The Inquisitr » myspace

That person you friended just might be your friendly taxman

Steven Hodson — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Don’t recognize the name of that person who just friended, or followed, you on Facebook, Twitter or MySpace? Well rather than just blindly accepting and returning the favor you may want to do some serious checking because that could be your local taxman knocking on your cyber front door.

Increasingly IRS agents are turning to social media networks in order to find those people they believe owe the government some money. In a post at the Wall Street Journal, Laura Saunders tells about how state revenue agents as well as IRS agents are beginning to mine the social media world for those people who think they can hide and not pay their taxes.

While their typical online searches might include bank, tax, motor vehicle, and employment records they are starting to include Google, Facebook and MySpace as part of their investigations. There are limits though as revenue agents, state and federal, are only allowed to use information that is publically available online. this means that more ‘public’ oriented sites like MySpace are searched than say Facebook where the default setting is private.

As much as the title of this post might be humorous the fact is that revenue agents are not allowed to ‘friend’ someone using false information. That hasn’t stopped the agents from chalking up more than a few profitable successes when it comes to collecting on delinquent taxes.

In Minnesota, authorities were able to levy back taxes on the wages of a long-sought tax evader after he announced on MySpace that he would be returning to his home town to work as a real-estate broker and gave his employer’s name. The state collected several thousand dollars, the full amount due.

[….]

One [Nebraska] agent collected $30,000 of unpaid tax from a resident after a Google search found him listed as a high-ranking local marketing rep for a national firm. If a Google online search isn’t productive, agents use the social sites or chat rooms in a last-chance hunt for their quarries.

As popular as this method of finding tax evaders might be with some states not all of them are jumping on the bandwagon yet. Some like Massachusetts and Oregon are still in the exploratory stage of see how using the Web can help them.

Restroom Wall Graffiti at Facebook HQ

Paul Short — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:35:57 +0000

Restroom wall graffiti at Facebook HQ.

Photo by Jason Keath via Yfrog.

Ok, so it’s not really the restroom wall at Facebook, but it would be damn epic if it was.

Catholic Church claims using Facebook leads to suicide

Duncan Riley — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:02:54 +0000

The head of the Catholic Church in England is claiming that Facebook and other social networking sites are leading to teen suicide.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols claims that the rise of social networks means that teenagers aren’t developing real relationships (what he calls “transient relationships”) that could drive them to kill themselves

“Friendship is not a commodity, friendship is something that is hard work and enduring when it’s right,” the ABC quoted him as saying. “I think there’s a worry that an excessive use, or an almost exclusive use of text and emails means that as a society we’re losing some of the ability to build interpersonal communication that’s necessary for living together and building a community.”

The crux of his argument seems to be that teens are forgoing real world relationships for online ones. I don’t have the statistics to disprove him, and its likely that is some cases this may be true. The problem though with the line is that it’s a gross generalization that ignores both the good social networking offers, and the real underlying problems that are a cause of teen suicide.

Teens who find it difficult to make friends in real life don’t magically become suicidal due to Facebook; the problem is pre-existing. But many teens who may find it difficult to make friends in real life are able to connect online to others, to make new friends, and to actually gain some self worth. The internet allows them to connect to others like them, others who share their interests where they are unable to find people who do in their local community. For the Catholic Church to rally against this makes about as much sense as their stance on condoms and birth control; none. Indeed suggesting that teens who connect online don’t have real friendships is dangerous, and is far more likely to cause teen suicide than using Facebook or MySpace will.

MySpace turns to gaming to compete

Chris Greenhough — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:00:36 +0000

MySpace, that social networking site you last looked at in 2006 before being seduced by Facebook’s crisp blues and clean whites, is now looking to gaming to help it compete. Speaking at the Fortune Brainstorm: TECH conference in Pasadena, California, News Corp digital head Jonathan Miller told Reuters:

“MySpace is and will be more in the future a gaming platform, a space for people to meet and play games.”

Miller was keen to point out that gaming would be a “theme” of MySpace, rather than its primary purpose. There’s no doubt that MySpace could do with a shot in the arm – in terms of unique monthly visitors, Facebook surpassed its gaudier rival in April 2008, and hasn’t looked back since. Yet Miller is confident that gaming is where the future lies:

“If you look at the big activities online, games right now is number three. Communications, search, games. So it’s clearly going to be a major focus.”

