MySpace Suicide Indictment Sets 'Scary' Legal Precedent

[mandy]

In their eagerness to visit justice on a 49-year-old woman involved in the Megan Meier MySpace suicide tragedy, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles are resorting to a novel and dangerous interpretation of a decades-old computer crime law -- potentially making a felon out of anybody who violates the terms of service of any website, experts say.

"This is a novel and extreme reading of what [the law] prohibits," says Jennifer Granick, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "To say that you're violating a criminal law by registering to speak under a false name is highly problematic. It's probably an unconstitutional reading of the statute."

Lori Drew, of O'Fallon, Missouri, is charged with one count of conspiracy and three violations of the anti-hacking Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, in a case involving cyberbullying through a fake MySpace profile...

full article: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05...dictm.html

related article:
Lori Drew Indicted in MySpace Suicide Case -- Updated
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05...indic.html
copy of the indictment:
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/files/m...ctment.pdf

[BellisimaJ.]

I don't at all like the fact that they used the particular statute that they did; the use of which could create many more problems than it solves, but damn it, the woman deserves a jail cell for sure!

I hope that this indictment will cause people to think twice about cyberbullying/cyberstalking----hey, you might actually have to be accountable when you set out to destroy the lives of others! Dirtbags.