Bernice:
Do you have a link that might give more details? I am wondering if she was also being bullied in school or in her neighborhood.

We know that in the Internet there is as much if not worse predatory behaviour than there is outside the Internet. Anonimity can provide bullies with a way to shield their actions.

I am curious because if she was being bullied, would just stop using the Internet be easier than suicide? Obviously there were other factors involved besides bullying. I imagine that maybe she was suffering from depression, or she felt that there was no adult she could turn to for help.

As with many cases of bullying, it probably was done by one of her peers. It is probably why she felt it was so devastating. It is quite likely that the problem spread outside just the Internet. Kids who commit suicide because of bullying are often being victimized by several people and in a way that humiliates them physically and emotionally before their peers.

I think that the government would have a hard time regulating this. In a school or neighborhood a bully can potentially be charged with assault, but in the Internet a defense lawyer would simply argue that the girl should just have stopped logging in. As with other forms of bullying, educating children on not doing it and on defending themselves from bullies is probably the only thing the government could do.