Copyright Law

Grand Jury Issues Subpoena to MySpace in Megan Meier Suicide Case

By David Ardia

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that a federal grand jury in Los Angeles has begun issuing subpoenas in the Megan Meier case, the Missouri teenager who committed suicide after a "boy" she met on MySpace abruptly turned on her and ended their relationship. According to the Los Angeles Times, the boy was allegedly Lori Drew, a neighbor who had pretended to be 16-year-old "Josh Evans" to gain Megan's trust. (You can read more about the case in a post I wrote in November.)

According to anonymous sources who spoke to the Times:

Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, however, are exploring the possibility of charging Drew with defrauding the MySpace social networking website by allegedly creating the false account, according to the sources, who insisted on anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

The sources said prosecutors are looking at federal wire fraud and cyber fraud statutes as they consider the case. Prosecutors believe they have jurisdiction because MySpace is headquartered in Beverly Hills, the sources said.

If you are interested in the legal issues involved in this case, you can participate in a online chat on the Washington Post website from 11:00 AM to noon EST today on privacy, free speech, and anonymity on the Internet. Daniel Solove, who has written extensively about these issues, will be one of the participants and he expects to spend some time discussing the Meier case.

Full post as published by Citizen Media Law Project on January 10, 2008 (boomark / email).