We’ll see whether he’s right in good time, I suppose. Until then, days since I logged into MySpace: 971.

[Via Reuters]

MySpace now a “digital ghetto”

Kim LaCapria — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:05:14 +0000

Abandon your MySpace account for Facebook? You might just be a racist.

At a keynote speech during New York’s Democracy forum at Lincoln Center, Danah Boyd spoke of the racial disparity and possible reasons for mass abandonment of MySpace for the “more cultured” and “less cheesy” social networking site Facebook. Boyd, a social media researcher for Microsoft and fellow of the Harvard University Berkman Center for Internet and Society, stated:

“We might as well face an uncomfortable reality … what happened was modern day ‘white flight’.”

Boyd also observed that:

“The fact that digital migration is revealing the same social patterns as urban white flight should send warning signals to all of us. It should scare the hell out of us.”

Referring to MySpace as the “ghetto of the digital landscape,” Boyd indicated that MySpace users are more likely to be “brown or black” and espouse a different set of ideals in conflict with those espoused by the teens she surveyed over four years. She said that patterns in migration across social networking sites echoed those of a white exodus from cities in the past. Boyd also said that teens who use Facebook are more likely to condescend their MySpace-favoring peers.

“Any high school student who has a Facebook page will tell you MySpace users are more likely to be barely educated and obnoxious… like Peet’s is more cultured than Starbucks and jazz is more cultured than bubblegum pop. And Macs are more cultured than PCs.”

Teens aren’t even the worst culprits when it comes to socio-economic social media judgment passing. The New York Observer cites a quote from Michael Wolff in an interview with BusinessWeek’s Jon Fine in December 2008:

“If you’re on MySpace now, you’re a [expletive] cretin. And you’re not only a [expletive] cretin, but you’re poor. Nobody who has beyond an 8th grade level of education is on MySpace. It is for backwards people.”

Boyd’s research indicated that the class divisions were likely to only worsen over time, as the media continues to portay MySpace as a seedy stomping ground for pedophiles and Facebook as a “utopian savior.” She contends:

“There’s a cultural wall between users. If there’s no way for people to communicate across the divide, you can never expect them to do so.”

[Image: Flickr]

Massive 30% Myspace Layoffs – Heightened Security at MySpace HQ

Paul Short — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:38:42 +0000

Nearly 30% of MySpace staff will be unemployed by 4pm, PST today as the company lays of between 450 and 500 of it’s 1,600 or so domestic employees.

It appears that the company decided to get rid of the staff as quickly as possible, dropping the following press release and facilitating the layoffs all on the same day, taking them by surprise. Techcrunch is reporting that a mole within the company says there is extra security in the building and that managers are being given boxes, presumably to give staff to put their belongings in before they leave.

Since this situation is still developing, very little info is available right now except for the press release below:

MYSPACE REDUCES STAFF BY NEARLY 30%

Return to Start-Up Culture a Focus for Company Moving Forward

LOS ANGELES – June 16, 2009 -As part of a plan to restructure itself into a more innovative, efficient, and entrepreneurial business, MySpace announced today that it will reduce its staff by nearly 30%. This restructuring plan crosses all U.S. divisions of the company and lowers the total number of domestic staff at MySpace to 1,000 employees.

“Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company,” said MySpace Chief Executive Officer Owen Van Natta. “I understand that these changes are painful for many. They are also necessary for the long-term health and culture of MySpace. Our intent is to return to an environment of innovation that is centered on our user and our product.”

“MySpace grew too big considering the realities of today’s marketplace,” said Jonathan Miller, News Corporation’s CEO of Digital Media and Chief Digital Officer. “I believe this restructuring will help MySpace operate much more effectively both structurally and financially moving forward. I am confident in MySpace’s next phase under the leadership of Owen and his team.”

###

About MySpace

MySpace is a technology company connecting people through personal expression, content, and culture. MySpace empowers its global community to experience the Internet through a social lens by integrating personal profiles, photos, videos, mobile, messaging, games, and the world’s largest music community. MySpace is a division of News Corporation. (NYSE: NWS – News, NWS.A – News; ASX:NWS – News, NWSLV – News)

[Via Techcrunch]

Johnny Palermo dies in car accident

Duncan Riley — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:57:29 +0000

Actor Johnny Palermo has died after being involved in a car crash in North Hollywood June 8.

