Will the Lori Drew verdict have unintended side effects?

If it survives the appeal? Yep. Drew was essentially prosecuted because she broke MySpace's terms of use. Here's what one expert told the Christian Science Monitor:

"The CFAA was intended to be used for computer fraud, hackers, etc., it was never intended to be used to criminally prosecute someone who violated the terms of a website's Terms of Use [TOU], which is the core of their case," says Kelly Strader, professor of law at Southwestern.

"If merely violating a provision of the TOU makes you a felon, then virtually everyone that has ever used the Internet is a felon. That is the problem going forward if this conviction holds up."

Comments

[AllnADaysWork]

Dumb case anywho... No crime committed if you ask me. The parent's of the dead girl are looking for a place to lay blame, which is ultimately with them. Can't blame someone else for the fact that their daughter was weak minded. The girl had issues and MySpace didn't give them to her. Everybody needs somebody to blame for thier problems. Blame yourself for not supervising your daughter's computer activities.

[KC Cicero]

But, wait, we don't care about the actual law. We are just really,really mad at this woman.

At least no one cares until their kid gets charged with a felony for some silly deal -- or you get busted for lying about your weight on an on-line dating service!

The real criminal -- as opposed to fool -- is the prosecutor who brought this case.

[Kate]

This woman, an adult broke rules (albeit minor ones), lied and then said hateful things to a teenager girl (having raised two, I can till you the strongest can have MAJOR bad days) . . . and the actions helped cause a death . . .on a morale scale I call this pretty bad and after all, isn't that what laws try to do? Make sure people are forced to act ethical? (most laws for safety are really designed to boost money for the good old gov)

[AA]

I agree Kate. I think this woman should take responsibility for her actions. Just as we say these children should be doing. She knew this girl was depressed and she banked on it. She was only sorry after she got caught. She even tried to file a lawsuit against the Meier family before she was arrested.

And the Meiers did watch her activity. Her mom was the one with the password to the account. She controlled when Megan was able to get on.

Now, I don't think that every time you choose not to give your name, or change your height, etc. you should be charged with a felony (because the law knows who you are anyway), however, what this woman did was malicious, and she knew that what she was doing was wrong. She obviously has no moral code whatsoever.

[Truth Teller]

Just another Mom bonding with her evil daughter....and pushing someone to suicide.

[rebecca silvers]

What Lori Drew did was unexcusable! She was an adult,messing around with a teenager. My daughter had a similar problem with a "adult" in her highschool. This woman several times asked her to try out for the varsity cheerleading team, then when she tried out she didn't make it, she was told she wasn't what they were looking for, the same woman that asked her to try out, was also a judge hhmmmm go figure, but yet HER daughter made the team.
Then at homecoming, my daughter received a post it that said 6 way tie for attendant
sorry you didn't get it(yes my husband & I saved that note), again this woman was the vote counter. My daugher was 15 this woman was in her late 40's. It was like this woman was living her life through her daughter. I don't understand this behavior.

We told our daughter that we were going to the school board with this, and she said
not to bother, it will only make things
worse. So in closing, I'm sad for the Meier family. But Lori Drew GROW UP! You're not in high school anymore

[Sasquach]

Sure, what Drew did was wrong, but her actions were not, by any means, what the law they used against her were meant to address. It is just as wrong to criminalize an activity after the fact because you disagree with it's results as it is for the person to commit the act to begin with. Had the jury been kept unaware of Megan Meier's subsequent suicide, I highly doubt they would have convicted her of any crime (especially considering they only convicted her of the misdemeanor lessor included offenses when they did have knowledge of the suicide).

Remember folks, she was not on trial for the suicide. She was on trial for whether or not her creation of a fake online profile on myspace in violation of their terms of service is criminal unauthorized access of a computer system. If the way the law was used against Lori Drew is the proper interpretation, why isn't the federal govt. trying to nail every person who lies on their myspace profile?

