Being mean is not a crime - it's just mean

It's only been 7 months since Lori Drew was convicted by a jury of 3 misdemeanor counts of accessing a computer without authorization. This is the Myspace hoax case from Missouri where a 13 year-old girl committed suicide after being virtually dumped by a boy she had met online. Of course, the "boy" turned out to be a middle-aged woman, mother of the girl's former friend, and the woman's assistant. Remember that the state prosecutors in Missouri looked into the case but determined that even though they heartily disapproved of what Drew had done, her behavior did not actually violate any criminal statute.

So federal prosecutors swooped in and charged her with these cyber crimes that were written to criminalize various types of computer hacking. But the feds argued that because Drew made up a fake profile on Myspace, thereby violating the Myspace terms of service, she had illegally accessed the Myspace servers. It was a reckless, dangerous prosecution aimed only at punishing this one woman but that could potentially have had wide-spread consequences. The plain truth is that most of us probably violate the terms of service of many of the websites we visit, often without really realizing it. That conduct is not what the statutes Lori Drew was charged under were designed to criminalize.

Many people who followed the case believed all along that the judge always knew the prosecution could not result in conviction but was reluctant to have to bear the brunt of public anger if he let this cyber-bully off. So when the defense filed motions to dismiss, he hemmed and hawed. He let it go to a jury verdict. Then, when the verdicts finally came down last November, he took the defense motions for dismissal and judgment notwithstanding the verdict under advisement. It is totally within a judge's authority to set aside a jury's guilty verdict and enter his/her own judgment of acquittal. It seemed clear that Judge Wu knew he really did have to do this, but he just didn't want to.

Well, he finally set aside those convictions today. At least tentatively. (Seriously, Judge Wu, make a firm decision and stick with it! Stop pussy-footing around.)

This is the right thing to do. Judge Wu is absolutely correct to interpret the statute to exclude violating a website's terms of service. Lori Drew's conduct, while reprehensible and mean, was simply not criminal. The girl's parents can sue her in civil court. That was always the only court that ever should have had anything to do with this case.

So I applaud Judge Wu's decision. Tentatively. I'll save my full applause until he puts his decision in writing.