Palermo’s girlfriend Alessandra Giangrande, who was driving the vehicle, was also killed in the accident. Details relating to the possible cause of the accident have not been revealed, although unconfirmed reports suggest that it was a single vehicle accident.

27 year old Palermo appeared in more than 30 TV shows, including Everybody Hates Chris, How I Met Your Mother, CSI, Cold Case, General Hospital and Rules of Engagement. Palermo was a regular on the Nickelodeon series “Just for Kicks”

Visible Measures Scores MySpace Video Deal

JR — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:58:11 +0000

Video metrics firm Visible Measures has scored a new deal with MySpace. The company will provide all online video measurement services for the social networking site, it announced this morning.

As MySpace’s “official provider of digital video measurement and metrics,” Visible Measures will keep tabs on “audience behavior data” for all of MySpace’s hosted videos. Basically, that means it’ll let advertisers and other content providers monitor how people are using their materials: if they’re watching entire videos, for example, or only seeing the first half of them. It’ll also allow providers to track where their videos are being embedded elsewhere on the Web.

The deal is a big win for Visible Measures, which has been around for about four years now. The Inquisitr has cited the company’s research in the past on subjects such as the viral Bush shoe-throwing video and last fall’s Microsoft Seinfeld ads.

Visible Measures just raised $10 million in Series C funding a few weeks ago. The company is based in Boston.

Visible Measures

MySpace Gets Silverlight, Facebook Gets Flash. Winner: Facebook.

JR — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:54:24 +0000

MySpace and Facebook have both announced new partnerships for rich media content within their networks. MySpace is teaming up with Microsoft to bring Silverlight functionality to its developer platform, while Facebook is introducing expanded Flash support for its developers. The announcements were, coincidentally enough, revealed on the same day.

MySpace and Silverlight

In unveiling its new deal, MySpace showed off a handful of new Silverlight-powered applications already available, including an animated friend list utility that can be added onto any profile.

“Silverlight empowers MySpace developers with more freedom and flexibility to design OpenSocial applications that provide streaming video, graphics and audio to a variety of platforms and devices,” the announcement says.

“Silverlight and the MySpace Open Platform will enable developers to rapidly create and deliver sophisticated MySpace applications with a custom look and feel through the flexible skinning of controls and data.”

Facebook and Flash

Facebook, on the other hand, is working with Adobe to broaden its support for Flash-based applications. While Flash was already available for Facebook developers, the site is now adding “official support” for the full ActionScript 3.0 Client Library for Facebook Platform.

“With this client library, developers building rich Flash experiences will be able to easily access the social features of Facebook Platform from external websites using Facebook Connect, from applications on Facebook, or from desktop applications,” the announcement says.

“New ideas may include the next generation of social games, seeing friends sharing and commenting on video or music streamed through Flash, or manipulating photos of yourself and your friends.”

Weighing the Two

Despite some people’s strong feelings for Silverlight, the fact remains that the majority of Web users have no idea what it is — and, when prompted to download it to run any MySpace Silverlight application, may or may not even understand the request. Flash, on the other hand, is close to a standard as there is (even without the iPhone on-board). Most computer users already have it installed — about 99 percent, according to some recent stats published in The New York Times.

Despite Microsoft’s attempt to use last year’s Olympics as a launching ground for Silverlight, the platform is still dwarfed by the ubiquity of Flash. Combine that with the ongoing trend of Facebook gaining ground and MySpace losing market share, and it seems the Facebook-Flash pairing is the clear winner all around.

MySpace

Facebook

Teenage Girl Arrested Over Nude Self-Pics On MySpace

JR — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:58:14 +0000

A 14-year-old girl is facing child porn-related charges over a series of nude self-photographs found on her MySpace profile. The teen was arrested and charged with possession and distribution of child pornography.

Social Network Investigation

The girl, from New Jersey, posted about 30 “explicit nude” pictures of herself to the social network, media reports indicate. Investigators say she said she uploaded them so her boyfriend could see them.

