Report: MySpace issued subpoena in teen suicide case

The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that social network MySpace was issued a subpoena in the investigation of a 13-year-old girl's 2006 suicide that involved harassment through a fabricated profile on the News Corp.-owned site. The article also said that "witnesses in the case" had additionally received subpoaenas.

Representatives from MySpace were not immediately available for comment or confirmation. The social network is no stranger to court orders, having been subpoenaed by multiple state attorneys general last year over sex offender concerns.

But the tragic case of Megan Meier's suicide is a very different situation; my colleague Ina Fried has been following the issue closely on her Beyond Binary blog. Meier, who had a history of depression, hanged herself after a falling out with someone named "Josh" whom she thought was a 16-year-old boy on MySpace. As it turns out, "Josh" didn't exist; the persona was created by a number of adults, including a woman named Lori Drew, the mother of one of Meier's former friends, specifically to harass the girl.

But no charges have been filed yet, despite the efforts of local and state authorities in Meier's home state of Missouri. The Times article reported that it is still not clear as to who actually created the fictional account--this is something that cooperation from MySpace could help reveal. Sources who spoke to the Times anonymously said that the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, where MySpace is headquartered, is looking at charging Lori Drew with defrauding MySpace by creating the fake profile.

In November, Meier's hometown of Dardenne Prairie, Mo. passed a law banning online harassment. Offenders can face up to 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both.

[ja-boo]

im shocked at these people

i cant believe how far someone will go just to see if there (or there kid) is being talked about if ur being talked about big deal grow up and for that family to come up and say hey it was us and not really be sorry about it thats messed up right there they need to be put in jail locked up for LIFE!!! i cant even begin to think what all they have put this little girls family thro AND FOR ME TO BE HER AGE that just kills me it makes me sick what they did

[Leria]

I have to agree

I try not to talk about someone behind their back and usually I am the one defending someone else's actions from someone else attacking them (most specifically, my mother), but I have on occasion done so.<br /><br />I though that I was paranoid about people doing that (always have it in my mind that people talking just out of my hearing are talking about me) but this is going too far.<br /><br />I don't think that these people deserve to be in prison for life (that is the one thing that I disagree with) but I do think that they need some sort of punishment, though they are really getting that from the community because no one wants anything to do with the woman in question or her family or anyone else connected with this.

[daftkey]

Jail for life?

Wow. I couldn't tell from your typing that you were a MySpace dweller.<br /><br />I agree though - it's despicable that some adults have lowered themselves to harassing a little girl in the way that these people have. <br /><br />I don't believe that they are guilty of anything more than petty mischief, however - all they did was pose as a teenage boy and trick her into thinking she had a friend. They didn't string up the belt in her closet and hang her from it - she did that herself.

[Major_Woody]

What a Joke!

The Feds plan on charging the mother with 'defrauding' MySpce by making a bogus profile?? What a Joke!! I guess I and millions of other guys who live in their mother's basements had better watch out, too. After all, I would not want to be accused of defrauding MySpace with my "25 yr old, single, athletic-build, millionaire's" profile.<br /><br />How can you defraud someone who gives their service away for free? And just how much do you have to lie in your profile to be guilty of defrauding MySpace?<br /><br />This is a real stupid waste of tax dollars. Yes, it is too bad the girl killed herself. But obviously her suicide was NOT a foreseeable consequence of the mother's making the fake MySpace page. The girl obviously had severe mental / emotional problems and her parents were not able to help her. Again, that is too bad. But it is not worth of a full-blown federal investigation!!!!!!!

[daftkey]

Welcome to TV-land

No, but the publicity is worth the investigation. Especially when the bill is footed by the good ol' taxpayers and not by the people looking good on TV by pretending to "do-sum-bow-dis".<br /><br />There are too many people that want to see this couple bear the responsibility for this girl's death - the Feds need to keep their jobs, too.

[Naenia]

Predator

Quote from Lori Drew in the police report she filed as a result of the well-deserved neighborhood harassment of her (found on the smokinggun.com)<br /><br />"the communication became 'sexual for a 13 year old.'"<br /><br />Why is Lori Drew not being charged as a sex predator? Even if Lori herself didn't talk sex, she encouraged it simply by continuing contact with the girl. Sick!

[JRTLover073]

Myspace?

So Myspace is getting a subpoena for what? For the content that was exchanged during the communication? I don't think this is anyone's fault. It sucks that this happened, but a mother should have had more parental control over who her daughter was communicating with on the internet.. especially on Myspace... Maybe some research if emotional feelings get involved with a 13 year old.. Maybe something could been done a little sooner.. I think sites such as Myspace should be used at a person's own risk and in a minors's case the parents own risk... Take some responsibility instead of putting blame on others..

