If you haven’t heard by now, Lori Drew was indicted. Indicted for what and who is Lori Drew? Lori Drew is a 49 year old woman. Probably someone you would think was finished with high school games like having your friend call the boy you like to see what he says or perhaps orchestrating a plan so all of the girls at school will be mean to one particular girl to get back at her for something she did. However, seems like Ms. Drew is still susceptible to high school games and look where that led her. An indictment with one count of conspiracy and three counts of unauthorized computer access.
Why is this indictment important? It’s important because it is shining a harsh light on the Internet world and the cruel people that sometimes live in it. Ms. Drew, along with her own daughter and a friend no less ( I will refer to them as the “Bully Crew”), allegedly took it upon themselves to create a MySpace account and have it belong to “Josh Evans”, a fictitious character meant to build a relationship with a woman by the name of Megan Meier. I should mention that Megan was 16 and also attended school with Ms. Drew’s daughter. Should we cover it again that Ms. Drew is 49 and Megan is 16. Now that we have that straight, there was correspondence between Ms. Meier and “Josh Evans” on MySpace — of course, “Josh” really being the Bully Crew, until the conversation took the wrong turn in that “Josh” told Megan to leave him alone and basically said Megan had no reason to be on this earth (although there is speculation as to whether that message was ever sent to Ms. Meier). Unfortunately Ms. Meier committed suicide shortly thereafter receiving the news that “Josh” wanted to end the relationship. As a result of Ms. Meier’s death, Ms. Drew is now being indicted. Let it be clear that my prayers go out to Ms. Meier’s family and I do hope they are doing ok.
Who is right in this situation? All I can see in my mind is Ms. Drew wearing a witch hat as she instructed her daughter and friend to write the messages to Ms. Meier’s MySpace account. Should MySpace have some liability? Is Ms. Drew simply being made an example? It seems that MySpace is exonerated from liability, most likely shielded because they cannot be forced to monitor every single user on their site and they do have several warnings regarding the use of the site, specifically the manner in which someone should create an account. The idea is that Ms. Drew breached MySpace’s contract by creating a false identity when she and her cohorts created “Josh Evans”. Aren’t there people on MySpace now with alter egos, fake names or companies that claim to be huge when really it is 2 guys sitting in their living room? However, does it really hurt anyone when the 2 guys in their living room pretend to be a big company on MySpace? Where do you start and stop that argument? The difference in this case is that there was some real harm done by the creation of the false identity. On an aside, I still think you should be honest about what you do regardless but if two guys (or girls) in a living room want to make their MySpace page reflect their company is bigger than it really is, there is nothing wrong with a little ambition, just don’t get anyone to give you money based on your representations that are not exactly accurate.
In any event, the bigger issue Ms. Drew’s attorney(s) will most likely raise is the fact that Ms. Meier suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder and depression. Someone looking at this situation might say Ms. Meier was “pre-disposed” to some mental issues and regardless of Ms. Drew’s actions, there was potential for Ms. Meier to commit an act against herself regardless. However, in tort law (the law that governs civil wrongs against others that do not arise out of a contractual nature), you take the victim of the wrongdoing as you find him/her. To that end, regardless of Ms. Meier’s psychological history, Ms. Drew needed to be prepared for the consequences of her actions as the law will not make special exceptions simply because Ms. Meier potentially seemed pre-disposed to a certain type of behavior. In a nutshell, Ms. Drew’s team might claim a different 16 year old would have “gotten over it” so this situation isn’t her fault but that claim won’t hold up. Ms. Meier’s previous mental state should be disregarded when considering the liability here.
Proving that Ms. Drew did something wrong is going to be an interesting battle as there are not any definitive laws surrounding her behavior but this case is another great step in the right direction socially. The right direction in that even in cyberspace there have to be rules and they have to be enforced. People can have equally as much malicious intent when dealing in the Internet world as they have in real life. You can’t bully people in real life without consequences so this should be treated the same way. The liability is equally as big in both places. Everyone should have the right to say what they want but we are starting a continually growing movement by showing that if you want to be in cyberspace, no bullying allowed. I am sure Ms. Drew never considered her actions would result in such a tragedy but too bad. Do what you please online but don’t stalk, harass or bully others around you or deal with the consequences.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/145961/missouri_woman_charged_in_cyberbully_case.html
Let's make the law entertaining, shall we? 
