Routine conduct at risk with MySpace suicide case
NEW YORK (AP) - May 16, 2008 Federal prosecutors turned to a novel interpretation of computer
hacking law to indict a Missouri mother on charges connected to the
suicide of a 13-year-old MySpace user.
Prosecutors alleged that by helping create a MySpace account in
the name of someone who didn't exist, Lori Drew, 49, violated the
News Corp.-owned site's terms of service and thus illegally
accessed protected computers.
Legal experts warned Friday that such an interpretation could
criminalize routine behavior on the Internet. After all, people
regularly create accounts or post information under aliases for
many legitimate reasons, including parody, spam avoidance and a
desire to maintain their anonymity or privacy online or that of a
child.
This new interpretation also gives a business contract the force
of a law: Violations of a Web site's user agreement could now lead
to criminal sanction, not just civil lawsuits or ejection from a
site.
"I think the danger of applying a statute in this way is that
it could have unintended consequences," said John Palfrey, a
Harvard law professor who leads a MySpace-convened task force on
Internet safety. "An application of a general statute like this
might result in chilling a great deal of online speech and other
freedom."
Drew, of O'Fallon, Mo., was indicted Thursday on charges of
perpetrating a hoax on the popular online hangout MySpace.
Prosecutors say Drew helped create a fake MySpace account to
convince Megan Meier she was chatting with a nonexistent
16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. Megan hanged herself at home in
October 2006, allegedly after receiving a dozen or more cruel
messages, including one stating the world would be better off
without her.
Drew, who has denied creating the account or sending messages to
Megan, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on one
count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected
computers without authorization to get information used to inflict
emotional distress on the girl.
Prosecutors argue that to access MySpace's servers, Drew first
had to sign up for the service, which meant providing her name and
date of birth and agreeing to abide by the site's terms of service.
Those terms bar false registration information, solicitation of
personal information from anyone under 18 and use of any
information gathered from the Web site to "harass, abuse, or harm
another person."
By using a fictitious name, among other things, Drew violated
MySpace's terms and thus had no authority to access the MySpace
service, prosecutors charged.
"Clearly the facts surrounding this matter are awful and very
upsetting, and I certainly understand the instinct of wanting
justice to be served," Palfrey said. "On the other hand, this
complaint is certainly unusual."
Drew's lawyer, Dean Steward, said Thursday a legal challenge to
the charges is planned. Missouri authorities said they investigated
Megan's death but filed no charges because no state laws appeared
to apply to the case.
Andrew DeVore, a former federal prosecutor who co-founded a
regional computer crime unit in New York, said Friday the
interpretation raises constitutional issues related to speech and
due process - in the latter case, because it doesn't allow for
adequate notice of when using an alias online is criminal.
Because corporations would end up setting criminal standards, a
completely legal act at one site could be illegal at another, said
DeVore, who has no direct involvement in the case.
"What clearly is going on is they couldn't find a way to charge
it under traditional criminal law statutes," DeVore said. "The
conduct that she engaged in they correctly concluded wouldn't
satisfy the statute. Clearly they were looking for some other way
to bring a charge."