutor there that will go for it? I hope so.

disgraceful

He should be charged with murder and get the death penalty.
An eye for an eye, a life for a life, it's only fair.

I think this may be one of the worst cases of Cyber bullying yet. What even possesses a person to be so callous and vindictive? Had these 2 "people" nothing better to do? This poor kid hurt no one and in one day, through the hateful actions of others, his entire life was shattered. Obviously the pain was so much that he ended his own, young life. I wish he'd been able to overcome it and just make them pay somehow, but I guess the humiliation was just too much. My suggestion is to make these two attend his funeral, have to face his family AND see him in the casket. I think, no matter the age, when it comes to Cyber and other bullying that leads to suicide, the culprits should be made to attend the services. Just to see the reality of it and to let it really sink in. Although, with the lack of morals & compassion they've already exhibited, I doubt it would even affect them.

the two alleged perps were asian-americans, which means they can't be easily tarred w/the "bigot" brush. . .

It is a case of both bullying and an invasion of privacy. Although, these two bullies probably didn't know their actions would cause another human being to commit suicide, they, without a doubt, knew it would be embarrassing, humiliating, and cause emotional trauma – otherwise, why do ? The fact that it was a homosexual relationship just adds another layer...were the two students also biased? Had this been portrayed against a heterosexual pairing, the same embarrassment, humiliation, and trauma would have occurred. It would still be bullying and an invasion of one's privacy – minus the bias.

This is homophobia plain and simple. We need to educate our children–gay and straight–there is no stigma to being gay. I am the mom of two little girls. If my daughters ever participated in demeaning someone like this, I would know I was an utter failure as a mother.

They ought to be locked up and have the key thrown away. Its just a blatent invasion of privacy. If they did this to a girl they would be prosecuted to the fullest. For anyone to do something like that speaks volumes of there mental capacity and there ethics. They dont have any and will never be a productive part of society. It was premeditated, there was intent to embarres and do harm.

absolutely unbelievable- these 2 students are pathetic- they took bullying to a new level- absolutely disgusting. They hide behind their computer and harassed this poor kid- for what? Broadcasting his encounters? They should be punished!

Well this is clear cut case to me.. it's illegal to video tape anyone unbeknowingly in a sexual act at the universities, and if for some reason that's not the case then it should be.

funny how they were bullying him by taping him with another boy yet they're the two perverts watching it.

Although I firmly believe homosexuality is wrong I also believe what these two people did is pure EVIL. The pushed this emotionally weak young man over the edge. Gay or not its obvious he was emotionally unstable. I do not understand how our young people can be so cruel, hateful and entertained by the pain of others. There are no morals, no compassion and no empathy for other people. This boy who at 18 is still in my eyes a child was someones son, grandson, cousin, brother, friend. He was just as precious to his family as the these two degenerates. This is very very sad. AND YES there ought to be tough consequences in cyberbullying which this is clearly a form of. They caused the death of another. DISGUSTING. All for a laugh. How sick is that???

The internet is not the only place where there are predators like these two horrible people – now they know what it feels like to have their names and pictures dangled over the internet in connection with this nefarious act.

This would not have happened if he were sleeping with a women. This is an outrageous invasion of privacy and was an obvious attempt at harrassing and bullying him. The students involved should be kicked out of Rutgers.

This is a horrific story, and the two who invaded this young man's privacy should be held accountable. However, this story illustrates one reason the military, should it repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, should have separate quarters for homosexuals. Just as they have separate quarters for men and women, it is a protection for each person and allows a reasonable measure of privacy.

It wasn't a case of cyber bullying, it was an invasion of privacy. The fact that Tyler committed suicide was HIS decision alone, and who knows what his mental health was like prior to the incident. The two students should only be charged for invasion of privacy, nothing more. These guys shared a college dorm together and Tyler knew that his roommate had a webcam. Tyler should have just covered the webcam or turned it around. People do that all the time for privacy. Gawker posted an article about Tyler's comments in a message board before he committed suicide. He didn't sound suicidal or angry. Tyler also posted nude pictures and sexual videos of himself on a gay dating site. He put himself out there for the world to see. This is not an excuse for what Ravi did, but Tyler did post those videos of himself on the internet. Invading Tyler's privacy was reprehensible, but Ravi is not responsible for Tyler's death. Unfortunately, Tyler posting that he was going to jump off the GW bridge on FACEBOOK says a lot about his mental instability. Poor kid. My heart goes out to his family and friends.

These students should be severely punished! Five years in prison will not justify this young man's death, nothing will. By the time they are released from prison, it would be their expected graduation date; they will continue with their lives while Tyler's parents will be miserable forever! Would this have been as exciting if this young were with a woman? Can you imagine the pain and suffering he went through before he came out of the closet, away from home, starting college? God Bless His Heart. I'm Catholic, I go to Mass and read Scripture as often as I can, I know Tyler is at Peace with Christ in Heaven now.

This is absolutely horrible, and a product of our society. We pry in each others lives and the news facilitates and supports the prying.

This is definitely a case of bullying and trashing someone. I blame us the people of America. We are not demanding a kinder, appreciative society – instead we yell and scream, accuse individuals of being evil or bad when their lifestyles do not agree with ours. Where did American tolerance go? Our forefathers created this country with a system of government to allow a say for the minority because they knew, from their past, that minorities and minority populations were persecuted. This is the same case. The student could have easily spoke to the university officials and explain their discomfort with rooming with a person that they did not like or care for. The student did not have to humiliate and broadcast this students private life to the world. What a shame, and quite frankly, I am sickened by this. I hope the student who took his life finds peace and comfort in the afterlife, and the student who did this is judged accordingly when their time is up and they too go to the afterlife.

First off my deepest condolences to the family and friends that have lost this young man to suicide. This is not invasion of privacy, this is Cyber Bullying. Throw the book at them.

