MySpace is one of a number of companies that are believed to have been subpoenaed as part of the ongoing investigation into the death of Megan Meier.
For those not familiar with the case, 13 year old Megan Meier committed suicide after she received “cruel” messages on MySpace allegedly from the mother of a school rival who was posing as a 16 year old boy in October 2006.
The case drew international headlines last year as authorities investigated whether it was possible to charge those involved with harassment. However the local investigation was dropped as Missouri law did not cover online harassment (but did cover other forms of harassment).
According to a New York Times report, the new case comes from the Federal level and is investigating whether the use of a false identity could be considered Internet fraud under federal statutes.
Whilst it’s easy to say go get’em in this case (and personally I hope they do given the circumstances,) any ruling that using a false identity online constitutes a federal felony as internet fraud could have a chilling effect for online anonymity depending on how the court rules. Definitely a case to watch.
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Committing fraud (by way of using false identity) is not consider fraud?? Interesting concept..
>Committing fraud (by way of using false identity) is not consider fraud??
Committing fraud (by way of using false identity) is not considered fraud??
TC need some editability for commenters
This is a case to be watching indeed. I wonder if MySpace will be held liable.
Making a false identity is not the problem clearly.
The problem is using false identities for crime. Clearly in this case, the culprits must be brought in the front of the law.
Tenchnicle
the question is whether using an identity other than your own (ie a handle/nick…like you) could constitute fraud does have ramifications. As I said in the post, it depends on how far they make the ruling. Essentially though this is a case of very, very nasty trolling, there was no financial fraud or what most people would probably normally consider to be fraud involved.
Niyaz PK
I agree that they should be bought to justice 100%, I’m just concerned about how the interpretation by the court might work out. Wikipedia’s first line on fraud reads like this:
“a fraud is a deception made for personal gain”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud
usually that means money/financial gain as another line of the entry says:
“In criminal law, fraud is the crime or offense of deliberately deceiving another in order to damage them – usually, to obtain property or services unjustly”
Boils down to what constitutes “false identity”… nickname/tradename obviously not, but a 71 yr old person posting as a 17 yr old kid in an opposite sex.. seems quite clear, no?…
Technicle
true to some extent, which is why I note it depends on how they rule. Your example wouldn’t be fraud though (well presuming the kid was under 16 at least in Australia), it would be soliciting a minor which is totally different again.
myspace provides the msg sharing service. It should not take response to other things.
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http://www.bywifi.com — Mobile Transcoding of Videos and Web Pages for Mobile Phone and PDA
Hmmm.. ok let’s wait for the verdict
I think while using net we should be careful and should not provide our all details. We must believe upto only a particular level for any net correspondence.
why would a healthy (mentally and physically) girl kill herself because of a message she receives on the myspace? lets pick a hundred 13 year old kids and send them whatever messages thru myspace and see how many of them kills themselves. parents are responsible for this death. if they see their child is not okay, they should take care of her, spend more time, take to other relatives who have same age kids. not leave her infront of computer where hundred of sick maniacs can contact her and make her already troubled mind even worse.
Megan was clinically depressed and had been diagnosed with depression. And even then, the other girl’s mother did horrible deeds and she even got her co-workers in on it! What she did should earn her years in prison, unfortunately the law does not agree.
I think it is time that laws to deal with online crimes like stalking, and harassment like spam and hate mail be made seriously.
http://tekno-world.blogspot.com
this is the bad side of the net…
Actually enforceability aside… As a Devil’s Advocate - would limiting anonymity on the internet actually be that bad? Keep in mind, privacy and anonymity are two fairly separate things…
Oops, I second a need to edit.
*Actual enforceability
I had not idea about the case … apparently I live under a rock … when my wife told me some of the details I did not know what to say. I was horrified. What does exactly mean a “school rival”? A rival of what? What was the lady next door thinking? I have done some stupid stuff in my days … well … OK .. every so often … but driving somebody to commit suicide? In my opinion they committed murder.
Particulars aside, there is a larger issue at stake and this is just one more aspect of it. The larger issue is personal freedoms and how little by little those personal freedoms are eroded, either because of terrorism or some idiot driving a teen to suicide.
James (17) I support anonymity but the problem with it is that people are not responsible with it and use it as a cover for all sort of activities, from the stupid to the bad, and some good too. So, why would you restrict my ability to remain anonymous because other people use it for illicit or stupid stuff. Again, it has to do with the personal freedoms issues. I know … tough issue.
Guilty or Not Guilty… Hmmm, very interesting! Keep us posted on this Techcrunch.
Nhick
http://www.itrush.com
I agree with 13. If she was mentally I’ll, she shouldn’t be on MySpace unsupervised. It’s like letting a blind person play on the freeway.