Now, however, she could face as much as 17 years in jail and be required to register as a sex offender, if she is convicted of the crimes.

There has been a string of child pornography cases related to teens exchanging nude photos in recent months. Most of those, however, have involved “sexting” — sending and receiving the photos via cell phones. Legal experts tell the Associated Press this is the first case they’ve seen where photos from a social network are involved.

Megan Kanka Connection

The potential sex offender registration comes as a result of Megan’s Law. Interestingly, though, Maureen Kanka — the woman whose daughter, Megan Kanka, led to the law’s creation after she was raped and killed by a sex offender in 1994 — has spoken out against the recent trend of prosecuting teens over racy photos of themselves.

Kanka says the girl should receive some kind of counseling rather than criminal action, telling the AP that “the only person she exploited was herself.”

MySpace Introduces Integrated Photo Editing Tool

JR — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:35:26 +0000

MySpace has introduced a new option to let users edit photos from right within the social network. The built-in tool comes as part of a partnership with FotoFlexer, a Web-based image editing service.

The newly integrated MySpace photo editor offers options for all basic image manipulation — resizing, rotating, cropping, and the likes — as well as for more advanced effects such as retouching, color modifications, border additions, and distortion filters.

The FotoFlexer system allows you to either overwrite your original photo, or opt to have the changes saved as a new, secondary image.

While I’m typically more of a Facebook fan these days, this addition is a smart choice for MySpace that’ll bring a nice added functionality for its userbase — particularly to those who are less technologically inclined and might not have (or know how to effectively use) photo editing software of their own. The question, of course, is how long it’ll take for Facebook to unveil a similar option of its own.

FotoFlexer says the partnership, combined with an existing Photobucket collaboration, makes it the “most widely used image editing solution on the planet.”

MySpace

FotoFlexer

MySpace COO Leaving to Form New Startup

JR — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:42:56 +0000

MySpace Chief Operating Officer Amit Kapur is leaving the social network to start his own tech company. Two other senior MySpace execs will join him, according to published reports.

Kapur, engineering manager Jim Benedetto, and product strategy head Steve Pearman will wrap up their time at MySpace within the coming weeks, the company has confirmed. Kapur had been in charge of MySpace’s open code initiative. He had been with MySpace for four years and is credited with helping create its mobile interface and its MySpace Music service.

The details of the trio’s startup have not yet been publicly discussed.

A return to silos – the big Web 2.0 joke

Steven Hodson — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:12:21 +0000

As we have moved along the timeline of what we refer to as Web 2.0 and social media one of the big standbys of the movement has been that of openness and transparency. At the same time under the cover of this apparent new way of doing things we have services like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and any number of other so-called social networks gaining users at a huge rate. You literally can’t turn anywhere without hearing someone talking about being on Facebook.

Proponents of Facebook and social networks like them are quick to point out how they have opened up over the past year. Facebook mimics Twitter and allows sharing of status messages between the two. The thinking being that you can’t accuse someone of being a closed system if that services allows outside services to interact with it. That might be true when you are talking about a very small segment of the overall user base – otherwise known as the early adopters. However when you finally cross over from being an early adopter play toy things change.

Rex Dixon had an interesting post on SiliconAngle (congrats to John Furrier on the new blog) where he talks about the fact that MySpace has created their own webmail service. He points out that while this idea might be so 2006 for the early users of MySpace; many who have moved onto other – newer – services, it is in fact a great idea for all those new members who are signing up daily (emphasis mine)

The point is, while many of the tech crowd are so over MySpace like back in 2006, there are many first timers that are just signing up in late 2008 and early 2009 for their first MySpace account. Many average citizens still use MySpace daily. I know, this sounds like science fiction to some of you readers, even a bit archaic. Truth being told, it really is not. While many of you that are reading this have grasped the simple social networks and media tools such as twitter easily, there are many in the mainstream that are just getting on board.

Why is this webmail on MySpace a good thing? Since there are many first timers being introduced to social networking, they will want things to be easy and familiar. Webmail is likely one of those familiarities and something they have been introduced too as well as understand. Personally speaking, I seem to benefit from being able to look at this objectively from both sides.

