State level
Similar to speech and harassment laws at the federal level, individual states continue to wrestle with de ning the problem and what legal actions to take when a violation occurs. Unfortunately, it took a number of high-pro le cases, and even some suicides, to bring the issue to the attention of many states’ courts and legislatures. One such case revolved around an incident in Missouri during 2006. This case, formally known as United States vs. Lori Drew, involved Drew and her daughter creating a false MySpace account under the alias name “Josh.” The defendants used the account to become friends with the victim, 13-year-old Megan Meier, whom Drew’s daughter attended school with. After becoming friends with Meier, Drew and her daugh- ter started sending hateful comments to her. Meier took these comments to heart and committed suicide.
The Missouri district court determined that they could not hold Drew directly accountable for the harassment leading to Meier’s death due to extraneous circumstances and lack of legal encompassment. However, due to public outcry, federal prosecutors took charge by applying the Computer Fraud and Abuse act to the case. This act is typically used to prosecute electronic theft, but in this instance was used to ap-
ply the Myspace terms of service. The terms require users to abide by a host of regulations, which “required truthful and accurate registration, refraining from using information from MySpace to harass others [and] refraining from promoting false or misleading information” (“Unites states of America v. Lori Drew,” 2009). Based on MySpace’s terms of service, the jury found Drew guilty of one felony count for conspiracy and three misdemeanors counts for unauthorized computer use.
This case caused Missouri to modify its state harassment law to encompass acts of cyberbullying like the Lori Drew case. The law now prohibits any electronic communication that “‘knowingly frightens, intimi- dates, or causes emotional distress” (Henderson, 2009).