MySpace suicide hoax case closes: Mom guilty of 3 misdemeanors

One of the more distasteful web-centric stories in the last few years is the case of the 13-year-old Megan Meier, who was romanced and then abruptly dumped by a boy via the MySpace social networking service. In the end, it turns out there was no boy on the other end of the line, but rather a 49-year-old woman named Lori Drew, who was the mother of one of Megan's ex-friends. Megan didn't know that, though, when she hanged herself, distraught by the whole affair.

A little over a year later, the case has come to a close: The verdict, Drew has been found guilty of three misdemeanors, all involving violations of the terms of service agreement with MySpace, which in part prohibits using phony identities on the site. Drew was cleared on felony charges -- or at least not convicted; the jury failed to reach a verdict either way on one count of conspiracy.

Curiously, observers on both sides of the case are largely unhappy with the result. Many advocates wanted to see Drew found guilty of something that would make her culpable for Meier's death: According to reports she clearly knew that Meier suffered from depression. A grand jury indicted her on four counts this summer, the total of which could have earned her 20 years in prison. However, with the misdemeanor verdicts, she's unlikely to see any jail time at all.

But Drew's defender successfully argued that the case had nothing to do with murder but with computer crime, and a minor one at that. (Who hasn't created a fake identity online somewhere or told a lie via message board?) But that tactic has computer rights advocates up in arms as well. Why? Because now there's legal precedent that makes terms of service agreements legally enforceable. Has anyone ever not broken a Terms of Service agreement? Has anyone even read one all the way through? Theoretically, you could now be prosecuted -- criminally -- for using a phony email address or phone number when you register at a website (whether or not anyone died as a result), and with a precedent like the Drew case, the charges would stick.

The upshot: No one's altogether happy with the way things turned out. Except, perhaps, Lori Drew, who'll have her conscience to contend with after that slap on her wrist finally heals.