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65 Ark. L. Rev. 1001 (2012)
From LOL to Three Months in Jail: Examining the Validity and Constitutional Boundaries of the Arkansas Cyberbullying Act of 2011

handle is hein.journals/arklr65 and id is 1027 raw text is: From LOL to Three Months in Jail: Examining the Validity and Constitutional Boundaries of the Arkansas Cyberbullying Act of 2011 * Following the lead of Lindsay Lohan, three Northwest Arkansas teenage girls were arrested for posting messages to a burn book on an anonymous Twitter account.' The teenagers used the social-media outlet to publish harassing and insulting messages about their classmates, causing one student to miss class for three days.2 Just one month earlier, on the other side of the state, an Osceola woman created a fake Facebook account in order to harass her daughter's ten-year-old classmate.3 Jennifer Ephlin, the woman accused of creating the account, criticized the ten- year-old's clothing and overall appearance, calling her fat.4 To make matters worse, Ephlin was a fifteen-year veteran of the Osceola Police Department.' Unfortunately, stories like these are becoming commonplace in modern times. As more Americans gain Internet access, traditional societal problems have increasingly migrated to online forums. *The author gives special thanks to Brian R. Gallini, Associate Professor of Law, University of Arkansas School of Law, for his comments, guidance, and unwavering commitment to this note. For the reader who is unfamiliar with new-age Internet jargon, LOL is a commonly used acronym in Internet chat rooms, social-media websites, and other forms of electronic messaging, which stands for laughing out loud. See D.J.M. ex rel. D.M. v. Hannibal Pub. Sch. Dist. No. 60, 647 F.3d 754, 758 (8th Cir. 2011) (The record reflects that 'lol' means the speaker is 'laughing out loud.'). 1. Nichelle Sullivan, Three Northwest Arkansas Teens Arrested in Cyberbullying Investigation, ARK. MATTERS (Jan. 26, 2012), http://arkansasmatters .com/fulltext?nxd-id=503052. In the movie Mean Girls, actress Lindsay Lohan portrays a high school student who, along with three other teenage girls, creates a burn book where they write derogatory comments about each of their classmates and teachers. MEAN GIRLS (Paramount Pictures 2004). 2. Sullivan, supra note 1. 3. Mike Suriani, Osceola Police Officer Accused of Cyber Bullying, WREG.coM (Aug. 22, 2012, 6:43 PM), http://wreg.com/2012/08/22/osceola-police- officer-accused-of-cyber-bullying/. 4. Id. 5. Id. 6. See T.K. v. N.Y.C. Dept. of Educ., 779 F. Supp. 2d 289,299 (E.D.N.Y. 2011). 1001

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