A Missouri woman accused of contributing to a teenager's suicide by creating a fake MySpace account to taunt the girl pleaded not guilty in federal court Monday, according to Reuters and other media sources.
After she was implicated in the hoax aimed at harassing a teenage neighbor, Lori Drew of the St. Louis area was charged with conspiracy and accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress.
The case captured the attention of the blogosphere and the world.
The story first broke in Drew's hometown paper, the St. Charles Journal, a year after the October 2006 death of 13-year-old Megan Meier.
It was a twisted tale of an adolescent girl who was tricked into believing a boy she met on MySpace was her boyfriend and was then crushed when he turned on her. The article said that one night comments by "Josh Evans" became increasingly cruel, and his statement to Meier that "the world would be a better place" without her may have led to her suicide that evening.
Prosecutors say Drew was behind the fictional MySpace account, which she created to find out what Meier was saying about her daughter. The girls had experienced a recent falling-out. Drew was a family friend of the Meiers' and was aware of the teenager's battle with depression, according to reports.
When the story hit national airwaves, angry bloggers got involved, outing Drew's name, address, and phone number on the Internet. While the online community fought their battle against Drew, Missouri prosecutors discovered there was no state law that applied to the case.
Now, state and federal legislatures are working to make so-called cyberbullying a crime. Although state laws didn't apply, Drew was indicted by a federal grand jury in May, months after MySpace and other witnesses were subpoenaed.
Drew will stand trial on July 26, and if convicted, could face up to 20 years in prison.
MySpace continues to wage a legal war on alleged spammers.
An arbitrator has ordered Media Breakaway and Chief Executive Scott Richter to pay the social-networking giant $4.8 million in damages and $1.2 million in legal fees, according to legal filings. The company's employees were also ordered to stay off MySpace.
News Corp.'s MySpace accused Media Breakaway and Richter, who has been accused of spamming consumers in the past, of launching phishing attacks and sending unsolicited messages to MySpace users. Representatives from Media Breakaway were not immediately available for comment.
Richter is a noted and controversial Internet marketer. Two years ago, he paid $7 million to Microsoft to settle a lawsuit that accused him of sending illegal spam. Microsoft originally sued for $20 million.
The $6 million award is a fraction of the $234 million that the courts ordered Sanford Wallace, the so-called spam king, to pay MySpace last month after he failed to mount any kind of legal defense. The anti-spam judgment is believed to be the largest so far under the 2003 Can-Spam Act.
"MySpace has zero tolerance for illegal activity on our site," MySpace said in a statement, "and is committed to bringing to justice those who try to harm our members."
The reason Richter is paying so much less is that the arbitrator said it was unfair to hold Media Breakaway responsible for all the wrongdoing of the site's affiliates. Media Breakaway has loose ties with companies or individuals that send traffic to sites owned by advertisers who pay Media Breakaway for the leads or sales, according to court documents.
MySpace has traditionally been an easy target. Spammers could hit thousands of "friends" with messages with little effort, the records show.
The arbitrator in the case noted that Media Breakaway has made efforts to comply with the law, such as making affiliates sign anti-phishing agreements. Some of the affiliates either ignored or were not aware of the agreements, the arbitrator wrote.
But the arbitrator also found that Media Breakaway's affiliate managers were "deficient or that on more than a few occasions...consciously condoned and encouraged unlawful spamming activities."
Someone posts a fake profile of you on MySpace casting aspersion on your character. You may be justifiably angry, but unless you are willing to specify the defamations and provide proof they are untrue, don't expect to be able to unmask the profile author.
On Friday, Cicero, Ill., Town President Larry Dominick dropped his request for a court to force MySpace to identify the creator of several spoof profiles in his name that he claimed were defamatory. His petition filed last month (PDF) did not provided details about the profiles and exactly what was defamatory. The pages were removed after Dominick complained.
The profiles had photos and "questionable comments about his sexuality and ethics," according to the Chicago Tribune.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a friend of the court brief last week arguing that fulfilling the request would violate the author's First Amendment right to remain anonymous unless Dominick could demonstrate a viable legal claim. The EFF also argued that the federal Stored Communications Act, which prohibits government entities--including Dominick acting in his official capacity as Cicero town president--from obtaining identifying customer information through the ordinary civil discovery process.
EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman says the organization doesn't oppose all claims of Internet defamation, only those that fail to provide details about the alleged defamation and proof that the statements aren't true, as well as those that don't provide notification to the person whose identity is being sought.
