Myspace bullying going to trial

[cgallery]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...051503918.html

It is about time!

She has admitted to her involvement, but there were no laws in Missouri to charge her with.

Myspace encouraged a federal prosecutor to look at it (in CA) and he found some charges for her.

[final_t]

Pretty good writeup as to why this is a bad idea:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/200...32441128.shtml

[LinuxRandal]

Until the law is made, stretching other laws to try to make them fit, you end up with bad laws that either get overturned, are used on other people (who may not have commited the crime), or just setting bad precedents.


Between the ridicule and the inevitable multimillion dollar lawsuit that will fall on this woman (that judgement money is going to pay defense lawyers).............

There have been a few cases where drunk drivers have their cars (registered to them) stuck with a label as such. Maybe they should be sued, and it requested that they have a child killer bumper sticker?

[cgallery]

Pretty good writeup as to why this is a bad idea:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/200...32441128.shtml

Now, no matter what you think of what Lori Drew did (or what happened as a result), this would basically make anyone who fails to follow the exact terms of service of an online service a potential felony hacker.

No problem with that. Until new laws are written, we can let a judge/jury decide whether this woman's actions are criminal. So far, a federal prosecutor and federal grand jury say yes.

But she isn't going to get any sympathy from me about over-zealous prosecution.

In terms of multi-million dollar lawsuits, her assets won't cover those anyhow, Myspace will be on the hook for them.

[final_t]

No problem with that. Until new laws are written, we can let a judge/jury decide whether this woman's actions are criminal. So far, a federal prosecutor and federal grand jury say yes.

Cool. So when Sam deletes this post for being political in nature, he can cite the TOS and get the Feds to take us away.

Being a douche isn't against the law. I hope that the family is filing a civil lawsuit against this woman, but a Federal one is the wrong thing to do, no matter how we feel about what this woman did - and she wasn't alone in her actions, either.

[LCHIEN]

just goes to show, 50% of all parents are below average.

[pelligrini]

I never paid attention to this when it first happened. About every news program was running the story this morning.

So, did the DA look at pressing negligence charges on the poor girl’s parents too? They allowed a 13yo to carry on an online relationship and to get so caught up in it ending tragically. I’ve seen a lot of folks calling for justice, it seems like her folks didn’t do their job either.

I watched my girl at that age like a hawk, even when she was online.

[cgallery]

Cool. So when Sam deletes this post for being political in nature, he can cite the TOS and get the Feds to take us away.

Being a douche isn't against the law. I hope that the family is filing a civil lawsuit against this woman, but a Federal one is the wrong thing to do, no matter how we feel about what this woman did - and she wasn't alone in her actions, either.

They aren't charging her with being a "douche," the charges against Lori Drew:

The woman, Lori Drew, was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing a computer without authorization and via interstate commerce to obtain information to inflict emotional distress. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Through her actions she has put Myspace in HUGE legal jeopardy (after all, Myspace will be the one writing the check with all the zero's, Lori Drew's a$$ can't cash that kind of check).

The questions are simply as follows: (1) If you use an online service in a way that is prohibited by their TOS, at some point do you cross the line from a civil matter into a criminal matter. I say YES. (2) Did Lori Drew cross that line? Again, I say YES.

[Rand]

I seriously doubt that they will be successful in prosecuting the woman. However, they will make her life miserable for a long time. I'm okay with that.

I don't have any sympathy for an adult who picks on a child. A decent person wouldn't do that.

[MilDoc]

I don't believe most of this discussion. What if this was YOUR child, picked on by a supposedly mature adult, who then HUNG herself as a result? Blame HER parents? COME ON!

An adult is responsible for their actions even if they are morons and idiots.

This reminds me of the infamous cheerleader case, also here in Texas unfortunately.

This "woman's" actions led to the hanging death of an impressionable 13 year old girl. It was malicious, vindictive, mean, nasty, and far below what I expect from a decent human being. Her actions caused a death as far as I am concerned.

Although this happened thanks to the Internet, there have been cases in the past where maliciousness against a person that resulted in suicide have been prosecuted successfully.

Again, what would you say if YOUR child was the victim?

I hope Lori Drew gets what she deserves.

[MilDoc]

Being a douche isn't against the law.

Yes, it is, in certain circumstances. Try yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded theater when there is no fire and people are hurt. Try joking about a bomb in a line at the airport.

Stupidity is no excuse.

[MilDoc]

just goes to show, 50% of all parents are below average.

I agree Loring. I agree. 30+ years of pediatrics has taught me that.

[radhak]

Online, or in person, the same rules apply : if you say something and somebody is hurt, cries a bit, nobody minds. But if you say something and somebody commits suicide, you should expect repercussion.

And if you are an adult, and you say something to a 13-year old, and she commits suicide, you are all the more culpable. So what's so special about online? Just that our laws have not caught up yet. So the prosecutors are trying to use whatever they can to get to that woman. And frankly, no loss to society.

I cannot agree with that website (techdirt) that has dire warnings of this snowballing into catching all of us in a witch hunt. When the very action is for the intent of defrauding, it's a crime, else it's not. Simple as that.

eg : I am allowed to dress up as a Cop, paint my car as a Cop's car, and still not cross the law; it's only when I try to act like a cop with somebody (traffic tickets, say), do I cross it. So my date-of-birth in most places online is not something that could land me in jail .

[Kristofor]

There are well over 1000 teen suicides each year in the USA. I would suspect that in many/most of them there was a "mean" person that in some way contributed. Then there are the MILLIONS of kids who don't commit suicide and also have regular interactions with "mean" people.

Obviously you're not going to find anyone who would condone what this woman did. That said, there are hundreds or thousands of times that the same scenario is being carried out each year by other kids. And before the advent of the internet the SAME thing would happen with kids pretending to be friends or let someone into a cliq in order to then turn around and be mean.

Is that a nasty thing to do? Of course. Should it be illegal to call someone a name though? That's a very scary road to start down in my opinion.

Finally, aside from the details of the case, twisting a law in a way it was not intended as a way to satisfy a particular desire to punish someone is a perversion of the system IMO.

[cabinetman]

I don't believe most of this discussion. What if this was YOUR child, picked on by a supposedly mature adult, who then HUNG herself as a result? Blame HER parents? COME ON!

An adult is responsible for their actions even if they are morons and idiots.

This reminds me of the infamous cheerleader case, also here in Texas unfortunately.

This "woman's" actions led to the hanging death of an impressionable 13 year old girl. It was malicious, vindictive, mean, nasty, and far below what I expect from a decent human being. Her actions caused a death as far as I am concerned.

Although this happened thanks to the Internet, there have been cases in the past where maliciousness against a person that resulted in suicide have been prosecuted successfully.

Again, what would you say if YOUR child was the victim?

I hope Lori Drew gets what she deserves.

My thoughts exactly. What does it take for someone to realize their actions could be detrimental? What ever happened to decency? As for making the prosecution fit the crime...it happens every day.

It's time our laws catch up to the internet.
.