Today, a Los Angeles jury acquitted [Lori Drew] of three felony computer hacking charges. She was convicted of three misdemeanor counts for accessing a computer without authorization. The 49-year-old Missouri resident posed as a teenage boy on MySpace and harassed her daughter’s estranged friend [Megan Meier], who then committed suicide. The case came to our attention in May because of it’s unorthodox use of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Prosecutors charged that by violating MySpace’s Terms of Service, [Drew] had gained unlawful access to their computers for the purpose of harming others, an equivalent to computer hacking. While an interesting approach to cyberbullying, it would set a very dangerous precedent for anyone that had violated a TOS before (all of us). The case broke when [Drew]‘s employee [Ashley Grills] testified that no one involved had read the TOS, that the hoax was all her idea, and that she sent the final message to [Meier].

The computer fraud and abuse act was written primarily to target hackers who break into private networks to steal or destroy information, but prosecutors will argue that by willfully violating the MySpace user agreement, Drew’s access to the site was not authorized and thus an illegal intrusion.

The ramifications for a typical user may reach further than website TOS violations though; if for example, you have an unprotected wireless network at home or in your office, it could be a violation of the agreement with your ISP. Right now an ISP could cut your service, but if a new precedent is set, you could be charged with fraud.

If you’re a user of a social network, though, you may already be a guilty of what would be felony offenses. The major social networks all include a clause in their TOS agreements against using libelous, slanderous, or defamatory content. What’s more, if convicted of even one offense, the maximum penalty under the expanded law is 10 years of incarceration. Since Drew is being tried on two counts, she is facing a maximum of 20 years for these charges alone.

The decision to invoke the law has been criticized by many legal experts, suggesting that it creates a slippery slope where even people running a home eBay business or checking sports scores at work can be prosecuted.

[via Acidus]