…and no talk of the new MySpace homepage styling.
When facebook removed the “is” from their status update field I believe TC had at least 2-3 posts dedicated to it.
“Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.”
That is what I was raised to believe. Of course, I was also raised to believe in personal responsibility.
Maybe we could of a www for the fascists?
Free speech is a core principle in the US and if we lose it, I am moving. I just don’t know where yet…
There’s a difference between anonymity and using a false identity since there is nothing deceptive about being anonymous. Although the content of your comments may be deceptive or untrue, the fact you are not stating your name is not. On the other hand, using a false identity to mislead or harm others is a problem and should be subject to liability or punishment.
This case is heartbreaking. Everyone can imagine someone or a scenario where this could of happened to them or someone they know. I feel for the parents and only hope that something like this doesn’t happen again. It will be interesting to see how the courts handle the situation.
This is quite a sad case, and just around the corner from where I live here in the STL. Should be interesting on whether or not MySpace can be sued this way. A young life ended tragically, but when people die, justice is not always served.
Rex
How about you just don’t let 13 year olds on myspace? Didn’t they use to have a 18+ requirement a couple years ago?
If this had occurred over the AIM service, would they be going after AOL? What if it happened over the phone? would they go for Verizon or T-Mobile? It just seems ridiculous to go after a service provider instead of the actual offenders.
Yeah, let’s implement archaic policing all over the interweb because some irresponsible parents let their obviously unstable kid get on the internet.
Someone should be held responsible, HER PARENTS!
Irresponsible parenting is an obvious cause in this case but not on the part of the victim, does anyone remember that it was the mother of a “school rival” that falsely posed as a 16 year old to send cruel messages to the victim? Besides the fact that I think the victim’s parents should have been more involved, I also overwhelmingly think that the woman should MOST DEFINITELY be punished, because that was sick.
@28: No one knows, because the US Attorney’s Office has just begun their probe, but speculation is that the USAO is pursuing MySpace as the VICTIM, not the offender. In other words, the USAO may bring forth a case saying that Lori Drew perpetrated a fraud against MySpace.
Why is everyone saying the victim’s parents were irresponsible? Have you guys forgotten most of the details already?
The parents were, unfortunately in this case, being *quite responsible*, which may have been what put Megan Meier over the edge.
When they went to check up on Megan the day she killed herself, she had just sent the fictional MySpace “Josh Evans” a message chock full of grade-A obscenities.
The parents, being parents, immediately went, “No! Bad! You don’t send those kinds of messages to people!” or whatever it is they said (the articles don’t really say other than Megan was chastised for her behavior). Megan kills herself shortly after.
There’s a possibility that her parents rebuke was just enough to put her over the edge when you think about it. She’s already upset and depressed after her exchange with “Josh Evans.” And then her parents tell her she shouldn’t be talk to someone like that — which is how she’s been talked to by Josh Evans.
Maybe, in her mind, she felt cornered, that nobody was on “her side” anymore?
It’s unfortunate that it had to end with Megan Meiers being dead.
I find it odd that the state’s prosecutors could not press charges on the neighbors harassing a mentally unstable minor, even if was done online.
There are several ways in which they could have approached the case to proceed, and the fraud aspect, which the federal government is now studying, is just one way.
I really hope the federal charges are upcoming to provide some degree of deterrent from people thinking of doing the exact same thing what the neighbors in this case did.
That said, the case is also a stark reminder to parents, as if there was a need for another example, to monitor and manage their underage children’s net usage.
All I have to say is: bitches be crazy!!!
Hello,
this is a silly place to put comment about how it was the 13 year old girls parents fault. no one here can imagine the thought of losing your child that way? and you have the guts and the balls to publicly announce that is was her parents fault. Maybe the woman insulting her and poseing as a 16 year old boy should be to blame do ya think?????
that angers me so much i cant believe the society we live in today when i young girls life is taken and people want to blame her parents it just sickens me.
and the fact that a grown woman needs to make horrible comments to a young girl and not be an adult about it and go to her parents and talk about the problems …….you know you live in 2008 when a life can be taken over something said on a computer…..
all the people on here saying it her parents fault…you sicken me
They had a great law and order based on this case.
this might sound harsh, but the root of the problem is the parents for not teaching her emo-prone kid to not take things on the net seriously. “o noez, kids are making fun of me, let me cut myself.” come on people, dont get caught up in the emotion and really sit down and think what the real problem is.
yeah im pretty sure that the lady should have got a higher charge then what she recieved. A little girl lost her life, and never truly got to live the life to its full potential, all because of that selfish woman. I think that she should have gotten jail time. This lady still has her life. and this little girl will never be able to live, speak, or breathe again.