What does MySpace verdict mean for social networking users?

A federal jury in Los Angeles on Wednesday delivered a mixed verdict in the MySpace cyber-bullying trial, convicting a Missouri woman of three misdemeanor charges of computer fraud for creating a phony account on the social networking site that prosecutors said drove a teenage girl to suicide. Lori Drew, 49, faces up to three years in prison and $300,000 in fines but was acquitted of the most serious charges against her.

But the jury is still out on whether social networks are doing enough to protect consumers on their sites, say technology and safety experts.

Social networks are a vulnerable place for children, with cyber-bullying becoming increasingly prevalent, technology consultant Rob Enderle said. One-third of U.S. teenagers have been victims of it, according to a Pew Internet Project study released last year. About 39% of social network users reported being bullied in some way, compared with 22% of teens who did not use social networks.

Read the rest at the Times' Technology blog.

--Jessica Guynn

Comments

[Guardman]

Arnold schwarzenigger perhaps should go to jail too for letting this case go into court, first “TOS” is illegal one has the right to make over themselves and have an AKA lying to government/police authority could land you in jail however myspace is not a government authority what next will they give authority too? Perhaps telephone companies in the future could put you in jail if you fail to pay your bill god forbid you fail to pay your rent and your about to be homeless and the landlord calls the cops to arrest you talk about adding insult to injury, on the bright side if its winter you might have a worm bed and three meals a day for the next six month so as you see “toss” is not healthy for our Constitution, it could open the door to wider problems, the only time it could be crime if under a fake name one breaks the constitution/bill of rights but never for the name change.
today’s clement no one can change there name anymore and start over new without the gov knowing, many artist who gives themselves an AKA name like for instant Bob Dylen could get arrested or be in big in trouble if he had a myspace account and never bother to legally change his name, the question propose is Lori Drew liable for the Childs death and should compensation be awarded for the despicable act or serve time, in my opinion she should not face a day in jail, some might go as far as, even saying compensation violates the constitution, the argument might go something like this “freedom of speech” means to say what you want without fear of jail/retribution, and freedom of expression means to say fire in a movie theater as a joke when there was none, to which lead to someone’s death in a stamped. Or to perform artistically in public/or theater without a cabaret license, and that covers Demation is a form of expression but are kids taught any of these ideas in school? Sadly no!

[bob marley]

wow that sound horrible and you all sound like you guys care what happened. the real story is not that she was driven to scuicide by Lori, but she had issues in school and then killed her self. It just so hapens that "Lori" was sending these messages to her at the time. Now Lori is taking credit for something she did not do.
the end

[daniwitz13]

This is a tricky case with a lot of puzzling conclusions. No one really defines the rules in TOS. They say it is giving false information. But false information of what? Age? Name? Date of birth? What else? Now who is responsible? The owner of the computer? The one that set-up the account, the owner, friend, daughter, the oldest one in the house? The man of the house? The one that sends a message, the one that composed the message, the owner of the computer? Any one in the room when a message is sent? What if a party was going on when the message was sent, 50 people. Charge everyone? At the Drews were Ashley, Sarah, and Mrs. Drew. Why charge Lori, because she's older? Owner of the computer? But she did not sent the message, Ashley did for Sarah and Lori. Is standing in the same room be the reason? I don't think even the prosecutor knows. Now consider this, If unauthorized access is the charge, then Tina Meier should be charged with the same crime. The Meiers violated the same TOS as Lori. (The Megan was only 13 yrs old) The Meiers accessed the Drews computer also with nasty messages also. Because Megan is dead, Tina, the mother is responsible for their broken TOS. Just as she wants to prosecute Lori for. Tina is deflecting her crime (?) by attacking Lori. She is smart. If this trial continues and Tina Meier is not charge with this same identical crime, the charge against Lori should be dropped.

[Ina Hurry]

Judge Wu has not yet ruled on a motion to toss the charges. When the motion for a new trial comes up in late December, Wu will most likely toss the charges, negating this case.

If these verdicts or the charges were allowed to stand it would mean that the Terms Of Service or User Agreements on websites would become laws-- laws that were decided and composed by anyone running a website, rather than by the elected legislature. These would be laws that at best are vague, unclear, overbroad, and vary from site to site.

If it were illegal to follow the Terms of Service, or the instructions on a site, consider these things: It would be illegal to LIE about your age on a matching or dating site. It would probably even be illegal to say you are "fit, active and intelligent," when in fact, you are a couch potato slacker.

The internet is FUN! Let's not let it be wrecked by over-reaching prosecutors.

it seems very immature and mean for these women to tinker with the emotions of this unstable 13-year-old girl.

Was Lori Drew committing computer fraud when she somehow participated in another woman creating a fake persona on myspace? No, not unless you also think computer fraud is being committed by all the people on Match.com that say they are of "athletic build" but are really 30 pounds overweight.

Heck, I put in prayer requests over the internet: What if I am not telling the whole truth or am asking for the wrong things? Is this computer fraud? Am I defrauding the site, or the "people," or God? Or those that believe me and waste their time praying for my false needs?

Oh please, LEAVE THE INTERNET ALONE!

Ps. The name I have posted here is F-A-K-E. Arrest me, PLEASE!

[Louise]

I'd say something about this but am afraid that I might be held liable for it.