I would add that it is also a hook to make sure that once snagged the user they don’t have any reason to go elsewhere. do you really think that Facebook copied Twitter and allows traffic between the two out of the kindness of its heart? I seriously doubt it, rather it is a case of “hey we let you send to Twitter from Facebook so you don’t need to go to their service anymore – you can stay right here”.

It doesn’t behove any of these services to have interoperability – not really. But it does make them look good to appear to do so because it keeps the early adopters off their backs and gives the new members even less reason to leave. As I said on Twitter earlier

why does it seem that the more we talk about Myspace, Facebook et al we seem to be returning to days of AOL, Prodigy, Compuserve, MSN 32 minutes ago from blu

On the one hand these social networks are all trying to give the appearance of being open and sharing with everyone else in the social media world but at the same time every move they make only seems to be building up the silo walls a little higher.

Apple Store: No More Facebook For You

JR — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:52:44 +0000

Apple has put the kibosh on Facebook usage in its U.S. retail stores, according to recently published online reports.

Apparently, Facebook surfing was eating up too much computer time in Apple Stores. It’s a similar situation to the MySpace ban imposed at Apple Stores back in 2007. At that time, Apple explained the decision with the following statement:

“Nearly 2 million people visit Apple stores every week. We want to provide everyone a chance to test-drive a Mac, so we are no longer offering access to MySpace in our stores.”

Apple Store employees said customers would loiter “for hours” while using the social networking site.

It’s interesting that it took nearly two years for Facebook to become a big enough problem to warrant the same action. The latest stats from HitWise might offer some explanation: From January of 2008 to January of 2009, Facebook’s total market share within social networks doubled, shooting from 15 percent to 31 percent. MySpace, in the meantime, shrunk from 73 percent in ‘08 to 57 percent in ‘09.

The question, then, is what site will get the next Apple Store ban. Any predictions?

MySpace sex offenders migrating to Facebook

Duncan Riley — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:07:09 +0000

Some of the 90,000 sex offenders banned from MySpace have headed to Facebook, according to an expert.

Internet security firm Sentinel have found over 8,000 known sex offenders on Facebook, and believe the true number could be as high as 100,000.

John Cardillo from Sentinel told The Sun: “We’ve identified and removed 90,000 sex offenders from MySpace, but Facebook could still be a haven for such people. We found 8,487 registered sex offenders on Facebook in just a few days by doing a basic search that any user can access. So that’s a small percentage of what is there.”

“If you look at the size of its community, there could be as many as 100,000 sex offenders or pedophiles on Facebook.”

A Facebook spokesman told the paper that they believe the numbers are an exaggeration, but had removed 4,600 accounts based on data provided to them by Sentinel.

SocialMedia Networks Snags $6 Million

JR — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:28:39 +0000

Social media advertising firm SocialMedia Networks has secured $6 million in fresh funding this Friday. The Series B dough comes from IDG Ventures SF and Charles River Ventures.

SocialMedia Networks serves ads in about 5,000 different applications on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and Hi5. It claims to be the Internet’s largest independent social media advertising network.

The new funding will go toward expanding the company’s Chicago, New York, and international sales teams.

SocialMedia Networks has been around since 2007.

SocialMedia Networks

Meebo Unveils Support For MySpace and Facebook IM

JR — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:33:40 +0000

Meebo is on quite a roll this year. The messaging service announced a deal Friday in which it’ll bring Facebook and MySpace IM capabilities into its meebo.com interface. It’s the first company to offer such an option and may actually give some value to the social networks’ until now rather restrictive IM offerings.

Starting today, you can set up a Meebo account and communicate with both MySpace and Facebook friends from a single interface. Meebo also already supports AIM, Yahoo IM, MSN, Gtalk, and ICQ, among other platforms. It doesn’t require any program download to use its services, either.

The move follows a string of other successes in recent months. Meebo launched a partnership with Universal Music just weeks ago that’s brought videos by artists such as Kanye West and The Killers into its site. The deal also puts Meebo chat rooms on those artists’ own sites and social network profiles. A month earlier, Meebo signed on to handle all the chat rooms on Comedy Central’s election night Web site. The company introduced an Android IM app shortly before that.

Meebo currently claims 40+ million users and 5+ billion messages a month. It was founded just over three years ago and is based in Silicon Valley.

