Legal Commentary

Justice Dept. Blunders With Drew Prosecution

By TChris

More rational minds than those prevailing at the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles are speaking out against the ill-conceived prosecution of Lori Drew:

If the charges against Drew are upheld, it will be a serious blow to anyone who wants to remain anonymous on the Internet, said Brock Meeks, a CDT spokesman. "Everybody that is sympathetic to this case and saying finally we've got something to nail her on here, they're not looking hard enough at the fact that the Justice Department blundered by using this anti-hacker law," he said.

The charges suggest that anyone who uses a fake name to sign up for a Web service like Yahoo or Gmail could be charged with a federal crime, Meeks said. "If that's a federal crime, then I'm certainly guilty of a federal crime and there are probably a million other people out there who are probably also guilty."

The CDT, an advocacy group that promotes open Internet use, will hold a press conference on the issue Tuesday morning, Meeks said.

The law was intended to provide a vehicle for prosecution of cases like this, not for the federal prosecution of harassment of one neighbor by another.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 19, 2008 (boomark / email).