MySpace
MySpace was used to bully a teenaged girl who later committed suicide

Judge overturns MySpace bullying conviction

Lori Drew could be cleared of criminal charges in suicide case

Shaun Nichols in San Francisco

A US judge has moved to overturn the conviction of a Missouri woman accused of bullying a teenager who later committed suicide.

District Judge George Wu has ruled that Lori Drew was not guilty of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, overturning an earlier jury decision that convicted Drew on three misdemeanour counts of unauthorised access to a computer.

Advertisement

The 50 year-old housewife was accused of bullying 13 year-old Megan Meier, a former friend of Drew's daughter, through social networking site MySpace.

According to prosecutors, Drew created an account for a fictional teenaged boy named 'Josh'. The fake account was then used to flirt with Meier. After conducting a brief online relationship with the girl, 'Josh' then ended the relationship and began to taunt Meier, who later took her own life.

Shortly after Meier's suicide, Drew was brought up on felony and misdemeanour charges of illegally accessing a computer. A jury in Los Angeles acquitted Drew of the felony counts, but returned a guilty verdict on the three misdemeanour charges.

The case raised a heated debate over how cyber bullying cases on the internet should be handled, in terms of the charges that can be filed and the jurisdiction local authorities can hold over online activites.

Judge Wu appeared to echo those concerns in his decision. According to the Los Angeles Times, Wu stated in his ruling that, by bringing criminal charges against Drew, prosecutors were equating any violation of a site's terms and conditions with a crime.

"Is a misdemeanor committed by the conduct which is done every single day by millions and millions of people?" Wu was quoted as saying.

"If these people do read [the terms of service] and still say they're 40 when they are 45, is that a misdemeanor?"

  • Have your say
  • Send to a friend
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Share

Do you agree?

Further reading

Woman carrying a box of belongings from an office

MySpace to slash 300 jobs outside US

Cull will take place across all the firm’s international offices

Social networking

Firms have mixed attitudes to social networks

Survey reveals half of workers banned from using social tools

Twitter tackles rising problem of fake accounts

Micro-blogging site plans verification service to thwart cyber squatters

Social networking use continues to climb

83 per cent jump in time spent at sites in the past year

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Most watched

eu flag

V3.co.uk weekly debrief, 6 Nov 09

This week, Europe decides what to do with illegal file sharers

Intel unveils its micro server platform

Small-enclosure systems take aim at hosting market

IT white papers

Search white papers

Top categories

Poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

What is the biggest problem your firm faces as a result of the data explosion?

View poll results

Advertisement

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Spotlight

eu flag

V3.co.uk weekly debrief, 6 Nov 09

This week, Europe decides what to do with illegal file...

Dell Adamo XPS

Dell launches ultra-thin Adamo XPS

World's thinnest laptop will be available by Christmas

Top 10 articles, 6 November 2009

The worst Microsoft products of all time, and a USB...

Iain Thomson

Pirate Bay shutdown could be inspiring online militancy

Recent Swedish attacks raise worrying possibility

Primary Navigation