[maldain]

Actually, it's to protect MySpace

MySpace is a service which it's customers though non-paying expect a certain degree of privacy. By requiring a subpoena MySpace is "forced" to give up the data on these predatory adults.<br /><br />I'd like to point out that MySpace hasn't done anything wrong just need the paper work to provide the data on these animals.<br /><br />As for an earlier comment about how parents are supposed to keep an eye on their kids. You're right to a point but when adults are banding together and actively attacking a child they are going to be smart enough to circumvent even the most vigilant parent's supervision. These adults should be charged as child molesters and be tagged as sexual predators. Because that's exactly what they are. There is no difference between them and the garden variety pervert who does the same thing to physically attack a child. And who's to say what was next if this little attack didn't work maybe they would have physically attacked this girl. Sorry, this is one of those topics that gets my goat.

[throwingthunder]

too simple / that's a cop-out

so, would the following analogy be correct? I(an adult) drive recklessly on the road with no regard for other drivers and drive your newly licensed teenager off the road and they are killed. You should be blamed for letting your child drive without enough experience? No, the idea that it's the parents of the child who hanged herself responsibility for not paying attention to who she was online with is only partly true. Internet predators of children (and that is what this situation is) should be held accountable for the results of their actions as well. <br />-------<br />I do not want any governmental body making rules about the internet but any adult who preys on children - on any level - has to be held accountable .

[fatefullynaive]

the Audacity!

I think that Lori Drew, and the other mothers that made up this fabrication, should be punished severely for their childish actions. To make up a false persona of a person, to get back at a little girl, is so incredibly childlike. It really makes you wonder what kind of image, or example are they setting for their own daughters. Those mothers should have to publicly announce what they did to Megan. Although they didn?t hand Megan a noose and force her to kill herself, they did, however, push her in the direction. A young fragile girl like Megan should not have been harassed, let alone by moms that should know right from wrong. How those women can sleep at night knowing that their prank pushed a little girl into suicide, I?ll never know.

[Wookiee-1138]

How are they going to enforce such a law?

"Online harassment" is such a relative concept.

[drukenhard]

Simple solution

Give Megan's parents a presidential pardon for whatever they may <br />do then lock them in a room with the people who drove their <br />daughter to kill herself.<br /><br />THAT would be justice!

[Chaku01]

Responsible but not guilty?

The intention was clearly to harm the already fragile and depressive girl. I am amazed at the fact there are still people out there ignorant about the fact "soft power" is much more powerfull than mere physical violence. The power of words is virtually limitless, all you have to do is find someones weakness, in this case, lack of self esteem and depression, meaning she probably wasn't popular and didn't get boy's attention. Attacking her on this front is just perverted...<br /><br />The mentally ill people called "perverts" that have the intelligence and sensitivity needed, don't need to stab someone to harm them. These people are everywhere although not all are called perverts, it's a matter of how deep their perverted nature is. The worst are those lying perverted bastards that may try to sack you by all means at work or personal life, keeping a respectful profile in public but just hiding teir true nature. The difficulty lies there, if you are the victim you can but difficultly prove that you're being harassed.<br /><br />I don't think the accused here are so subtle, they are just ignorant little people and I really pitty them. They need to be punished in the same way a kid needs to be in order to show them limits. How can you, being a parent yourself, harass a 13 year old girl? Saying they have absolutely no responsibility in this makes no sense, and if they have some responsibility, then they are guilty of something. <br /><br />I've got no respect for them and hope they will live in shame the rest of their lives.

[EmeraldRaiven]

This type of case really gets to me both as an adult and because as a child who was "emotionally unstable". First off how dare adults take it upon themselves to go and act like children, to hurt and cause such damage something that can never be undone. Yes it's clear this girl was in trouble and needed help but who the h*ll would go and do this to a child. I spent most if not all of my younger years crying and upset, wishing I had the courage to end my life because CHILDREN were hurting me. I can't imagine how I would've felt if the adults had turned on me and done this type of thing. I don't want to think about how these people can raise children of there own, these aren't parents they're simply egg &#38; sperm donors. I find these people should be placed in prison for a period of time to be decided by a judge but first and foremost they should never be allowed contact with their own childen. Megan's parents will never get to hold her, kiss her, tell her how much she means to them so why should they be allowed such a privalage!!