[Chuck Rizzo]

Laws are used all the time in different ways then they were originial incepted for. Look at how a lot of organized crime was brought down, by a law created to deal with corrupt businesses. In the south when a jury wouldn't convict a white man of anything against a black man, the federal government stepped in and used a law that was created for civil rights purposes. They would convict the white guy for denying the black person their civil rights and bam jail time.

This might have been a stretch but she did help a kid kill herself. What "adult" would think any of that was a good idea, and then to act like she did nothing wrong, give me a break.

Is tar and feathering considered cruel and unusual?

[jeffrey]

She deserves to be punished! She was an adult and knew what she was doing even though she's dumber than a box of rocks. I say hang 'er high!

[Holly Shelton]

Wow, I'm truly amazed at the shallowness and quick judgement of my fellow Americans. Did any of you do any research into what actually happened. The victim's parents did everything they could possibly do to shield their daughter from the negative attributes of my space. They controlled her password, they watched her while she was on her my space page, and they were the ones who had to approve or deny any friend request. They didn't agree with the page but knew how important it was to their daughter. This is something that ALL parents succumb to. We want our children to be happy yet safe and do what we can to make this possible. And now you are condemning them for this?
Lori Drew is a monster, no better than any pedophile or child murderer and you're defending this? I feel equally as sorry for her daughter as I do the victims. What a fantastic role model. I'm sure her daughter will do well in life.

[tom]

Lori Drew intentionally caused emotional duress to a mentally unstable girl. This ultimately resulted in the suicide of the teen. While she didn't pull the trigger per say, her actions put her at full liablity. Hopefully she will find herself in a similar mental state after civil proceedings are conducted.

[Nemsis]

This lady knowingly used a verbal virtual baseball bat on a minor she knew was unstable. Just because people hide behind avatars, aliases and pseudonyms doesn't absolve responsibility, by being anonymous. People who go phishing, steal identities and social security numbers and credit card numbers also are only pushing buttons on a computer keyboard. The people who yell foul the loudest against something like this are usually the biggest offenders. In this case there was no absence of malice and the intent to do harm whether virtual or psycological was real.

I say set the bitch on fire, just a worthless piece of humanity.

[Sasquach]

Regardless of what anyone thinks of Lori Drew, the judge improperly allowed in highly prejudicial evidence that had no tendency to prove or disprove the accusations against her (Meier's suicide). I'm sure that will be just one of many bases of appeal that very well might end up getting Lori Drew off in the end because people let emotions, rather than the law, guide their actions in this case.

[Craig Chval]

The Constitution guarantees that people cannot be criminally punished for conduct unless the conduct is prohibited by law. It seems to me quite a stretch to convert violation of terms of use (a private contract between two parties) into a criminal offense. Now that this case has put terms of use into the public awareness, I'm curious how many people are changing their computing practices. In light of this verdict, are people being scrupulously honest in their on-line profiles? Have people stopped using bugmenot.com and providing bogus email addresses or other identifying information to avoid being spammed by sites they visit?

[AllnADaysWork]

Sorry folks, there's really no true basis for this law suit or conviction. It is what it is. No means "no", especially to an unstable teen. Giving in to the girls demands only lead to disaster. I say the parents should have just said no to the MySpace crap, since they knew it was damaging to the girl. Anything anybody ever did to this child that could be deemed harmful could be associated with her suicide. Life is full of hard knocks and we have got to prepare our children better for the "real" world. And trust and believe I do understand mental illness because I have a brother who has lived the Schizo life for dang near all his life. Whenever somebody or something triggers him, we don't go around saying its somebody else's fault, we just deal with it.

[sly]

Drew's behavior is reprehensible, but turning the law into silly putty in order to put her behind bars is poor. Its the criminalization of private contracts. Not all bad behavior is punishable under the law. Unfair, wrong, and even tragic things happen & sometimes we just have to leave justice up to God.