AN Albury student has slammed anonymous “cowards” on an internet blog who claimed she invented the death of her soldier father as a way of getting attention.
Chloe Trevor is one of several students who were named in slanderous fashion on formspring.me/
alburyggforever which was styled as a “Gossip Girl” blog before being shut this week.
The James Fallon High School student was shocked to read the claim made about her father Staff Sergeant Damien Trevor, who died of an illness in 2001 after returning from peacekeeping in East Timor.
“My dad died when I was younger and when I saw my name on the site it said: ‘Chloe Trevor made up her dad died to get attention’,” Chloe said.
“When I saw that I was upset ... they’re cowards.”
Chloe, 16, in year 12 said there was an internet blocker on the site so she could not track down the bullies involved.
Her mother Beth Hawkins said Chloe was strong enough to deal with bullying, adding “she’s strong because of things she’s gone through”.
“There are a lot of kids who would really be affected by it,” she said.
Chloe and her younger sister Celia became two of the youngest people to wear their father’s medals in Albury’s Anzac Day march in 2002, following their father’s death.
Mrs Hawkins said she was surprised to hear that her own daughter was the victim of such a website.
“Obviously you read about it, thinking that it happens to others, but obviously its rife in the Albury-Wodonga community,” she said.
The website, which featured the hurtful claim about Chloe’s father, offered a message board where people could post comments about people they knew, often publishing their full names.
Formspring, which is based in Indiana in the US, provides terms of service for users including that account holders “will not” transmit offensive, harmful, hate-oriented or defamatory material.
The company also states it has “no liability” to those who use the service.
Chloe said that apart from the fact a majority of the rumours were defamatory and untrue, there was no way for her to know who was behind the site.
“It’s just a big message board with stuff about a number of kids,” she said.
“It will just say that so and so slept with this person, they just write anything.”
Sen-Sgt George Bedson, of Wodonga police, warned the malicious posters that they were committing crimes.
“What they are doing are serious offences under state and federal legislation, mainly the federal Telecommunications Act,” Sgt Bedson said.
“These kids can commit crimes that are with them for the rest of their lives, when they go to a job interview it will be asked whether they have committed any criminal offences.”
Sgt Bedson said the Wodonga police were serious about telling students that not only is this type of activity malicious, it is also criminal.
“This latest fad of behind-the-back bullying involves vicious, anonymous emails and vicious, anonymous texts and kids have to know they can be criminal,” he said.
Email a friend