If these two perpetrators chose to do this to Tyler Clementi simply to "out" him as homosexual, shouldn't this invasion of privacy also qualify as a hate crime? Clearly their motive was to hurt and humiliate this young man. It doesn't get more hateful than that.

Why is this not a hate crime?

I don't believe any crime was committed. He choose to take his own life. If you believe he was bullied then you approach the situation at a lower understanding and have to take the same approach when looking at the kid that streamed the video. They are both kids and don't have great understandings of life itself. If any crime was committed it should be that the one took his own life.

Bullying of any form should not be tolerated. My condolences to the Clementi family for their horrific loss.

Just because I take my life, does not mean others should die. Committing suicide is a selfish act.

shameful to the max – where did the parents fail the two? poor tyler feeling his life was devalued by those two over-indulged slugs – so he took his own life

use existing laws to prosecute and keep those knucklehead aclu people away

Both! My initial reaction is to bring back public tarring and featheirng. On second thought, a more appropriate punishment would having them followed and recorded 24 hours a day for a couple years and having thier intimate moments broadcast to the world wide web and see how "funny" they think it is then!

It's both. There are trolls online and bullies in person, and they are one and the same. The students should be prosecuted for as much as possible that can be levied against them – they caused the death of one of their peers, whether they intended to or not. A man died because of their actions.

I don't believe this is a case of one or the other. It is clearly both. Making the videos in the first place was a gross invasion of privacy. In turn, broadcasting them over the internet was cyber-bullying. And while I consider it unlikely that the two students who perpetrated this act intended the result, such a potential result was certainly foreseeable. Do cyber-bullying laws cover this sort of wrongful death?

I wish he would have lived to make everyone see what he had to go through. Then there would be no doubt that it was bullying. And I don't think hate crime is too strong a phrase. They singled him out for his sexual preference.

On the news last night Ravi was described to be open minded and a nice guy by the people who knew him (for only 2 months). These acts are anything but that. So not only is he a disgraceful, homophobic bully he is also a fake and a liar. He set out to destroy Clementi and he did. His parents must be so proud.

"We want to know what you think? Was this simply a dramatic invasion of privacy? Was this a case of cyber bullying because it involved social media tools like iChat, Twitter and Facebook?"
SERIOUSLY? These intro questions were moronic (and the first sentence is a statement, not a "?"). What level of invasion of privacy constitutes "dramatic"? We need to all understand that other people's private issues are just that - private! If you want to share juicy gossip, film footage, etc., make sure it's about you. Rutgers students interviewed on camera the other night, expressed how appalling they thought it was to spy in the dorms, before the suicide connection came to light. I hope they truly meant it.
DHARUN RAVI and MOLLY WEI grew up 10 miles away from me. I hope they understand that some behaviors are not "innocent pranks." We live in a world where people do not stop to think about anyone else's feelings, and that needs to change.

What we should do is post live webcam feeds of these two in jail.

It doesn't matter what law is used. They need to be punished period.Its just disgusting and shamful.

What happened with this young man is so very wrong! To have something he did in private put on the internet for everybody to see??? That is very different than someone saying something bad about another person! This is sick and cruel....these guys set him up and he just could not stand the thought of everyone knowing what happened! They have his blood on their hands,they are nothing but little creeps and cowards! I hope they get the maxium sentence and then they can enjoy some prison life!!!l lol!

And while we are talking about peoples rights and the rights of the young man whos privacy was violated. My comment was edited by CNN and half was left out. Nothing vulgar or obscene, merely stated that these boys should be filmed in prison being "owned" by the cell block. But as usual, typical liberal media editing what they want things to say. Guess the freedom of speach and press only applys to CNN.

This is a case of cyber bullying and a dramatic invasion of privacy. Regardless of the content of the video, no person has the right to film another person without that person's consent...let alone post the video on the internet for millions to see. These two students purposely set up the camera with the sole intention of humiliating Trevor Clementi and exposing his private life to the public. They should be charged with something a lot more serious. Criminal negligence perhaps? This is the fourth teen suicide related to LGBTQ bullying this month. When are we going to put a stop to this? And when are people going to learn that their words and actions DO have consequences, sometimes deadly ones!

Here we go with more calls for censorship by CNN, who has seen their market share plummet in the face of the free internet offering less biased news.

If someone kills themselves because they were so ashamed of what they did, don't tell me I need to make sacrifices in my life.

Sadly, and I am just speculating, but I have a hunch the boy was not out to his parents yet. and that is why he jumped, stress and embarresment. Its sad people can not be who they are without fear.

These two idiots should have the book thrown at them. How about murder charges, as well as stupidity and gross indecency.

Tess wrote "The charge against these two should be manslaughter or murder. If someone is drunk and driving and that person causes the death of someone else"

I'm so upset by what Tess wrote that I am going to kill myself! And after I'm gone, I want Tess to go to jail for murder, because we no longer have a First Amendment.

Yes, we need to be tougher on the cyber bulling. No matter if it is a prank or not, someone else is involved and has no right to disrespect another person. Privacy, respect, dishonor, etc.... should not be tolerated. People seriously get hurt behind this. It is the same as being bullied to your face.

This is so sad! Bullying is a HUGE issue in ALL schools and needs to be addressed early on by Administration and should become mandatory by the Board of Education in ALL States.

Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei ARE guilty of a hate crime, no matter how you look at it. But they probably won't be charged with one:

http://gravelle.us/content/tyler-clementi-hate-crime-victim

Congratulations, lawmakers. Once again, you've made a tragic situation even worse...

-jjg

For anyone who isn't a student and hasn't heard of http://www.collegeacb.com, visit it. This is the most appalling of all the social network / gossip style sites. I'm surprised there aren't more deaths on account of this.

