Adults bully teen girl on Myspace - girl kills herself

[Trollbait]

Yeah, Dd..

I was being a bit tongue in cheek with the law I cited.

It is so vague that it is practically meaningless.

[Embar Angylwrath]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ ... SECTION=US

The mother (the one who was "Josh") has her own attorney, and I bet he's hopping mad about the posting of the blog, since it essentially refutes every claim of ignorance, non-liability and non-maliciousness he infers. Every legal argument he implied in his statements was refuted by his own client. My bet is this woman (her insurance compnay actually), will get hit with a multi-million dollar verdict.

[Ddrak]

Wouldn't making a public statement like that void your insurance?

Dd

[Embar Angylwrath]

Not really. Only if the statement was unambigioulsy clear the person intended to do harm (in which case it would be a criminal affair as well). Most homeowner's insurance covers negligent harm, which is where this appears to be headed.

[Trollbait]

http://www.reuters.com/article/domestic ... 8020080515

Woman indicted in fatal cyber-bully case


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Missouri woman who prosecutors say used a fake MySpace persona to "torment, harass, humiliate and embarrass" a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide was indicted on Thursday on federal charges.

Lori Drew, accused of participating in a hoax on 13-year-old Megan Meier that led her to believe she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy, was indicted on conspiracy charges by a U.S. District Court jury in Los Angeles.

Meier had what she thought was an online friendship with the fictional boy, "Josh Evans."

She hanged herself at her Missouri home in October 2006, after "Evans" told her he didn't want to be friends with her anymore and that "the world would be a better place without you."

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb, editing by Philip Barbara)

[Embar Angylwrath]

It mentions a conspiracy charge, and lists other unnamed charges.. I wonder what they are? I think a conspiracy charge is contingent on an actual crime being planned for.. so one or more of the other charges have to stick before conspiracy would kick in, or at least they have to show her intentions were towards a criminal act.

[Trollbait]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03918.html

Indictment in Internet Suicide


A federal grand jury indicted a Missouri woman for her alleged role in a MySpace hoax against a 13-year-old neighbor who committed suicide. Lori Drew of suburban St. Louis allegedly helped create a false-identity MySpace account to contact Megan Meier, who thought she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, who did not exist. Megan hanged herself at home in October 2006 after receiving cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.

Drew was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress on the girl. Drew has denied creating the account or sending messages to Megan. U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said this was the first time the federal statute on accessing protected computers has been used in a social-networking case.

I think she is now screwed. The conspiracy is if she and another individual plotted to get information about Megan through a protected computer that she was not authorized to access. This could even mean that she found out Megan's password to her MySpace and used it to get the information.

[Ddrak]

Wait... three counts? Which computers was she accessing without permission? I don't recall any mention of her hacking Megan's account, so are they trying to play up that getting Megan to add "Josh" to her MySpace friends list is a crime now?

I agree that having that on there certainly makes the whole case more criminal, but I'm pretty interested in the specifics now.

Dd

[Embar Angylwrath]

Those three counts of accessing a protected account could be accessing the same protected account three times.

[Ddrak]

I did some more research - seems they are referring to creating and accessing a fake myspace account, not actually hacking anyone else's account. Because the myspace T&C says you can't create a bogus account they are trying to make a case that this is the same as accessing someone else's account.

It won't go anywhere in court.

Dd

[Trollbait]

I would not count on that Dd.

You were one of them who said that they would not charge anyone.

[Ddrak]

I'm still surprised they did, and especially with this particular charge. To spell it out, here's the text of 18 U.S.C. 1030 (a)(2)(C):

intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access, and thereby obtains ... information from any protected computer if the conduct involved an interstate or foreign communication;

I can guarantee that everyone on this board hasn't put their true first and last name into the system (I'm not called "Ddrak" for example), so are you arguing we are all committing a federal crime every time we log in? It's stupidity in the extreme and if it goes through, God help you all for the precedent it sets.

Fact is, making it a federal crime to ignore a click-through piece of junk on a web site is truly ridiculous and should be seen as such. It's a prosecutor grasping at straws to pin a crime to something he's obviously had pressure put on him to prosecute. You thought the Delay and Clinton stuff was idiocy? Not even close to this one.

Dd

[Harlowe]

I don't think it was the creation of accounts themself, but the intent. Creating a fake account to harass or harm another individual.

[Ddrak]

It doesn't matter what the intent was - look at the law they are using. It's simply a law that is supposed to cover unauthorized access to a computer system no matter what the intent. They are making it a federal crime to break a click-through ToS on a web site that carries a 5 year term - does that make sense to you?

Dd

[Harlowe]

I was responding to your comment below, I don't think that is what they are arguing.

I can guarantee that everyone on this board hasn't put their true first and last name into the system (I'm not called "Ddrak" for example), so are you arguing we are all committing a federal crime every time we log in?

[Ddrak]

The prosecution's argument is that if you violate the TOS of any site then you are either action "without authorization" or "exceeding authorized access" and therefore obtaining any "information" from that system is no longer a simple civil case of breach of contract but a federal criminal case with 5 years imprisonment on the line. I think they are reading waaaay more into that law than what is actually there.

Dd

[Harlowe]

The mom was found guilty of three misdemeanor charges.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/ ... 5346.shtml

[Ddrak]

Yep - basically she was convicted of logging into MySpace as someone other than her true self. The jury deadlocked on the stronger charges, so a mistrial was declared.

If she gets anything more than minor probation for being guilty of creating a fake name on MySpace, I'd be pretty surprised.

Dd

[Alluveal]

I have to say, I'm glad she's doing time.

I know that may not be the most PC thing to say, but it is what it is.

[Ddrak]

She's not doing time (there's still a motion for acquittal and the appeals process to go through), and I highly doubt she will. Remember, she was *convicted* only for signing into MySpace as someone else. Would you want to serve jail time for having wrong information on your MySpace? Would you want to serve jail time for logging into someone else's EQ account? That's what they are talking about.

Dd