"It's far too easy for someone to go into court and simply ask a third party like MySpace or Facebook to turn this information over if there is no attempt to notify the person whose rights would be affected," he told CNET News.com.
The concern is that without First Amendment safeguards for anonymity people will use the courts merely to find the identity of people whose opinion or actions they disagree with and use that information to chill criticism.
Most of the time, the cases arise from postings made on blogs. But social network pages are increasingly being used for anonymous self expression.
For instance, a judge in Indiana ordered Facebook to name the person who created a fake profile for a high school dean last month.
Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan's private MySpace photos are all over the Internet now, thanks to a glitch in the bad APIs.
While the not-so-publicity-shy stars probably won't mind, and none of the photos are all that racy (except for the one of a fully dressed, provocatively posed Hilton in a tanning booth), there's a lesson for us all in this social network privacy flap du jour.
"Anything you upload to a public Web site is not private; it's public. Even if you think it is password protected," says Jeremiah Grossman, chief technology officer at White Hat Security, a Web application security company. "That's the bottom line."
The photos began making the rounds on Tuesday after computer technician Byron Ngo released them publicly, and gave Valleywag detailed instructions for his hack. Valleywag also has the photos here.
The problem has been fixed so don't bother trying to replicate it. But the breach resurrects the debate over whether the notion of privacy is outdated in a world where you party too much at an event and the next morning an embarrassing photo is up on your friend's Facebook page.
Valleywag blamed data portability, the concept underlying the sharing of data between social networks and other sites.
However, according to MySpace, it had nothing to do with data portability and everything to do with "deprecated APIs."
Grossman attributed it to "insufficient authorization," which he said are common on all types of Web sites, not just social-networking sites.
"MySpace and Yahoo are firmly committed to keeping all users as safe and secure as possible. Recently, MySpace and Yahoo were alerted to a vulnerability within the MySpace widget on the Yahoo mobile platform," MySpace and Yahoo said in a statement. "The functionality of the widget has currently been disabled as we work to roll out an immediate fix."
The man behind the expose' is none other than Byron Ng, a Vancouver-based computer technician who found a hole in Facebook and got to photos on founder Mark Zuckerberg's private page in March.
Ng also is credited with uncovering a digital version of most of the unreleased Harry Potter book last summer.
Ng, if you're out there, I'd love to talk to you.
Flip Video Mino
(Credit: Flip Video)Although it was recently outed by B&H, Wednesday marks the official unveiling of Pure Digital's Flip Video Mino, the latest camcorder from one of the leaders of the low-res, straight-to-Web capture pack. Thinner and smaller than its popular sibling, the Flip Video Ultra, the Mino crams similar technology into a more compact, more attractive package that can fit into a pants pocket.
Most of the Mino is about redesign. The USB connector now flips straight up, rather than to the side, for an overall more compact footprint that should fit better in a crowded USB environment. Though it has a slightly smaller LCD display--1.4 inches compared with 1.5 inches--the back navigation controls look a mite more sophisticated than before. Pure Digital has also punted the replaceable battery in favor of a nonremovable lithium ion model. The company claims you can shoot for four hours on a charge.
USB connector (left) and back (right)
(Credit: Pure Digital)Like the 60-minute version of the Ultra, the Mino comes equipped with 2GB of memory, capable of storing 60 minutes of its VGA-resolution video. The company has moved up to a later generation image-processing architecture. So in theory the Mino should provide a bit better image quality, and the company says that the camcorder includes an updated--more sensitive--microphone with improved signal processing. And, of course, it comes with in-camera software that provides the plug-in-and-upload simplicity which endears these camcorders to sharers on sites like YouTube and MySpace; the latter is a new partner for the company. In addition, the Mino now supports direct operation on a Mac, without requiring software installation. It also provides a TV-out connector for larger-scale enjoyment.
The company stresses that the Mino is not intended to replace the Ultra--it's a "social accessory for the YouTube/MySpace/Facebook generation to communicate and express themselves." A PR rep quotes market research saying this magic demographic wants it "thinner to fit in their pocket and that they would prefer rechargeable batteries (like an iPod) and a sleeker/cooler design."
Maybe I'm too old to understand why everyone wouldn't want a smaller, sleeker, and more functional--albeit slightly more expensive--version of the same product, regardless of their need to accessorize their social life.
