Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Intellectual Property Law Blogs -> Threat Level

Intellectual Property Law

: Threat Level

Prosecutors Charge Seven People Under New Cyberbullying Law

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"Prosecutors in Missouri have been filing a flurry of charges under a new anti-cyberharassment statute that was passed as a result of the landmark Lori Drew/MySpace cyberbullying case./pp The law went into effect in late August and was passed after 13-year-old Megan Meier a href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/blog-readers-ou.html"hanged herself in Missouri in 2006/a after being harassed online through a MySpace account./pp When a press report in 2007 revealed the role that 47-year-old Lori Drew played in Meier's harrassment, local authorities felt pressured to charge Drew with a crime but could find no law under which to prosecute her. So Missouri lawmakers drafted legislation to outlaw threats or harassing communication that causes emotional distress./pp Under the law, perpetrators can be charged with a misdemeanor or felony./pp In the three months since the law went into effect, Missouri authorities have wasted little time in bringing a href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/A5F18B865AE42BB6862575220015CFA2?OpenDocument"charges against seven people/a, according to the emSt. Louis Post-Dispatch/em./pp ulliA 21-year-old woman named Nicole Williams was charged for allegedly sending harassing text messages to a 16-year-old girl and allowing others to use her cell phone to leave vulgar voicemail messages for the victim threatening her with rape, among other things. Williams allegedly targeted the teen over a jealous dispute involving a boy, according to the emPost-Dispatch/em./li liTwo St. Louis men were charged separately with sending harassing text messages to their ex-girlfriends./li liA man protesting the development of a proposed resort was charged with sending a threatening e-mail to city hall staff./li liA 28-year-old woman was accused of sending harassing text messages to her ex-husband's girlfriend./lI liA 19-year-old man was charged with sending some 17 text messages to his mother's husband./li liA 17-year-old involved with a classmate in a dispute over a girl is accused of sending the classmate death threats via text messages./li/ul Williams' attorney says the law was poorly written and hastily passed in an effort to appease the public's anger over Drew's involvement in Meier's death./pp Megan Meier was lured into an online MySpace relationship by a 16-year-old boy named "Josh Evans" who turned on her after a month and told her the world would be better place without her. Authorities later learned that Drew, along with her 13-year-old daughter and an 18-year-old family friend and employee, created the fake "Josh Evans" MySpace account to lure Meier into a relationship and determine if Meier was spreading rumors about Drew's daughter./pp Meier, who had a history of depression and emotional instability, hanged herself in her bedroom after being rejected by "Josh."/pp After Missouri authorities concluded they could not charge Drew with any crime, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles decided to use a federal anti-hacking statute, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, to charge Drew with three felony counts of unauthorized access to MySpace's computers and one felony conspiracy count. Drew was a href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/lori-drew-pla-5.html"acquitted of the three felony counts/a for unauthorized access but was convicted on three lesser misdemeanor charges of unauthorized access. A jury deadlocked on the fourth conspiracy charge./pp Prosecutors have been a href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/myspace-indictm.html"criticized for using the CFAA/a to prosecute Drew. The case is likely to be appealed, at which point a href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/can-lori-drew-v.html"experts expect the verdict to be overturned/a./pp At least eighteen states currently have laws addressing cyberbullying and harassment./pp pstrongSee also:/strong /p ullia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/lori-drew-attor.html"Lori Drew Files New Bid for Dismissal on Grounds that MySpace Authorized Access/a/lilia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/jurors-wanted-t.html"Jurors Wanted to Convict Lori Drew of Felonies, But Lacked Evidence/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/can-lori-drew-v.html"Can Lori Drew Verdict Survive the 9th Circuit Court?/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/prosecution-ple.html"Dead Teen's Mother: Misdemeanor Convictions a 'Stepping Stone' in Cyberbullying Case/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/lori-drew-pla-5.html"Lori Drew Not Guilty of Felonies in Landmark Cyberbullying Trial/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/noverdict.html"Lori Drew Jury Nears Verdict on Three Charges, Struggles With Fourth/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/defense-lori-dr.html"Prosecution: Lori Drew Schemed to Humiliate Teen Girl/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/lori-drew-pla-4.html"Judge Considers Throwing Out Lori Drew Case/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/defendants-daug.html"Lori Drew's Daughter 'Devastated' by Friend's Suicide but Doesn't Feel Responsible/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/lori-drew-pla-3.html"Government's Star Witness Stumbles: MySpace Hoax Was Her Idea, Not Drew's/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/lori-drew-pla-1.html"Dead Teen's Mother Testifies about Daughter's Vulnerability in MySpace Suicide Case/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/lori-drew-place.html"Prosecutor: Lori Drew Intended to 'Prey' on Girl's Psyche/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/lawyer-potentia.html"Defense Says Jury Pool Filled With 'Viciousness' Towards Lori Drew/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/lori-drew-on-tr.html"Jury Selection Begins in MySpace Suicide Trial/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/former-justice.html"Former Justice Dept. Prosecutor Joins Defense in MySpace Suicide Case/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/myspace-indictm.html"Experts Say MySpace Suicide Indictment Sets 'Scary' Legal Precedent/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/lori-drew-indic.html"Lori Drew Indicted in MySpace Suicide Case/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/indictment-expe.html"Indictment Expected This Morning in Megan Meier Cyberbullying Case ? Updated/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/teen-fingers-lo.html#previouspost"Teen Involved in MySpace Suicide Hoax Says Adult Also Participated/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/megan-meier-sui.html#previouspost"Megan Meier Suicide Stokes the Internet Fury Machine/a/li lia href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/blog-readers-ou.html"Blog Readers Out Anonymous Adults that Newspaper Refused to Identify/a/li/ul/divbr clear="both" style="clear: both;"/ br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/ a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=bfab48ef1e581dfafd144c9a676de717p=1"img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=bfab48ef1e581dfafd144c9a676de717p=1"//a img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=bfab48ef1e581dfafd144c9a676de717" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/ pa href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired27b?a=9QB7PP"img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired27b?i=9QB7PP" border="0"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired27b?a=r8fPO"img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired27b?i=r8fPO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired27b?a=x4Mso"img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired27b?i=x4Mso" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired27b?a=1Ta6o"img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired27b?i=1Ta6o" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired27b?a=PCk9O"img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired27b?i=PCk9O" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired27b/~4/490115350" height="1" width="1"/

Full post as published by Threat Level on December 19, 2008 (boomark / email).