Yes we need tougher bullying laws,and when the warning signs are there and parents and teachers decide to ignore them,they should be prosecuted too.

Ultimately I blame society,Those who support and condone cruelty need to be silenced.Peoples lives are more important than others 'rights' to free hate speech

While this is a true tragedy, legally I don't think its illegal to video ones own domicile. If this is a one room dorm, the accused has every right to surveillance of his home. While the accused has some obvious issues, I really don't see legal grounds for any prosecution. There is no mens rea in this case and there was no true duress compelling the young man to jump off the GWB.

Chuck, you write:

"the two alleged perps were asian-americans, which means they can't be easily tarred w/the "bigot" brush. . ."

WTH? That doesn't even make sense.

I know the people who did this were basically kids, and exercised the poor judgment typical of this age group. Those of us who are parents hope and pray every day that our kids get through this time relatively unscathed, a task made harder by this godlike technology available to almost everyone. Maybe the perps would grow up to be wonderful people in 10-20 years. But it doesn't matter. They thoughtlessly ruined Tyler Clementi's life, so theirs should be ruined as well. Maybe they should be considered sex offenders. If they can't be executed, they should spend the rest of their lives sleeping under bridges, forced to beg for the bare minimum to survive, and be scorned, shunned and hated by decent people until they meet their end.

Cyber bullying is prevalent.

I am a school teacher and had a fake facebook page set up by a student in the school under my name with sexually explicit messages. It took Facebook almost the entire school year to take it down, even after having the police involved.

Let's start making the sites that host this garbage just as responsible as the two students that filmed this kid in the first place.

The students that did this probably thought it would be a funny prank to tape Tyler Clementi – and while they couldn't have known he would commit suicide over their thoughtless and stupid prank, they must have known that what they were doing was wrong, and that is was cruel and an invasion of Tyler's privacy (not to mention his partner's privacy!).

People need to be held accountable for crimes committed online – taping someone without their knowledge and consent is bad enough, but to then post something so private online is – in my opinion – absolutely disgusting and reprehensible.

The students that did this need to be punished appropriately and harshly. At some point, the bar needs to be set for what is and is not acceptable online behaviour – no better place to start than with these two idiots.

These two students are not children – they know what they did was wrong. It's time they paid the price for their actions.

The implications are beyond the immediate invasion of privacy, given the ease with which something like that could be recorded, replicated, and distributed. If someone watching had recorded it and passed it around, it could have plagued this young man for years. Imagine potential employers finding this years later and out of context (or if ever teaching, by students and parents), assuming it was a careless choice in his younger years.

It turned out far more tragic than this, but point is – they made a decision that, no matter how it turned out, always had the potential to ruin someone else's life.

The sad truth is that by next semester the whole thing would have been forgotten. This kid felt that he had no one he could go to for a little advice on this matter. His roommate just needed a beating the next time he saw him. That would have relieved a lot of stress.

I think this is a invasion of privacy! Internet vs Privacy!!!

How did the two expect him to react after he became aware of what they had done?

Isn't this the same as being raped?

Homosexuality may seem to someone disgusting and so on. i agree people deserve the right for privacy. We really need tougher cyber bullying laws. It becomes a necessity. Then we will never forget such things.

You mindless twits claiming "hate crime" and "manslaughter" are going to be in for a rude awakening when these two get the proverbial slap-on-the-wrist punishment.

My guess is that Wei (whose crime is letting someone else use her computer, basically), gets absolutely no charges on her.

If the DA wants to make a case out of it, he'll lose. If he thinks he is going to lose, he'll try to settle with a 1 year jail sentence.

Everyone is talking about teaching their own children about wacky gays and not talking about if their OWN child was a gay.

If Tyler's parents realized he was gay (which makes me laugh as this guy appears flaming), they should have made sure to accept him for being as such. He killed himself over being outed apparently. That's his problem, not anyone elses.

In the end, it was Tyler that took his own life. Looking for a scapegoat from this incident will leave you disheartened because you are delusional. Watch and see when the "punishment" comes in.

We have a Constitutional RIGHT TO PRIVACY!!–No one has the right to post ANY pictures or video of anyone online–without that person's permission!! That roomate should be charged with Sexual Assault, Hate Crime, Involuntary Manslaughter, along with Invasion of Privacy.

I'm a straight woman who doesn't even support gay marriage, and even I think that roomate should be sent to Prison for a long time.

INTERNET IS SAFE HAVEN FOR ANON COMMENTS, BULLYING, DEFAMATION, WE NEED RULES AND CONSEQUENCES< these kids were stupid enough and posted with identities but imagine how many do it anonymously and this will only increase with twitter, facebook, no way to verify identities.

It was both. First, no one should be photographed or filmed without their permission which makes it an invasion of privacy, however, it also became bullying when they decided to post the video to embarrass the young men because of their sexual orientation.

But every parent who teaches their children either directly or indirectly through organizations, should be charged as an accomplice after the fact. For if there was acceptance instead of intolerance, then the young man might not have felt compelled to jump off the bridge.

Its both

I think the charge of 'invasion of privacy' is ridiculous. This should be treated as a homicide. Since the perpetrators knew of the magnitude of their crime and its likely outcome of his ending his life over it, they should be charged with capital murder. They may not have swiped the knife themselves, but its clear they knew it would be swiped.

People do bad thinks everyday, do their mean maybe not but, respect the family wishes and leave them alone. If you respect yourself them you will respect others. These two adult don't know how to spell RESPECT.

I agree with Mimble. I hope the authorities make an example of these cruel idiots. I don't care how "young" they are - you should have been taught empathy and kindness by, oh I donno, age 6? I'm really getting tired of this voyeuristic world we live in, where everyone feels free to point the finger (or camera) and laugh at other people...