The Mino is slated to ship via selected online and brick-and-mortar retailers, including Amazon.com, Walmart.com, and directly from the company's TheFlip.com, and will go into wider distribution this fall. It costs $179.99.
Pure Digital also announced a make-your-own-DVD service; you upload up to an hour's worth of video, and they burn a DVD and distribute it to your family and friends. That will run you $19.99 a pop. The company also claims you can "keep your videos archived forever," but remember that "forever" doesn't mean the same thing to companies as it does to people. Can you say MSN Music?
On Sale Now: $13.97 - $179.99
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On Sale Now: $119.99 - $179.99
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One MySpace page gave the rock band Boston more than a feeling about an amateur singer. They ended up hiring the man as their new lead singer.
Tommy DeCarlo lands singer gig with Boston, thanks to MySpace page.
(Credit: BandBoston.com)For Tommy DeCarlo, a credit manager at a Home Depot in North Carolina, it was literally a dream come true. DeCarlo, 43, had been a fan of the band since his childhood, often singing along with CDs or the radio when songs came on the air.
When Boston lead singer Brad Delp committed suicide last year, DeCarlo recorded his own karaoke versions of Boston songs and uploaded the MP3s to his MySpace page as a tribute. A friend who heard the recordings later encouraged him to contact the band.
DeCarlo, who had never been in a band and whose recent singing experience consisted of performing for a couple of dozen bowlers in a bowling alley, wasn't too confident.
"I sent my MySpace page link to the Boston camp, and I also offered to sing my song at the tribute show, never thinking I'd get a reply," DeCarlo says on Boston's official Web site. "I did end up getting one about two weeks later thanking me for the offer, but at this point there were not going to be any additions to lineup."
And that was the end of DeCarlo's rock 'n' roll fantasy--for a few weeks, anyway. Boston founder Tom Scholz's wife was fiddling around on her PC when something caught her husband's ear.
"My wife was at her computer playing our tunes, and I asked whether it was us playing live," Scholz told USA Today. "She said, 'It's some guy in North Carolina singing your songs.' I said, 'I know Brad's voice, and that's Brad.'"
That was enough for Scholz. He dropped DeCarlo an e-mail and invited him to the tribute, where DeCarlo impressed the band with his covers (see a YouTube video clip of his performance below). He starts his new job on Friday when the band kicks off its summer tour in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
While it's a rather unorthodox way to replace a band member after a tragedy, the practice of a Web audition could become more common. The band Journey recently hired a new lead singer based on a video clip posted to YouTube.
Former MTV exec Angel Gambino announced Friday she has left Bebo.
(Credit: angelgambino.blogspot.com)Angel Gambino, the Bebo executive in charge of attracting record labels and musicians to the site, has resigned and she appears to be part of an executive exodus at the company following its $850 million acquisition by AOL.
Gambino, Bebo's global vice president of music and content, follows Bebo's founders Michael and Xochi Birch out the door. A source close to the situation said that at least two other Bebo managers are considering a departure.
Some critics of AOL's deal have worried that Bebo's teen audience may be turned off if the site becomes too buttoned-down as it goes corporate. The news comes as AOL scrambles to defend its purchase price. Earlier this week at the D conference, Time Warner's CEO Jeff Bewkes acknowledged that AOL "may have overpaid."
In an interview with CNET News.com, Gambino acknowledged that her Bebo stock had fully vested when the all-cash deal closed last week and the extra money will allow her to spend time with her young son.
She said that she jumped to Bebo a year ago from MTV to be part of a start-up and wants to be part of another. Another reason why Gambino said she is leaving is that developing Bebo's music offering was not AOL's highest priority.
"The priorities right now are integrating ICQ and AIM," Gambino said. "They are focusing on communication tools and integrating them into the platform. Music is on the agenda but it's not tops on the agenda."
While MySpace, YouTube, and Imeem have built up their music offerings, Bebo has stood on the sidelines. Imeem has licensed music from all the major recording companies and now offers a free streaming music service. YouTube has deals to offer rock videos and to allow users to insert music into their videos.
MySpace has partnered with the top four recording companies to offer streaming music, sell downloads, offer ad-supported music, as well as sell concert tickets.
"Bebo has been nowhere with music," said one music-industry insider. "They have a very music-hungry community, but they have not done anything with it. They went to the labels a year ago and said they had plans to formalize their approach to music. But nothing has happened."
Gambino said that was due to one thing: money.
