I was introduced to the term “Griefers” last week, and this week’s Guest Speaker brought it up again with a funny story from her work about the guy who “killed” the Bride and Groom in a much anticipated MMORPG wedding. Basically, griefing runs the gamut from silly to criminal and so can be anything from a silly prank to online theft of credit cards and/or identity.

Sunday’s LA Times ran an interesting story that seems to take the concept of “Griefing” to a disturbing new low and beyond its usual application in the gaming world. In a nutshell, relatives of an 18 yr old decapitated in a car accident where bombarded with emails and text messages of CHP investigator photos of the scene. No one knows who is behind it, but even unrelated people with the same surname received the emails. Then the photos were posted online at hundreds of websites worldwide. According to the article, the family has filed a claim against the CHP for allowing the photos to be released to the public. They have also gotten several online sites to remove the grisly photos (MySpace was one) but there are others who refuse to cooperate. "The websites exposed the family to the vicious side of the Internet world, where people hide behind alter egos to satisfy their sadism and hurt others." Read the rest of the story here.