After 23 years in juvenile court, I learned that teenagers often learn from the experiences of their peers, not just from being lectured by those in authority. Consequently, “Teen Cyberbullying Investigated” was published in January, 2010. Endorsed by Dr. Phil on April 8, 2010 ["Bullied to Death" show] TCI presents real cases of teens in trouble over their online and cell phone activities. Civil & criminal sanctions have been imposed on teens over their emails, blogs, text and IM messages, Facebook entries and more. TCI is interactive and promotes education & awareness so that our youth will begin to “Think B4 U Click.” Thanks for looking at “Teen Cyberbullying Investigated” on http://www.freespirit.com [publisher] or on http://www.askthejudge.info [a free website for & about teens and the law].
Regards, -Judge Tom.

The two planned it out, and then did it numerous times.

They used a wide range of social networking technology to solicit an audience.

There is nothing innocent about these actions.

The cruelty was outrageous.

The spirit of this young man was extinguished and then he gave up his life ... why don't we let the words from Dharun's Tweet explain the pair's intent ... "Yah".

I believe that this situation is taking a turn for the worst. Although I wish we could be able to penalize them for what they provoked, if they are charged with anything other than invasion of privacy , I believe that it won't hold on court.

As for the Invasion of privacy, although he has a right to have the cam on his dorm room I do believe that if you live with someone else you have the responsibility to announce your vigilance equipment to that person( which I'm sure he didn't) so that Tyler could make sure he was alone when he thought he was alone.

I also think that it should be taken in consideration that the peeping roommate planned another broadcast of Tyler sexual encounter. That itself shows it was not a simple "accident", but a willfull intent to harrass and invade this kid's privacy.

I would be just as offended by this news if a heterosexual person was taped and broadcast without his/her consent (I think his sexuality should stop being the focus here). When I first read the news relating to this I thought of the Erin Andrews case and I think that whatever was applied to that situation should be applied in this case too.

That said , I do believe the situation was a factor for the kid suicide but it must have not been the only trigger, and although I STRONGLY feel for Tyler family , I don't think the kids are not responsible for this death.

When we , as a society stop paying attention to stupid gossip and stop allowing this pattern of enjoying knowing people's intimacy this acts will stop.

I'd say that this is a hate crime. This makes me want to cry. I've been thinking about this poor kid all day.

It is way beyond bullying! This is an grievous invasion of privacy.

Dear CNN friends,

We Need to be One under GOD, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for ALL!
Otherwise our children will Destroy our World!

Greetings and may God be with us ALL ,
Jurgen R. Brul
Hometown: Paramaribo
Country: Suriname

I think it is both, and hope that both students who did this hate crime are kicked out of Rutgers on whatever grounds apply. What isalso truly appaling to me is that NOT ONE of the people that the perpetrators tweeted SPOKE OUT to stop it or report it. If JUST ONE had, the death could have been avoided. EVERYONE who uses any sort of social networking needs to SPEAK OUT if they see/hear/experience abuse!

This isn't just simple invasion of privacy, it's harassment, clearly intended to humiliate this kid. The students who did this need to be charged with something more serious than invasion of privacy.

I just don’t understand why there is no respect for a person’s privacy anymore. We have to hear about Tiger Woods, Jessie James, Lindsey Lohan, and Paris Hilton. Who Cares!!!
How someone is supposed to forgive and work through marriage troubles , family problems with everybody involved and knowing the details and giving their input on what they would do, how is someone supposed to get help for an addiction when their addition seems to be so important to everyone just for gossip reasons. Well people it not you !!! And ones personal business behind closed doors that their personal business. If they didn’t want it to be personal they would not close the door you Idiots. I think that the 2 individuals that did this should be charged with Murder, Internet sex crimes, Bulling, They both new what they were doing was wrong and would destroy peoples lives. They didn’t make it to college being stupid so they can’t use that as an excuse.

My deepest regards to the family of Tyler Clementi. I am so sorry for your loss. Clearly the lines of privacy have been crossed, and actions need to be sanctioned. I am actually a resident of Plainsboro, NJ and have siblings and cousins that personally knew Dharun. Apparently from what i gather, he did not intend any harm and it did seem like a simple joke that lead to misfortune. I am 100% positiv that he regrets doing what he did, but I do not think this should be classified as murder for him. The punishment of being humiliated from this incident, the disgrace Dharun's family will face, and the regrets he will face is bad enough. I am sure that he and Molly will no longer be able to sleep on a clear conscience and being expelled from school (which is bound to happen) as well as put up with the consequences from society is punishment enough. I understand many of you feel as if this is a hate crime but I assure you that this stemmed from foolish and immature actions of freshman in college.. In my opinion, both of these young teenagers could have saved themselves from this humiliation by not posting on twitter nor broadcasting it publicly. I am deeply sorrowed by this incident and I hope the family of tyler clementi realize that justice will be served with these two young individuals. I am sure jail time will be issued but nothing can amount to the pain the Clementi family is facing right now. God bless us all..

Invasion of privacy or bullying, it's irrelevant, what gives people the right to think they can do something like that? The pair of them should be hung, drawn and quartered.

Was the video of Clement actually posted "on the Internet for all to see," as one person says in the comments here. Every news story I have read about this is incredibly vague on this detail–even though it will surely make a difference in how the two offending students will be punished. Were they watching in themselves over Skype? Or did they in fact stream the video of Clement and broadcast it on the world wide web? How many people were able to see this? I am NOT trying to excuse it. I am just trying to find out the facts because surely the reach of the invasion of privacy will make a difference in the case since the two possibilities are differently consequential.

The culture of disrespect for other people is spawned by TV personalities such as Gordon's Ramsey and Simon Cowell, who make a sport out of humiliating others. Everyone who watches this type of fare, and accepts it as normal, is in part guilty for this young man's death. Western culture has been captured by those without a conscience. Let's restore some sense of decency in our culture, and let's start by switching these shows off. My heart goes out to the young man who died, but it also goes out to the two young people who perpetrated the humiliation who were shaped by the disrespectful fare they see day in and day out on the media.

