Death by MySpace, Revisited

On November 26, 2008, I wrote about the landmark court ruling against Lori Drew who created a bogus MySpace account to cyberbully 13 year old Megan Meier, leading to the young girl's suicide.

According to the New York Times, today, "Judge George H. Wu said that he was tentatively acquitting the woman, Lori Drew, of misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization and that the ruling will be final when he issues his written decision...Judge Wu said that were Ms. Drew’s conviction to stand, anyone who has ever violated MySpace’s terms of service would be guilty of a misdemeanor." Thus, he posits that such a verdict would be a violation of our constitutional rights.

Is Judge Wu smoking crack? While I can see where he is going, not all misdemeanors end in the death of a 13 year old. A suicide no less. This woman aided and abetted in cyberbullying. Megan was of a generation that has never lived without internet. The impact this has on a young psyche is still not well known. This is why new rules regarding internet communication are so important.

We are entering new territory. Nevertheless, to paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., just because we don't see the whole staircase doesn't mean we don't take the first step.

This is one of the reasons why Suzy's Law is so important.

The Afterw@rd