Say goodbye to anonymity on the web
There is a court case going on in the United States that could potentially make everyone with an alias or an anonymous account at any of the many social media sites a criminal. Anyone following the Lori Drew case will know what I am talking about. For those of you who don’t here’s a short back story.
Back at the beginning of the year a young girl by the name of Megan Meier committed suicide after being turned on by a young man with whom she had become close to on MySpace. It turns out though that the young man never existed but was in fact a fake persona created on MySpace by Lori Drew. Now the interesting thing is that this woman wasn’t alone in the perpetration of the hoax. In fact many of Megan’s neighbours; along with Drew, were in on this terrible hoax that ended in the death of a fine young lady.
No one; least wise myself, is saying what was done is right but as is human nature there is a rising crescendo of voices calling for blood with the most attention being directed at Lori Drew. The only problem was that there was nothing that state law enforcement could charge her with as she really hadn’t broken any crime. At that point the federal government stepped in and said they would charge her.
So what did they charge with?
How about “conspiracy and fraudulently gaining access to someone else’s computer”.
Yup .. that’s it and as much of a twist of the laws as it might be this is exactly what they got indictments against Ms. Drew which has more than a few legal scholars a little worried. the one thing that was in Lori Drew’s favour though was that the judge hearing the case had originally said that any evidence relating to Megan Meier’s suicide would be excluded from the trial. Considering that the young girl’s death had nothing to do with whether any computer fraud laws were broken this made sense.
Unfortunately though the judge has now reverse his decision and this evidence will be allowed. In light of how emotionally charged this whole matter is evidence such as this will make it very hard for a fair trial to be heard on the charge of computer fraud; as that is the only charge against Lori Drew.
So how does this affect any use of anonymous accounts or aliases?
Well consider that the only thing Lori Drew did was to set up an account on MySpace under an alias it would make anyone who has done the same thing potentially guilty of the same charge as the one facing Ms. Drew. The same could apply to all those alias account set up on Twitter, Facebook etc etc – they would all be breaking the law and subject to criminal charges.
As Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins pointed out in a post at WinExtra recently even Kevin Rose who set up a Twitter account for the cold he had could be charged with the same thing as Lori Drew. As bad as the circumstances are that surround this whole thing the fact is that Lori Drew is only guilty of is being a mean cruel bitch but that doesn’t break any laws. However if she is found guilty because of the emotions surround this case it would mean that in the future anyone who does something stupid while using an alias; or posting anonymously, could be found guilty and sent to prison.
If that doesn’t send a chill up your back I don’t know what will because this is setting a very bad precedent against something that is a natural part of using the Internet.
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Nov 17, 2008
Let's take bloggers, for example . . . many bloggers I know blog using an alias thus protecting their own identity. About all that happens is a little name calling due to differing political views. Not even threats. The people I know, however, signed up for the account using accurate information. This article is misleading. One can still have an anonymous account, or an alias. All the law is asking is that people use accurate information when signing up for the account. Lori Drew didn't. We have a situation where one can use the internet to post lies, post personal information, lure children, and cyber bully without consequence. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with that. But, more to the point of the article, this case is mostly about retribution. Lori Drew is is a pathetic, low life, scumbag. For someone to go to the lengths she did simply because her daughter had a “falling out” with Megan is beyond words. There are already cyber bullying laws popping up and few have noticed. This case, if anything, will raise awareness and provide a bit of a detriment to anyone else thinking of doing the same.
Nov 17, 2008
There's an old saying that “If you can not say anything nice and respectful to others? Then – it might be good to keep ones mouth shut or “hands off the keyboard”.
With the last words seen by Megan “This world would be better off without her”. These words were enough to send this minor child with known mental problems to committing suicide.
Nov 18, 2008
The following is just my opinion.
First, it's incitement to suicide, computer or not. I don't know how it's treated by your law, though. It's main part of the case. The means by which it was done is another part.
Taking an alias is not a crime, AFAIK. That matters is what you do with it. Its the border between fraud and chatting under nickname. I hope the judge will separate it.
Nov 18, 2008
so, why not charge her with using a computer to incite a crime? couldn't the argument be made that the creation of the alias for the explicit intent to cause harm to someone else and not just the creation of the alias is what is at fault here?
Nov 18, 2008
That's insane! Have they thought about how many John Smiths are there in the world? What are the other several million supposed to do?
Nov 23, 2008
It does not matter if the case is dropped or not. The damage has been done, this fat bitch will cause all internet blogs and sites to tighten requirements out of lawsuit fears.
its not over till Lori Drew sings. Expect a Lawsuit against My Space from Meghan's family.
And GOD, I hope a wrongful death lawsuit against this Lard Ass Doughnut loving, Exercise hating, Broom stick flying, Bitch.
I hope they sue her back to Hell.
Jun 13, 2009
She should hang! Forget that rant I said earlier. She is simply a D.E.B. or Diabolical Evil Bitch.
I know her name is not Debbie, it is Lori. But, DEB is not short for Debbie in this case.