The people involved with the broadcast of the video should be tried for involuntary manslaughter, since that's exactly what it is.

CNN: Please answer Martha's questions. I won't comment on the horrific nature of the story, but I think that factual reporting of this story is important to readers and watchers who want to make informed decisions about future policies, legal issues, and personal behaviour.

My heart goes out to all involved for the grief and the damage caused by ignorance, hatred, and thoughtless malice. Nobody's getting off unscathed in this one.

Transgressing into someone's else's life can be overbearing and a struggle for many.

God willing there will be a change of heart..

If you feel peer pressure decline to participate in this, since you don't know what you are stumbling in and how much pain you can cause.

Just wish there would have been someone to let Tyler know that he was important on earth, how much he was loved and how much his life mattered to many.

God Bless.....

The extremely sad news of Tyler's death is something I can hardly believe.

Cyber bullying dehumanizes others.

Be an ally and help others.

Dear world, You do not know me but my name is John. I am a gay man. I just wanted to ask why are you so scared of me? I really am not that different from you. I have the same wants and needs as you. I love just like you and I have the same fears as you. I live in a house just as you do. I pay taxes and work just as you do. I shop and laugh and cry just as you. I care about the childrens education and safety just as you. I have pets I love dearly just as many of you do. I have friends and family I love dearly as well, just as you do. I have a partner I love dearly just as many of you do and many of you will. I watch TV and enjoy the same shows as you. I go out to eat and to the movies as you do. I drive a car and pay bills just as you do. So again I ask, Why are you so scared and hateful towards me and my fellow brothers and sisters? You see my wants and needs are no different than yours. My fears are no different than yours. My wish to have peace in the world is no different than yours. So why??
You see I am a person just as you are. I have feelings just as you do. My wants are just the same as yours. So again I ask....why do you hate me? I just want to live. Just as you do. I want to love and be loved just as you. You see I do not hate you or fear you. I embrace you as part of the world I live in. Can you not do the same? What is it about me that scares you so? I do not want you to be afraid or hate me so tell me what it is, and we can start there to change. I just wanted to ask you world, why? I will sign off now.
Yours truly,
John, A gay man

These people ought to be shot. One precious life lost because of some bloody idiots!!!

Although he was a homosexual that is not the issue of this article, the issue is how cyberbullying is going out of control.Everywhere in the world people treat it as an issue of cyberbullying but it appears that only in the US Tyler being gay is a factor. Which bids the next question what if he was not white? Would it be considered rascist?

I think this is cyber bulling and an invasion of property because he posted this on twitter and he also invaded his relationship with the other guy. I think what happened to Tyler Clementi was devastating, just the thought about this young college student, which was amazingly talented, destend for great future, would just end his life because of two horrible friends. I think the kids should have thought twice before they started recording it, and I think they should have known it was a school rule to not infiltrate someone’s privacy, and stay out of his life.

I think that the roommate should be the one to go to prison, and that Molly should be expelled from the school. His roommate should go to prison because he was the one that started the whole mess. I can’t believe the one man that Tyler trusted, and might have or not have been his best friend, would make fun of him just because he likes a different type of sex. Molly should get expelled because she knew what the roommate was doing, but she didn’t do anything to prevent it, she just sat there watching the poor man get humiliated by his friend, if she took action and have stopped him on time, this might have never happen.

In my opinion, this is a huge hate crime. The roommate only recorded the video because he might have known his friend was gay, so he humiliated him, showing him that being gay is something wrong, something that if you continue being gay, you will never proceed in life, so he made everyone laugh at him, causing him to do suicide. I hate cyber bulling as much as anyone else. Cyber bulling is just causes much deaths in the world than anything else, It puts people in danger and it might affect by how the person feels causing them to hate their life and end it. We must warn people about this before anything like this happen again.

I believe that this was not a simple, but a very serious invasion of privacy. He got cyberbullied, however; if it would've happened to me, I wouldn't go to such boundaries... But we don't know how he was feeling so we can't conclude anything. Dahrun Ravi and Molly Wei didn't have any right to spy and tape his roommate and had less than ANY right to publish it on the internet. Tyler's choice to kiss who ever he wants is his choice and it's private because he'll see what he does with his life.
I don't understand what is the thought that let for Dahrum to post that status on Tweeter... What did he wanted in return? The only thing I can think about is "hey, get a life and stop intruding other people's private lives".

My deepest condolences to Tyler Clementi, I think that the fact that Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge is the result of cyber bullying. Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei streamed a private sexual affair of Tyler Clementi on facebook and I think that they both knew the consequences and didn’t think that he would take it seriously and just wanted to embarrass him. Even though Dharun and Molly may have not known what he was doing it is invading his privacy. I think that if they knew what he was doing, Tyler had a right to have his privacy and not be laughed at or even abhorred on the internet. I think that Dharun Ravi should be expelled because he was invading privacy, but I think that Molly Wei might not have known it was wrong. And they both didn’t know how he was going to react but they both knew it was going to hurt him.
Cyber bullying is something that people do because they don’t want to say it to their face and rather say it behind the screen. I think that Cyber Bullying is something that people who can’t ignore it and are too afraid to confront the person to his or her face. But I do think this is cyber bullying because normal bullying is something that is between the bully and the person who’d being hurt. Whereas cyber bullying is when you post something either anonymously or not and the whole world can see it.

These two students should definitely be charged for everything they're being accused of. This wasn't a simple invasion of privacy; this was obviously thought out beforehand. I would consider this cyber bullying because online chatting and networking sites were involved. This was obviously made public without Clementi's consent and if it caused him enough pain to take his own life then we have no choice but to take this seriously. We need tougher cyber bullying laws. This isn't the first time someone has committed suicide on account of cyber bullying.

