Woman charged over MySpace suicide

16-05-2008

by Emmet Ryan

An American woman who allegedly participated in a hoax on MySpace that reportedly led to the suicide of a 13 year-old girl has been charged by prosecutors in the US.

According to US Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien this was the first time the federal statute on accessing protected computers has been used in a social-networking case.

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Lori Drew, from Missouri, for her alleged role in the hoax on the social network against her 13 year-old neighbour Megan Meier who committed suicide. Drew allegedly helped create a MySpace account with a false identity to contact Meier, who thought she was chatting with a 16 year-old boy named Josh Evans. In reality Evans did not exist. Meier hanged herself at her home in October 2006 after receiving hostile messages from the Josh Evans account, including one stating the world would be better off without her. Drew faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The Missouri woman has been charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorisation to get information used to inflict emotional distress on the girl. Drew has denied creating the account or sending messages to Meier.

The indictment was handed down in Los Angeles, where MySpace is based, after Missouri authorities declined to prosecute Drew. "This adult woman allegedly used the internet to target a young teenage girl, with horrendous ramifications," said O'Brien when he announced the indictment.

"Any adult who uses the internet or a social gathering website to bully or harass another person, particularly a young teenage girl, needs to realise that their actions can have serious consequences," said O'Brien.

In this case those serious consequences might well extend beyond this incident. University of Southern California law professor and former federal prosecutor Rebecca Lonergan told Reuters that the case could test legal statutes."This case is unprecedented and it's also a very aggressive charging decision," said Lonergan.

She said the charges against Drew for accessing a protected computer to obtain information were typically used against defendants who hack into government computers. "While I think most people agree that it merits punishment to harass a young girl to the point where she commits suicide, it's not clear that this conduct is covered by this federal statute," said Lonergan.

Some legal experts argue that should this application of the statute hold up then anyone that breaks the terms of use of a website could be liable to prosecution.

"This is a novel and extreme reading of what [the law] prohibits," Jennifer Granick, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation told Wired.com. "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."