Myspace Hoax Week 2

Cyber bullying, this is the term the media put hand-in-hand with the court case of Lori Drew, a woman from Missouri who decided to create a fake MySpace account, which ended in 13 year-old Megan Meier’s suicide. Although suicide was an indirect result, Drew was only convicted of three misdemeanor counts of unauthorized access to computers. Writing false information for public view can have unseen consequences, as demonstrated in this case. It is similar to the film Absence of Malice, because the reporter from the movie, and Drew from the court case, utilized and printed information that was not true. This ultimately led to a suicide in both instances. In the case of Drew, she obviously was making an attempt to emotionally disrupt Megan Meier, which is, by definition a tort. It was a private wrong directed at her well-being. In the film, Gallagher is defamed by a reporter, who is unknowingly aiding a team of investigators in their search for information on a completely different topic. This is also a tort since it involves defamation and may be considered a private wrong. The difference between Drew and the reporter in the film, although they both are roots of false information and instigators of torts, is that Drew was committing a tort with a malicious motive. Since the printing company had no malicious motive, the lawyer concluded that they could release the story without fear of some type of counter action from Gallagher. The repercussions of these laws in conjunction with one another are huge. Although Drew indirectly caused a suicide, which sounds like it could be considered third degree murder, she was acquitted of all felony conspiracy charges and claimed that she only intended to see what Megan was saying about her daughter. How often is law illogical?