I believe that this tragedy of Tyler Clementi was completely horrible and electrifying. It has probably opened the eyes of many people around the world. It really sadness me that people can be so cruel…my deepest regards to the Clementi family.

Cyber bullying can be mild or be very intense but sure has gone too far in our society. This has completely crossed the line of cyber bullying it is more of invasion of privacy and many other things. I think that cyber bullying it too complicated to solve with laws but if the government does reinforce the laws for cyber bullying it will sure help.

I understand that the two individual that committed that hate crime are now facing a lot of problems with court and completely should. We should take this to are and governments concern. This tragedy should show more “top new” it should really show how we should take to our considerate to change our social privacy and more.
I’m really sorry for your loss, Clementi family.

I believe this was a complete violation of privacy. The two students should be punished, Dharun for videotaping the encounter intentionally and for streaming the video, and Molly for not doing anything to stop this from going any further and even if she couldn't have done anything she could've at least called for help. Tyler trusted his roomate with his secret, but it seems like it was to much for Dharun, because of how he reacted. Poor Tyler was betrayed and for that he took his life.
I believe this was cyber bullying, because it was done intentionally using the internet. Dharun knew that Tyler did not want this to happen, quite frankily, nobody would want this to happen to them. Dharun knew this would hurt his feelings and it could change his life forever, but Dharun still did it, which is bullying. And Tyler feeling like he had no way out commited suicide.

-Paola Rivera

I think this is a very sad case. Why would you have a camera in your room in the first place, and why in all the world would you use it to harass your roommate to the extent of death. I think this was a major invasion of privacy and as well as a case of cyber bullying because it did use social media tools. I feel bad for Tyler Clymente and his family and i hope they can get through this hard time.

I think that what this so called "adults" did was ridiculous and should have never happened. This was a very immature act. This was a mixture o cyber bullying and invasion of privacy. I think it was cyber bullying because it was published in twitter just to embarrassed this 18 year-old guy that killed himself because of that. You don't know how many people watch it and started laughing about what this immature kids did to Tyler without knowing that he was going to kill himself because of that or what consequences can have your ridiculous "joke". It was invasion of privacy because first of all, why did this kids put a camera on his room? It was his private life, and the two "adults" that did this to him invaded his privacy just by putting the camera on his room, and watching him do what he was doing. You should respect people's private life because you don't know what this person would do if he found about it.

Well, this is a lesson not only for this two young adults who did this to Tyler, but also, it is for the rest of the people in the world. People, never do something to someone if you wouldn't like that happening to you. Never invade people's privacy or do cyber bullying because you don't know what the person can do about it.

I believe that they should be punished because, they caused another perosn to take their life and not only cyber bullying physical and mental bullying are equally bad.

I believe what Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei did to Tyler Clementi was completely wrong that they did this just to embarrass Dharun’s roommate for his sexual orientation. I believe that you should be able to trust someone who claims to be your friend and that is going to live in the same dorm as you. I don’t believe that this crime was done out of hate, but rather an insanely sick joke to hurt his roommates feelings. Now as to whether or not cyber-bullying laws should be tougher I believe that they should be especially when they lead to something as horrible as this, and my question is if this keeps happening why hasn’t there been anything done if people keep seeing that this happening why doesn’t anyone do anything? My last point is this, I know that what Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei did was horrible, but I don’t think that it was just this one thing that drove Tyler to kill himself I believe that there were other things that drove him to commit suicide, maybe the way his family or people around him treated him that’s my insight on this whole ordeal.

What Tyler Clementi did was totally crazy. I do not think that you're going to kill yourself because you had been recorded. It can be arranged simply to denounce the perpetrators, and justice will do more successive in this case, which would be put in jail those responsible. If I were Tyler, I would record a video apologizing about what had happened. I think that suicide was entirely out of place. He had his reasons, but as I said before I do not think that this situation had to end with someone dead. This as was said in the news, what happened was an invasion of privacy, which it takes years in prison. I do not think it would have been a cyber-bullying because bullying was not directly, but the word that best describes what happened is: violation of privacy.
Remember that being homosexual does not take away your rights. Fight for them! And no matter, what your friends think about, you have to be as you want to be, is your life YOU decide not your friends or the community.

THOSE WHO RECORDED TYLER SHOULD GO TO JAIL AND BE KICKED OUR OF SCHOOL!!

TYLER CLEMENTI REST IN PEACE!

I definitley do think that this case was an invasion of privacy. I say this beacuse one is not respecting another's privacy by putting a video camera in that person's room. I also do think that this was a case of cyberbullying because it did involve social media tools and Tyler was offended and most of all, maybe embarrased. I think that the people who do these kinds of things to other people, are people who have nothing better to do with their lives.

I believe that what happened to Tyler Clementi was an act of invasion of privacy and its cyber bullying. It is a crime of hate because they did it even though they know the consequences, and you are exposing something you never wanted to share or wanted it to be a secret, and that is bad!

I believe this is Cyber Bullying. If you put a video of a homosexual people kissing, everybody in the wold sees it, and can cause that person to commit suicide because he doesn't have the courage to live a life with insults from other people.

I think cyber bullying is an invasion of privacy because to me, it seems like a hate crime. If you think about it, why would have Ravi set a webcame in Tyler's room and put it on internet? Why would Dharun Ravi waist his time on this? If Ravi is Tyler's "friend," then he shouldn't have done this. I believe that there is no friends who would do such a thing, even though it was a joke or just to annoy him.

Even though the world can insult you for being homosexual, don't be afraid and know that you aren't useless because God made everyone special and unique. Believe in yourself and be who you are. And another thing. When you are sharing a dorm with your friend, know that that person is actually your FRIEND, and not a backstabber. You never know. So always be careful.

