Misdemeanor conviction for Lori Drew leads to more legal debate

by Steve Ragan - Dec 1 2008, 16:46

The news over the Thanksgiving weekend surrounding the Megan Meier case has left some feeling empty and others frightened by the state of the law. On Wednesday, just before the holiday weekend started, a jury convicted Lori Drew with three misdemeanors, and cleared her of three hacking related charges, which were federal crimes. A fourth charge, conspiracy, was undecided, as the jury was locked on the issue.

Lori Drew feels a light slapping on the wrist.(IMG:J.Anderson)

The verdict in the Megan Meier case, a light slapping of the wrist, was not the outcome that most of the people who have followed the case online had hoped for.In late 2007 and earlier this year, there was a great deal of outrage when a 13-year-old girl, Megan Meier, committed suicide over the verbal harassment by a bully she once counted as a friend. Later, you learned this bully was actually the mother of another girl who pulled off the stunt in an attempt to get information.The mother, Lori Drew, was indicted on one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress. In the end, all Drew got were three misdemeanor counts of computer fraud for having misrepresented herself on the popular social network MySpace.Putting aside the emotional charge of the trial, legal experts agree that the verdict sets an interesting, if not completely frightening, precedent. Essentially the conviction amounts to Lori Drew being found guilty of violating the MySpace terms of service. This is the first time criminal charges have occurred for violation of the terms of service on a Web site.“If this verdict stands, it means that every site on the Internet gets to define the criminal law. That’s a radical change,” Andrew Grossman told The New York Times.In a planned appeal, the conviction might be overturned, for lack of evidence on the three misdemeanor counts. One of the top arguments by Drew’s legal team is that she never read the TOS on MySpace. If the judge overturns the verdict, then Drew is acquitted.“It will be interesting to see if issues of safety and security will eventually trump the hallmark ideology of free, largely anonymous or pseudonymous participation in cyberspace,” said Sameer Hinduja, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Florida Atlantic University told the NY Times.Tina Meier, Megan’s mother, said that she would like to see the conviction stand and Drew face the max punishment. The total punishment could equal three years in prison and a $300,000 fine.Considering that almost everyone violates the TOS on one Web site or another, was the verdict worth the potential harm it could cause?

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Bad Mom!Dec 1st, 2008 - 19:05:08

That woman should be so ashamed of herself for driving a young impressionable teen to suicide. It is unfortunate that the laws are not specific enough to punish this woman for the crimes we all know, as parents, she is guilty of.

Her aborish behavior should not go unpunished. She should get the maximum as defined by law in this case. However, that is not justice! There is young girl here who will never be able express herself in anyway EVER! All this woman stands to lose is 3 years of her life and $300K.

I vote for public hanging to keep nosy people like this in check!

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JimDec 1st, 2008 - 19:31:08

The jury didn't 'charge' her with three crimes, they convicted her. Charging is done by the prosecution. This is a small error, but a significant one for someone writing about a legal case.

[Jim thanks for the catch. Edited.]

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