I am shocked the Lori Drew case actually went to trial – opening statements took place yesterday. I wrote about this case back in August:
The Lori Drew case is a case full of disgusting facts – appalling adult behavior (on all sides) contributed to circumstances that drove a young girl to suicide. One of those adults is now being prosecuted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for violating the MySpace.com terms of use agreement. That’s right, Federal prosecutors are trying to treat not complying with those ridiculous click-through agreements on nearly every web site you use as a crime. Thankfully not everyone is losing their mind over this (horrible) situation, and the EFF, Public Citizen, and others have stepped in with an amicus brief demonstrating just what a bad idea this is.
I haven’t followed things closely, but given what a stretch it is to apply the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to these facts, I assumed it was going to settle. Because truly, who would expect we were about to move into a world that made it a Federal crime to fill out a website user registration form with anything other than your true and personal information. And yet we’ll take a big step toward that being the case if Lori Drew is convicted. And with the facts being presented to the jury, I think that’s a very real possibility.
More background on the case itself here.
Silence Dogood
This is the sort of shit that causes people to end up blaming activists judges who step up and act as a voice of judicial reason.
MB
That’s exactly right. At least this isn’t in state (i.e., almost certainly elected judge) court. I want to take a closer look at the law and presentation before I use stronger language, but this strikes me as a very poor reflection upon the discretion allowed prosecutors.