A couple weeks ago I saw an article on the AOL front page about Nikki Catsouras. I saw a smiling girl, read she had died, thought it was a shame, and chose not to read the article lest I be depressed the rest of the day. Today I found myself thumbing through a Newsweek in a waiting room and found the same picture looking back at me. As I started to read the article, I was appalled to learn of the other pictures of Nikki Catsouras that are circling around the internet--some 3 years after her death in a horrific car crash--and of the torment and pain they have caused her family.For those who don’t know, 18 year-old Nikki Catsouras crashed her father’s Porsche while driving around 100 mph and with traces of cocaine in her system. Her body was so disturbing that the coroner didn’t allow her parents to identify it. Then, by some mysterious accident, the crash photos that were taken for the California Highway Patrol’s investigation were leaked by two officers, Thomas O’Donnell and Aaron Reich (who received slap on the wrist punishments), including one of the teen nearly decapitated and still strapped into the car. Subsequently, the photos went viral on the net and were published on over 1,600 websites. While many sites have pulled them, many others have not because it is their “right” to post them--and because the people who run these sites are in an apparent competition for title of the most pathetic excuse for a human being on the planet.
While the internet is filled with macabre images, we often don’t think in our desensitized society that those images can cause people pain. In this case, the photos and the scum of society who have posted them have caused a grieving family to relive the horror of their loss on a daily basis. Not only do they deal with the fact that their daughter’s privacy is being violated as cretins laugh and spread the pictures, but they have been personally targeted with the pictures. Nikki's father received an email claiming to be regarding a real estate deal; however, when he opened it, it contained a gruesome photo of his deceased child and the text, “"Woohoo Daddy! Hey daddy, I'm still alive." Nikki's mother went to pull up the directions to a hair salon named “Legends.” When she entered that name and her city, Nikki’s death displayed because she has become the “legend” of her town. One of Nikki’s sisters was in school and listening to an auto-safety lecture when a firefighter brought up her sister; overwhelmed, the young girl ran from the room. Her schoolmates added to her pain by putting copies of the photos of her dead sister into her locker; needless to say, Nikki’s sisters are now being home schooled. The entire family is not only having to deal with the loss of their loved one, but the heartless spread of information about her—which stemmed from the release of her car crash photos.
Newsweek reports that that entire family is in therapy and that they have taken out a second mortgage on their home in order to pay for legal expenses in their fight to ultimately be able to put their daughter—and the photos—to rest. So far their legal battle has resulted in one judge stating that a deceased person’s privacy does not extend beyond the deceased. The family has appealed, and on June 1st they will be before another judge. Some experts believe their case should be overturned, especially since, according to Newsweek, “the Supreme Court ruled that the government could deny Freedom of Information Act requests for the photos based on a family's right to survivor privacy."
When one thinks of all the pieces of the case, he or she has to ask, “Why?” It is a hard question to answer. Has humanity sunk this low? I used to believe people were more “good” than they are. A situation like this one, though, makes me understand S’ argument that the “vast majority of people are despicable.” From the email Nikki’s father received to the pictures stuffed in her sister’s locker to the billboard someone wanted to rent near the family’s house to display the photos, I am wondering why people want to torment others so much. Why is there so much hate? And I think I have at least one answer for this case: jealousy.
Several sites have referred to Nikki as everything from “Porsche Girl” to “whore” to “coke head.” Others have posted things like, “What a waste of a Porsche” or “R.I.P. Porsche.” The epitome of jealousy was the comment: “The rich bitch deserved it.” Apparently, money is all these envious people care about. They see a pretty, privileged girl and their own self-loathing for their situations fuels their anger and hated. No site I saw mentioned the facts of Nikki’s life, which include the following from the aforementioned Newsweek article:
“The family's life wasn't as idyllic as it seemed. In third grade, Nikki was diagnosed with a brain tumor that doctors didn't think she'd survive. It turned out to be benign, but 8-year-old Nikki had to undergo intensive radiation, and doctors told her parents the effects of that treatment on her young brain might show up someday—perhaps by causing changes in her judgment, or impulse control. Her family believes that's why, the summer before the accident, Nikki tried cocaine and ended up in the hospital in a cocaine-induced psychosis. She used cocaine again the night before the accident, her family says. Lesli and Christos discussed checking her into a hospital, but decided against it: she was to visit a psychiatrist the next day, a specialist on brain disorders. So they let her sleep it off.”
The next day, however, Nikki suddenly took the car she wasn't allowed to drive and lost her life. I wonder if one person who posted horrid things about her even knew about her struggle… or even faced such a struggle in his or her own life.
I hate to admit it, but I did research sites claiming to have Nikki’s crash photos. I wasn’t doing it because I wanted to see the pictures; rather, I wanted to see what sites were still posting and advertising them in order to find out who is responsible for the sites. You see, I recently received the following notice for some domains I own:
“In accordance with ICANN (Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers) Whois Data Reminder Policy (WDRP) resolution 03.41, this message is a reminder to help you keep the public WHOIS contact data associated with your domain name registration up-to-date... If any of the information above is inaccurate, you must correct it by contacting your domain name supplier, hosting company or web services provider by either calling them or visiting their web site. If your review indicates that all of the information above is accurate, you do not need to take any action. Please remember that under the terms of your registration agreement, the provision of false Whois information can be grounds for cancellation of your domain name registration.”
Knowing this tidbit of information, I wondered if the a-holes who owned the sites that psoted pictures were abiding by the rules of ICANN. And guess what? They aren’t. Miraculously, all info on the worst site that is out there is listed as “unknown” on one whois search. Another whois search of that same site listed the owner as being someone in the Ukraine with a phony email address. In fact, the database lists 47 whois changes on that one record. It looks like someone is running scared. I mean, it takes balls to post these pictures and then hide your identity, doesn’t it? The only good thing about this fact is that the owner of the site can be reported and possibly have the domain pulled if they do not post valid information. Even if the person privately registers the name, their information is on record so a court-order can be served to make the person pull the photos if the Catsouras' are sucessful in their lawsuit... and hopefully papers a civil lawsuit can be served against the person as well.
I have one word for those who are spreading these pictures and making hateful comments: karma. What comes around does go around. Eventually you will lose someone you love. You will hurt in ways you never imagined. And hopefully you will suffer from the knowledge the pain you caused others who were in a similar situation--others who included little girls, as young as 6 yearsold, who lost their big sister. You will be lucky if you experience this pain. Because if you do, you may agonize over your actions so much that you truly pray for forgiveness. I think that is one of the only things that is going to save you from sweating profusely for all eternity.
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To help the family of Nikki Catsouras:
There is a tribute site up for Nikki at http://www.supportnikki.org. Unfortunately, the petition on the site isn’t working. However, another petition exists at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/661936431. There aren’t many signatures yet, so sign it and forward it. You can also visit another tribute site for Nikki at http://www.myspace.com/300948762. This site also provides the contact info for Governor Schwarzenegger (http://gov.ca.gov/interact) and President Obama (http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/); it can’t hurt to send them an email about this situation. You can also contact ICANN at http://www.icann.org/cgi/contact/ and report that there is faulty registration information on nikkicatsouras.net. As the June 1st trial date approaches, other opportunities to help may also be posted on other websites. Finally, you can always say a prayer for Nikki’s family that they may finally find some peace.
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