US: Cyber-Bullying Trial Begins

MB November 20, 2008, 10:23 am

A 49-year-old woman has gone on trial in the United States accused of cyber-bullying which led a teenage Missouri girl to hang herself in 2006. The woman, Lori Drew, who is said to have posed as a teenage boy on the MySpace social networking site, is being charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

The Act is intended to punish hackers and fraudsters but is being used in this case because prosecutors in Missouri were unable to find legislation to cover what had taken place.

Drew is accused of befriending 13-year-old Megan Meier online in the guise of 16-year-old ‘Josh Evans’ and sending taunting messages to the vulnerable girl, which culminated in an email which said the world would be a better place without Megan Meier. Shortly afterwards, Meier committed suicide at her home in St Louis, Missouri.

Prosecutor Thomas O’Brien told the six-man, six-woman jury that said the evidence would show that Ms Drew opened the online account and “fully intended to hurt and prey on Megan’s psyche”.

“Her purpose was to tease Megan Meier, to tease her, to humiliate her and to hurt her,” he said.

“The defendant knew Megan Meier was depressed, suicidal and boy-crazy,” he added as the trial got underway at a US District Court in California.

The case is being prosecuted in Los Angeles because Fox Interactive, the owner of MySpace, is based in Beverly Hills.

Read more about the issue of cyber-bullying at the Megan Meier Foundation website, which has been set up by Megan’s mother Tina.

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Categorised as: USA Tagged as: cyber-bullying, Fox Interactive, Lori Drew, Megan Meier, Megan Meier Foundation, Missouri, MySpace, Tina Meier

US: Cyber-Bullying Trial Begins

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