RIP Tyler Clementi

This was an invasion of privacy and also a case of cyber bullying. Dharun Ravi and his accomplice should not have uploaded videos/pictures of Clementi on iChat, Twitter and Facebook. Ravi should be severely punished for his acts against his roommate. Just because Clementi was homosexual, it doesn't mean that Ravi has the right to upload his sexual acts on through social media tools. This is definitely a case of cyber bullying because Ravi should have known that uploading Clementi's sexual acts on social media tools will embarrass Clementi.

This case was a tragedy and it should never happen again. The cyber bullying laws should be more strict. and again, I repeat, Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei should severely be punished for their unforgivable acts that lead to a death to an innocent person.

I think that this case is a serious invasion of privacy; however it could still be considered as cyber bulling, because they used all those sites on purpose to trigger Tyler and for everyone to know he was homosexual. They did a serious damage on his privacy, because no one should show something so private to the world. It would also be considered as a hate crime, because you wouldn’t like to be taped doing the same thing and to be bothered for something everyone does. Although Tyler didn’t with a guy, it doesn’t mean it’s a totally different thing, it’s all the same thing. I also believe it just sad how those two persons would do that to a good person that maybe hadn’t even done something to them. And it’s really depressing how they even posted it in their webpage, and put “I found my roommate kissing a dude, YAY.” How could a human being do that, is just plain mean, and if I would be them I would be really ashamed, because it’s just stalking someone, and an invasion of their privacy.

I do think the U.S. needs stronger laws against cyber bullying, so that sad events like this can be prevented. I do find it ridiculous that the Tyler's roommates would stick a webcam into his dormroom to spy on his roommate, what would he get out of that? A good laugh? A bunch of people telling him "nice" and "cool" when he posted the video? I don't think he hated his roommate, but that makes it worse, because then there was no clear reason for it. The fact that Tyler concretely told him he wanted privacy, and Ravi just casually brushed that aside, tells about his upbringing. I also find it unbelievable that Wei just sat there looking over his shoulder, what was she giggling too hard, to tell Ravi that it was a bad idea? I find it a bit exagerated that Tyler jumped off a bridge because of this, but there is no doubt that it was Ravi's "joke" that drove him to suicide. I really believe there should be a crackdown on cyber bullying and also invasion of privacy. Any of those should be crimes, even if the invasion of privacy was with a webcam or other device.

I think that this case started of as just a joke by Dharun Ravi and fellow defendant Molly Wei. When they both turned his camera on I think that were not expecting what they saw. But when they saw what they saw they streamed it, that's the invasion of privacy. If they tried to film him another time maybe the have a problem they don't know about. It probably started of as a joke they can all laugh about later but what they didn't come to realize is that's invasion of privacy. On the other hand I don't think that that its fully cyber bullying. What they were not expecting though, is him jumping of the bridge. I hope they feel sorry for him and angry at themselves.

This is an obvious case of cyber bullying because if it uses medias used through computer it is cyber bullying. They should also be charged with invasion of privacy because they secretly recorded him. This may also be classified as a hate crime because they where filming it only to show he was homosexual, if it would have been a woman they wouldn't have recorded it. Conclusion Dharun and Molly are really sick people who need to go to jail.

The case of Tyler Clementi's suicide is very sad and I could easily identify why he jumped off the George Washington bridge. First of all: his sexual encounterments is his own privacy. Why would you want to go in and film it? Well if they like to be that way then why bother if it won't harm you? I think this is cyberbullying because of the fact that facebook and other media devices were used in making a video. And in a way it's also invasion of privacy because just looking at what Tyler Clementi did was enough, but then making a video of it was going too far. But if I had to choose it would be invasion of privacy. But overall I say the people who recorded this should go to prison.

I believed this was a HUGE invasion of privacy, because you don't place hidden camera's in your room to spy on your roommate. This was a case of cyber-bullying because the offenders used social networking sites to transmit information about it and used the internet to show the video.

Cyber Bullying?

I think what Molly Wei and Dharun Ravi did was wrong, but I don’t think it was a reason for suicide. Since Tyler’s sexuality was secret I don’t think he should hide it to the world. Your sexuality is something that is not meant to be kept secret; you should never feel shame towards your sexuality. In our modern day society we are starting to accept more homosexuals. In my opinion Tyler over exaggerated and took this to an extreme that no one anticipated.
Tyler was a talented musician and did not deserve this measure of cruelty shown upon his fellow classmates. Back to the point of over exaggeration, the other man in whom Tyler had his sexual encounter did not take his life, and he suffered the same embarrassment as Tyler did. I would not describe this as CYBER bullying but, I would say it was bullying.
As for Rutgers being that they are a pretty good school, they should expel the students for other students not to follow the same atrocious example as Molly Wei and Dharun Ravi sent out. They should serve their 5 years in prison no bail or house arrest, and should learn like we all do, the hard way. That might sound a bit cruel but, don’t you think streaming with a web cam the sexual encounter of your own room mate is a bit cruel, think about it.

I think what Tyler Clementi roommates did to him is not fair, or should be tolerated in any way; since first of all a roommate should be someone you can trust, they invade his privacy but didn’t only did that they published it on internet! This is worse than anything.

No this wasn’t just an invasion of privacy, because an invasion of privacy is going into somebody’s room without permission, or something less severe than filming somebody and uploading their video on the web, I also think they may have done it to make Tyler look bad and the roommates would look ‘cool’ which is actually the opposite, they took a guys life away. Yes this was a case of cyber bullying since they didn’t only film it, they also upload it knowing it would someway hurt Tyler’s feelings.