Meebo

Drunken Pirate or college degree – which do you pick?

Steven Hodson — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:45:01 +0000

Sarah Perez has a post over on ReadWriteWeb that has been kind of bothering me for most of the day. The way the story goes is this

woman goes to a party
woman puts on a pirate hat
woman has a picture of herself taken drinking while wearing a pirate hat – a toy one at that
woman posts said picture to her MySpace page with the title Drunken Pirate
at the same time said woman posts a note alluding to a strained relationship with a supervising teacher
the University she was attending decides that she shouldn’t get her degree in education
woman sues
woman loses
woman says her First Amendment rights have been violate.

Okay .. got the picture?

Now here’s the problem I am having. Everything I have read so far has been pushing this whole idea that it’s because of some stupid picture on MySpace that ruined her chances at getting her teaching degree. What isn’t being taken into account are the reports of the note regarding her teaching supervisor. I haven’t been able to find out what exactly was said in that note but to discount it as a possible reason – or one of the reasons for her situations is ignoring some possible facts.

As well, of all the articles I read only one made mention of the fact that this woman had already been criticized for her competence and professionalism, not to mention generally bad evaluations. Why couldn’t this have been the reason for her not getting her teaching degree?

It seems to me that in this case social media is being used as a handy scapegoat by both parties in the matter. To say it was just because of some picture is irresponsible. At the very best such a picture might have gotten a reprimand with a lecture on professional conduct – it does not however equal ruining a person’s career.

However having bad evaluations or having your competence questioned is grounds for not getting a degree. To cloud over the whole issue with things like Myspace photos; which was admittedly a stupid thing to do, is ridiculous. It may have provided additional ammunition for the university to not give her an education degree but in of itself I don’t think it was the whole reason.

The fact that this woman then tried to couch it in First Amendment rights though is equally insulting. She did something stupid maybe by posting the picture but it was her actions in the classroom that more than likely saw her with just an English degree instead.

It seems though that once any social media angle surfaces these days it is either the cause or the solution to some problem. Well, as nice as that might be for the press, I greatly doubt that is the case here. Sometimes a duck is just that – a duck. In this case a woman was an incompetent teaching student that didn’t deserve a degree that would let her teach our children.

End of story.

[pic courtesy of The Smoking Gun]

Lindsay Lohan Continues To Slam Beakup Rumors

Meieli Sawyer — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:06:20 +0000

Lindsay Lohan has addressed rumors of her breakup with Samantha Ronson, this time on her MySpace. We asked for more info, and we got it. This was characteristically succinct for Linds, but as long as it’s not drunk blogging, we’re happy! Lindsay mentioned the status of her love life earlier today, saying:

“oy vey! rumors..

just to clear this up.. because i have been getting a lot of emails asking me this one question.

samantha ronson and lindsay lohan (me) are NOT breaking up

take care
xxLL”

Drama! At least Lindsay was defending her relationship, because Samantha Ronson was busy talking about “dealing with a car battery that’s dead.” We’ll give Sam a break, because she was all preoccupied with beating the “dipsh*t” she thought was going to try to sell photos of her with her broken down car.

MySpace Suicide verdict: Lori Drew guilty of lesser charges

Duncan Riley — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:50:39 +0000

A Federal Jury in Los Angeles hearing the MySpace suicide case has found Lori Drew guilty of three minor offenses.

The MySpace Suicide made headlines last year after it was disclosed that a Missouri teenager Megan Meier hanged herself after being tricked into a fake relationship with a fictitious boy on MySpace. Lori Drew, the mother of a school rival of Megan Meier was posing as the boy.

The result wasn’t all good news: the jury could not reach a verdict on a conspiracy count, and U.S. District Court Judge George Wu declared a mistrial on the charge reports AP. It’s not clear at this stage whether a new trial will be held to rehear those charge. If later found guilty of conspiracy, Drew could face 20 years in jail.

Instead the jury found Lori Drew guilty of three counts of accessing a computer without authorization, with a maximum 3 year sentence possible and up to a $300,000 fine. Sentencing has not yet been decided.

Obviously its unfortunate they didn’t get all four to stick, but at least some justice has been had.

(img credit: The Age)