"We weren't willing to pay the money that the labels expected for the licensing deals," Gambino said. "We didn't have the cash or the resources of a MySpace. We also didn't think having loads of back catalog would be that beneficial."
Instead, Bebo has gone with a more grassroots approach, catering to unsigned artists who were interested in showcasing their music on the site.
"We tried to be creative in offering new models," Gambino said. "We created some new models."
AOL and Bebo representatives could not be reached for comment.
SAN FRANCISCO--MySpace said it's using Google's Gears, software for augmenting Web browser abilities, to make the social-networking site easier to use.
When MySpace users go to their mailbox, they'll be invited to install Google Gears, said Allen Hurff, MySpace's senior vice president of engineering, in an appearance here Wednesday at the Google I/O conference. "It's available to everyone today," Hurff said.
Allen Hurff, MySpace's senior vice president of engineering, speaks at Google I/O.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)When users install Gears, they'll be able to quickly search their in-boxes for specific terms or sort messages, for example to show unread mail, Hurff said.
Gears, an open-source plug-in, endows browsers with a number of useful features to make them a better foundation for running elaborate software. Gears hasn't caught on widely, but MySpace gives the project more clout. And Google thinks some of Gears' success is actually measured in its influence over the new HTML 5 standard for describing Web pages.
In MySpace's case, one useful Gears feature is local storage on a computer. Another is the ability to run multiple threads at the same time--in effect, to walk and chew gum at the same time. For MySpace, that includes letting a computer index text at the same time it draws user-interface elements on the browser screen, Hurff said.
On Wednesday, Google announced it's changing the project's name from Google Gears to just Gears.
"We want to make it clear that Gears isn't just a Google thing," said Chris Prince, a Google software engineer, in a blog posting. "We see Gears as a way for everyone to get involved with upgrading the Web platform."
Google also announced that it's expanding browser support for Gears.
"We are currently adding Firefox 3 and Safari support. And Opera is working to support Gears on both desktop and mobile," Prince said.
It's still not up to 1.0, but Google on Wednesday announced completion of version 0.8 of OpenSocial, a standard for building social applications on the Web.
One notable difference with OpenSocial 0.8 is the addition of the RESTful API. This addition lets a wider variety of software beside just Web-based widgets running in JavaScript interact with the servers running social applications. For example, it would permit a program running on Windows or on a mobile phone, but not in a Web browser, tap into a social application.
OpenSocial began at Google, but the company won allies for it. Web heavyweights including MySpace.com and Yahoo joined Google to manage the technology through the OpenSocial Foundation. OpenSocial is one theme getting heavy emphasis at the first Google I/O conference in San Francisco on Wednesday and Thursday.
The technology consists of a number of standardized Web programming interfaces called APIs; with OpenSocial, a developer can more easily write a single application that runs on several different Web sites.
Programmers are working on building OpenSocial 0.8 support into Apache Shindig, an open-source project that can endow servers with OpenSocial support, Dan Peterson, a Google product manager, said in a blog posting. "Expect to see containers supporting it in the coming weeks and months," he said.
Other changes beside the RESTful API are documented in the OpenSocial 0.8 release notes.
Social-networking site MySpace.com has won a $234 million antispam judgment, according to the Associated Press.
On the losing side of the award--believed to be the largest ever under the 2003 Can-Spam Act--were defendants Walter Rines and Sanford Wallace, the so-called spam king. MySpace won the case against Wallace after he failed numerous times to turn over documents or show up for court.
"MySpace has zero tolerance for those who attempt to act illegally on our site," MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam told the AP. "We remain committed to punishing those who violate the law and try to harm our members."
In March of last year, MySpace filed suit against Wallace, alleging he launched a phishing scam to fraudulently access MySpace profiles. Wallace was also accused of spamming thousands of MySpace users with unwanted advertisements and luring them to his Web sites.
MySpace said Wallace and Rines sent 735,925 messages to MySpace members. Under the Can-Spam Act, each violation entitles MySpace to $100 in damages, tripled when conducted "willfully and knowingly," according to the report.
Wallace has previously been sued by the Federal Trade Commission and companies such as AOL and Concentric Network. In May 2006, Wallace and his company Smartbot.net were ordered by a federal court to turn over $4.1 million.
Wallace earned the nicknames "Spamford" and "spam king" for his past role as head of CyberPromotions, a company responsible for sending as many as 30 million junk e-mails a day in the 1990s.
