Is being cruel online illegal?


	Is being cruel online illegal?

Victoria Barret

6-17-2008 11:06 AM

1112 views

tags:

anonymity online, cybercrime

Victoria Barret says:

The case of Megan Meier, who committed suicide last year - is testing new, very interesting legal ground that has previously been used against hackers.

1 Comment |

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6-17-2008 11:21 AM

skwirlinator

This is local news
I think that she was unstable in the first place but the actions of the harrassment were wrong as well.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/7345c1de-d438-4f42-9a3c-192465a50819/A54ABBFD-1893-47A7-8B5C-042A8C0AD42B/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20080616-1207-ca-internetsuicide.html" href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20080616-1207-ca-internetsuicide.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.signonsandiego.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20080616-1207-ca-internetsuicide.html"><P>
Lonergan, who used the statute in the past to file charges in computer hacking and trademark theft cases, said the crimes covered by the law involve obtaining information from a computer, not sending messages out to harass someone.
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Drew's lawyer has said he will legally challenge the charges. And experts have said the case could break new ground in Internet law. The statute used to indict Drew usually applies to Internet hackers who illegally access accounts to get information.
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James Chadwick, a Palo Alto attorney who specializes in Internet and media law, said he has never seen the statute, known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, applied to the sending of messages.
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He said it was probable that liability for the girl's death would not be an issue in the case. “As tragic as it is,” he said, “You can't start imposing liability on people for being cruel.”
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