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].
this is a victory for all of us that have ever left a hateful comment on the internet.
assholes rejoice!
While I think that what she did, especially when it ended in suicide, was a very bad thing to have done, I am glad that she was acquitted because the legal precedent that Terms of Service are legally enforcable could have some bad effects.
good, bitchcraft isn’t a crime
Just out of curiosity, who has ever read the entire TOS for a website before signing up / using it?
I agree: Stupid bitch, but it’s misuse of laws and whether or not we like the person we shouldn’t have a different stance- I hate people who have doubel standards. recently, there has been a PETA game that criticizes Cooking mama- gamers rushed to say how they should ‘sue’ for copyright infringement, but they will be quick to defend the latest mario fangame they like to play (which usually ISNT in fairuse or parody)
Now let’s hope there’s going to be a follow up civil suit focusing on the real issue and charging her with inciting suicide.
i really don’t understand why is this in hackaday…
I told you, they hire these new writers, and we get a bunch of crap
While I am glad that the ANTI-WEB crowd will not have ammo with this woman, what she did was cruel. Maybe she was abused when she was young, but how much fun was she having playing on this yound girls dreams, and then smashing them. We should all now have LORI DREW moments, where we don’t have to be responsible for our actions. bWow, what a role model, and model of society. This is every bit what is wrong with WEB 2.0 Social networking.
This is a awesome hack ill try it later on…
/sarcasm
notta hack.. you people fail.. I can’t replicate your hack.
fire your new employees.. they fail at understanding the difference between a story with the word “hacking” and “hacking” in practise.
not fox news.
not nbc.
notta hack.
While not a hack this article pertains to anyone that hacks any item or software. What it comes down to is the terms of service. She was being sued for violating the terms of service. If she was found guilty the ramifications would be great for anyone that reverse engineered something to make it better. Where do you think any “clone” comes from? reverse engineering people. Start actually reading before bitching about something that really does pertain to you.
Myspace should add a “no suicide” rule to their TOS.
I think that Lori Drew did nothing wrong. And other sites saying wow she had ADD and depression…oook so do most teenagers, what makes her different? Oh yeah she killed herself probably because of other issues. She wasn’t even old enough to have an account, and the worst part is her parents knew!!! So parents were involved in both ends, both violated terms of use. She hanged herself because she was obviously emotional and her parents didn’t do anything. Or they told her to stop writing this person and she got upset. makes me angry to see stupid parents.
“She died the next day. Her father said he found a message the next day from Josh, which he said law enforcement authorities have not been able to retrieve. It told the girl she was a bad person and the world would be better without her, he has said.” suuure, they’re trying to cover up that they did something.
I’m glad this is on hackaday. I never would have heard anything about this otherwise, and yes it is relevant.
the thing that alwayse broke my brain about this thing was nothing to do with the legality, or the viciousness of the act, but just the simple idea that this grown woman seemed to have nothing better to do than fuck with some kid.
What an evil bitch.
Social order discussion always reminds me of when I was hated because I never did work, but never failed a grade.
Cool kids are working in the IT industry now though, so I guess smart kids don’t get beat up AS MUCH anymore in school.
Oh wait, this chic committed suicide because her mom pretended to be a guy who didn’t care if she liked him in the first place; never mind all the above.
Man. Where’s Dexter when you need him?
“Just out of curiosity, who has ever read the entire TOS for a website before signing up / using it?”
Totally. when my credit card company raised the rate on me, i was all like, “you can’t do that!” and they tried to pull some crap about it being in the credit card agreement i signed. I just told them that I don’t read that stuff and hung up the phone. those guys are jerks.
If you people don’t like the articles posted on this site then gtfo of this site. Everything posted here is under the discretion and decision of the webmaster. You have no right to tell them if they can or cannot post an article because it’s “not a hack”. The description of this site is “hack a day serves up fresh hacks each day, every day from around the web and a special how-to hack each week.”. This does not mean they will not post non-hack related news, just that they will post a hack each day. Looks to me like the day’s hack quota’s been filled. Shut the fuck up and get off the site now if you disagree
Seems a bit like a CSI plot, except now they’d uncover that the suicide was infact a murder as they found that woman’s epithelials on the rope.
What the hell is wrong with you people? An innocent victim of bullies took her life at 13 years old. All because the “mom” of someone else didn’t have the balls to just ask a simple fucking questions. This is wrong, everything about it is wrong and now another innocent life is taken for senseless reasons.
This doesn’t sound like “hacking” to me.
Thanks for the article. It was a topic I was interested in, and I did not see it on any other site that I visit.
Thanks.
Eternal Rest grant unto her O’ Lord.
Let perpetual light shine upon her
May she Rest In Peace.
You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog.
there never are winners in a situation like this. Everyone loses.