User Charged With Felony For Using Fake Name On MySpace

Slashdot ^ | 7/7/8 | ScuttleMonkey

[MeanWestTexan]

Be funnier if you said “My name is Glen” (1 n)

[Las Vegas Ron]

Ayn Rand:

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.

[purpleraine]

Ah..................the rest of the story!

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Well, that would explain it.

[numberonepal]

BTW, does anybody ever really read those user agreements anyway?

I run the content for a heavily traveled web site and the Terms & Conditions pages sometimes have zero hits for weeks on end.

[Gorzaloon]

The criminal justice system has nothing serious to do, I guess.

They just want her really bad. Do a search and see what she did. She impersonated a teenage boy, and pushed a 13-year-old neighbor over the edge and she suicided.

An adult did that because of a Girl Feud.

So one wonders if the little girl were some Freeper's daughter, if perhaps this prosecution is relatively merciful..Without even speculating if it were my little girl.

[purpleraine]

see my 23

[Nathan Zachary]

"Where are the Terms of Service for FR posted?"

Where you sign up and click "agree". You should read that first on any site you sign up to. You should read that before you download and use any "free" software as well. You may inadvertently install spyware on your PC.

[Free Descendant]

I may agree with the broader point that the law is dubious in this case, but Lori Drew is kind of low on my long list of people to weep for. I hope justice (if not the law) is served for this heartless, mean spirited, self absorbed fourty something adolescent.

[misterrob]

Yes there is...

That woman is a vile, evil human being who will have to answer for what she did someday.

[retrokitten]

Here is the background story about Megan Meier.

'My Space' hoax ends with suicide of Dardenne Prairie teen

She told the Meiers that Josh Evans was created by adults, a family on their block. These adults, she told the Meiers, were the parents of Megan's former girlfriend, the one with whom she had a falling out.

[retrokitten]

Be funnier if you said “My name is Glen” (1 n)

LOL! I thought the exact same thing!

[RobRoy]

I remember a quote here on freerepublic:

“I used to know an Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He told me that on his first day on the job, the US Attorney called him into his office and told him to look out the window. Below was a park and dozens of people were walking around. The US Attorney told my friend, ‘You see everyone in that park? They have all committed a federal crime. Your job is to decide who to prosecute.’”

[L98Fiero]

“She impersonated a teenage boy, and pushed a 13-year-old neighbor over the edge and she suicided.”

She didn’t push anyone over any edge and there was no internet bullying. There are laws on the books for both those offenses. The fact that she really did nothing illegal is why these prosecutors are pushing this crap. Oh, it was immoral as hell, but it was no felony.

What people are having a tough time coming to terms with is that a messed up 13-year-old girl could kill herself over a two-week casual but fraudulent internet relationship. Well, she did. The girl was seriously messed up.

Now we have people supporting outlandish legal propositions so they can “get the bitch” who posed as the boy, ramifications be damned.

[RobRoy]

“Seems like a lot of information is missing about this story.”

Yup. And I bet the devil is in the details...

[KarlInOhio]

As per usual, Slashdot is leaving out the rest of the story:

That would be like complaining that John Hinkley Jr. spent 26 years in a mental hospital because of his love for Jodie Foster.

[glide625]

According to my criminal law proffessor, everyone is guilty of something, everyone should serve a little time. In Texas, the Incarceration State, “Lock Up” is big business!

[Gorzaloon]

Now we have people supporting outlandish legal propositions so they can “get the bitch” who posed as the boy, ramifications be damned.

I can assure you if she were my daughter I would do no such thing as supporting outlandish legal propositions.

..Though she was the injuring agency and was in charge, as the supposed adult.

But none of that would matter.

[theBuckwheat]

The Supreme Court has in the past ruled that people have a right to sending anonymous mail. The reason is that requiring truthful names would have a “chilling effect” on otherwise lawful free speech. It should be noted that liberals are experts at petitioning courts on the grounds that some law would have a “chilling effect” on a right.

I would also note that some people on FR are “public persons” and it would destroy their ability to speak or carry out their privates lives if their identity must be made public with their comments.

It also shows that people who value their privacy must become familiar with offshore proxies [1] which have their own pitfalls, or they must use their computer from anonymous wifi service such as found in coffee shops and public places.

[1] http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Software/Internet/World_Wide_Web/Servers/Proxies/

[Arkinsaw]

Yeah, they did.

But, the point is made that you don't twist and stretch the law to "go after" someone who did something at the verge of the law. You set precedents for the rest of us by doing that.

If this was all that they could come up with to charge her with then they should have left her uncharged....and created a law to respond to this bad behavior for the future.