I believe that this was an extreme case of cyber bullying. Where somebody takes somebody's secret, and posts it online for the world to see. Dahrun Ravi and Molly Wei had no right to invade Tyler's privacy like that, and Tyler had every right to keep his secret in the dark. Sadly, Tyler had no grasp on this and he had no other alternative but to take his life. For this i think that there should be a harsher punishment for cyber bullying and that the two individuals should be incarcerated.

I think this was a disgusting and HUGE invasion of privacy and an extreme count of cyber bullying. There should be harder laws to help prevent this from happening again, there should have been harder laws in the beginning so it wouldn't have happened in the first place.It makes me wonder how this sick and grueling “joke” could even be funny at all, did they not know how much pain Mr. Clementi would have been feeling? Did they not understand the consequences? They did, of course they did. It's not even a question if they did or not know the consequences this would have on Mr. Clementi. They knew this would have destroy him, he was not open about his sexuality. This is not a laughing stock either, this was a real person, and this “joke” wouldn't have been funny anyway.

The very saddening case of Tyler Clementi’s death is so tragic that it cannot be put in words. When I first saw the case I felt like I was going to cry, this poor 18 year old had committed suicide. I think that he didn’t deserve to die; he didn’t even need to get the idea of suicide. Cyber bullying is something that I don’t wish to see, it has caused many deaths and I don’t think that it’s right. Actually it isn’t right. I think that it is a hate crime, a crime of sexual orientation. They didn’t have to stream it, I think what they did is not right. Yes, so he was with a dude, but so what? I don’t think people should do these kinds of things because of a person’s sexual orientation. I think that it’s basically an insult to all of human kind, and that the two university students should be expelled. I don’t think they had any reason to do this to Tyler.

In my opinion Dharun Ravi should be sent to jail for maybe over five years because Tyler Clemente's life cost much more than that. I am not sure Molly Wei be sent to jail, but she must have had the chance to stop him but didn't for this she should be expelled.

I think this was much more than an invasion of privacy, and that it was posted on the internet made it cyber bullying as well, because it was probably done to make fun of Tyler. If it were a woman he were with, most likely his friends wouldn't be so interested to make this public, because it is more common. This is definataly a hate crime and something sould be done to help the people who are going through a similar situation as he was, so no more lives are lost.

This is rediculous. The boy should not have put it on facebook BUT think about it...did he tell him to go kill himself? We dont need tougher laws on cyber bullying. This isnt even cyber bullying! Once again i dont agree with him that he put it on facebook but never once did he tell him to go commit suicide. Personally i think Tyler is selfish for thinking that suicide is the answer. Does life ever get SO bad you must kill yourself? Listen Tyler, others have problems to!

Well, if I’m not mistake, this seems to be both a dramatic invasion of privacy, and was cyber bulling with social networks like: iChat, Twitter and Facebook. What I think about this is that I don’t think it was only the cyber bulling, or the posting the video. It also could have been something in school, but anyways what Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei did went too far. Now I think these two who invaded Tyler Clementis privacy should go to jail, not to prison (they are both different), but if they don’t they should be severely punished to contributing to the death of Tyler Clementi.

In my opinion, Clementi’s suicide is a very shocking and tragic incident and nobody should ever feel forced to commit suicide. I believe that Dharun Ravi (Clementi’s roommate) should be expelled from the school go to prison on account of invasion of privacy and murder. However I believe that Molly Wei (Dharun Ravi’s friend) should go to prison but for less time due to the fact that she was just an accomplice. Ravi should not be let off easy due to this being a hate-crime against gay people and cyber-bullying. Despite the fact that Ravi might of thought that he was being funny, he has caused the death of an innocent person and should pay the price. Although Molly Wei was just sitting there she should also get into trouble as an accomplice to the crime.

My thoughts on cyber-bullying is that it is the worse type of bullying. Unlike getting punched in the face (which is physical bullying) which stays between the bully and the victim, cyber-bullying is put on the internet for all to see. The case in question is no doubt a cyber-bullying case due to the fact that Clementi’s sexual encounter was streamed live on the internet for all to see and Ravi put information of Clementi’s sexual orientation. Had it just been shown to a couple of people it would still be bad (of course) but a lot less catastrophic as what has actually happened. I believe that there should be a ban on cyber bullying or at least people monitoring conversations and if that is too much to ask for then Facebook to be shut down all together

I believe that this is a hate-crime because it was streamed on the internet due to the homosexual nature of the video. Had Clementi been kissing a girl then Ravi would not of felt the need to post it on Facebook, but due to the fact that he was kissing another man made him post, “I just saw Tyler making out with a dude. Yay”. He felt that informing everybody about Clementi’s sexual orientation would be funny, the joke (which wouldn’t of been funny even if it didn’t make Clementi commit suicide) obviously back fired and I hope Ravi and Wei feel guilty about what happened and go to prison for invasion of privacy and murder.

Rest In Peace Tyler Clementi

I think that it is cyber bulling because Tyler’s roommate posted a big secret of Tyler for everyone to see. It is very sad that Tyler didn’t know how to react to that and he opted by taking his life. The other girl who was watching what Tyler’s roommate was doing and it is very shocking that she didn’t do anything to stop him. His roommate was just being malicious and he played what he said was a “joke” on Clementi, they didn’t care about what Tyler would go through after that. You can’t say that they didn’t know, they did know and they wanted to hurt him. There should be harsher rules towards invasion of privacy to prevent any more cases like this from happening because it id truly terrible that Tyler went through this and ended up taking his own life.

For me, it's a case of invation of privacy & cyber bullying. Clementi taking his own life might just be GOD'S wrath on him, cos GOD frawns at homosexuality & lesbianism, when he destroyed sodom & gomorah in time past for these shameful acts. Those who truly love & fear GOD would not indulge in such. BE WARNED!!!!!

What will it take for us to realise that the more we censor ourselves, the more we will loose our freedom. Every one is guilty so everyone is surveyed and viewed as criminals.

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