Megan Taylor Mayer ( born Megan Taylor Meier ; November 6, 1992 - October 17, 2006 ) is an American schoolgirl who committed suicide as a result of harassment on the Internet , organized through a virtual created by Lori Drew, the mother of one of her school friends. Megan. Lori Drew has created an account on the social network MySpace under the name of the non-existent 16-year-old boy Josh Evans. The account was used by several persons, including Lori herself. “Josh Evans” first confessed his love for Megan, a month later he interrupted a virtual affair, became rude and insulting, and eventually sent Megan a message that the world would have been better without her. Megan could not stand it and hanged herself.
| Megan Mayer | |
|---|---|
| Megan taylor meier | |
| Birth name | Megan Taylor Mayer |
| Date of Birth | November 6, 1992 |
| Place of Birth | |
| Date of death | October 17, 2006 (13 years) |
| Place of death | |
| A country | |
| Occupation | Schoolgirl |
| Site | |
Laurie Drew was arrested. For the first time, the US federal judicial system had to deal with a harassment case on the Internet . On November 26, 2008, a jury conviction under the article on unauthorized access to computers. On July 2, 2009, Federal Judge George Wu ( eng. George Wu ) quashed the conviction.
The suicide of Megan Meier caused a great resonance in American society, and the trial of Drew among American human rights defenders.
Content
Background
Megan Mayer was born on November 6, 1992 in the family of Christina and Ronald Mayer. Megan Mayer and Sarah Drew lived on the same street in the town of , a suburb of St. Louis . We went to the same school and were friends.
From the third grade, Megan went to a psychiatrist; The diagnosis is major depressive disorder and ADHD . She took antidepressants and antipsychotics ( ziprasidone , citalopram , methylphenidate ) [2] . From early childhood, she was very painful about her appearance, especially her weight [2] .
In the seventh grade, someone at school began to tease Megan for being overweight, so her parents transferred her to the eighth grade in a private Catholic school, where there was a compulsory school uniform and cosmetics were prohibited [3] . For some reason, Megan and Sarah had a falling out, and when Megan joined a Catholic school in August 2006, she announced to Sarah that she did not want to be friends anymore [4] .
On September 13, 2006, Megan registered an account on MySpace to communicate with new school acquaintances [2] .
Megan and Josh
Lori Drew, Sarah's mother, created an account on MySpace addressed to the young man Josh Evans to determine if Megan is gossiping about Sarah [5] . Laurie wrote on behalf of Josh in three with 13-year-old Sarah and her young subordinate at work Ashley Grills. Their virtual Josh was a beautiful, tall, blue-eyed 16-year-old brunette from the nearby town of O'Fellon, who wanted to meet a brunette, no matter what weight [2] . Josh did not have a telephone and could only communicate via the Internet [3] . In mid-September, Josh sent a message to Megan, and she added him to her friend list. The next month, Megan and Josh engaged in online flirting .
Laurie, Ashley and Sarah told Josh about another person: a schoolgirl neighbor named Michelle. On October 15, Michelle wrote to Megan on behalf of Josh that “he” was told that Megan was not good to her friends and that “he” no longer wanted to be friends with her [2] [4] . On October 16, a real altercation broke out between Megan and someone on behalf of Josh. Meanwhile, MySpace users from Josh's list of friends came out in his support and started hounding, sending Megan abusive insults, including her weight [4] . After “Josh” wrote Megan that “you are a shitty person, and the world would be better if you were not in it” [2] , Megan hanged herself in the built-in closet. Parents found her 20 minutes later.
Investigation and Court
Megan's parents knew that the quarrel on MySpace led to suicide. After a month and a half, an acquaintance Laurie told Maier that Josh was a virtual and that Lori Drew had created it.
The story hit the newspapers only a year later, in November 2007, because the FBI asked the Mayers not to talk to journalists so as not to frighten Lori Drew and Ashley Grylls during the investigation [4] .
The local prosecutor refused to file charges because Lori’s actions did not violate existing legislation. The district council passed a new law, according to which computer harassment became a misdemeanor , punishable by up to 90 days in prison [4] . In June 2008, the Governor of Missouri signed an even stricter law: computer harassment of a person over the age of 21 to a person under the age of 18 became a criminal offense punishable by up to four years ’imprisonment [6] [7] . However , the laws do not have retroactive effect .
The federal prosecutor's office decided to indict in Los Angeles , according to the location of the headquarters of MySpace [8] . Ashley Grylls agreed to testify against Lori Drew in exchange for release from prosecution [9] .
According to the decision of the jury Lori Drew was charged with one criminal plot and three charges of unauthorized access to computers. By unauthorized access was meant a violation of the MySpace user agreement (virtual accounts on MySpace are prohibited). This unusual interpretation of the law on computer fraud and abuse caused a sharp negative reaction from American human rights defenders [10] . The Electronic Frontier Foundation , the Public Citizen , the Center for Democracy and Technology and 14 law professors stated that this interpretation contradicts the First Amendment to the US Constitution , will lead to a restriction of free speech on the Internet and means that completely innocent and everyday activities (violations of the user agreement any site) Internet users will now be subject to criminal liability.
On November 28, 2008, the jury rendered a verdict. The jury could not reach a decision on conspiracy charges. On the remaining charges, the jury decided that Lori Drew was guilty of unauthorized access to computers, but her actions were a misdemeanor and not a crime [9] .
On July 2, 2009, federal judge George Wu overturned the jury’s verdict, deciding that federal law prohibits unauthorized access and fraud, but does not prohibit violation of computer user agreements [11] .
See also
- Crimes in the field of information technology
- Suicide kelly yemans
- Phoebe Prince Suicide
- Ryan Halligan's suicide
Notes
- ↑ Lori Drew Not Guilty of Felonies in Landmark Cyberbullying Trial (Eng.) . Wired (November 26, 2008). The date of circulation is July 10, 2009. Archived March 2, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Friend Game (English) . The New Yorker (January 28, 2008). The appeal date is July 7, 2009. Archived March 2, 2012.
- 2 1 2 'They were ganging up on her, calling her a freak and a ***:' the cyber-bullying that got out of hand (English) . Daily Mail (April 12, 2008). The appeal date is July 7, 2009. Archived March 2, 2012.
- 2 1 2 3 4 5 A Hoax Turned Fatal Draws Anger but No Charges (Eng.) . The New York Times (November 28, 2007). The appeal date is July 7, 2009. Archived March 2, 2012.
- ↑ Cyberbullying case goes to jury (Eng.) (November 25, 2008). The appeal date is July 7, 2009. Archived March 2, 2012.
- ↑ Mo. lawmakers vote to bar Internet harassment (English) . MSNBC (May 16, 2008). The date of circulation is July 10, 2009. Archived March 2, 2012.
- ↑ Missouri Governor Signs Cyber-Bullying Bill into Law (Eng.) (Not available link) (July 14, 2008). The date of circulation is July 10, 2009. Archived March 2, 2012.
- ↑ LA grand jury issues subpoenas in Web suicide case (Eng.) . Los Angeles Times (January 9, 2008). The appeal date was July 8, 2009. Archived March 2, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Verdict in MySpace Suicide Case (eng.) . The New York Times (November 26, 2008). The appeal date was July 8, 2009. Archived March 2, 2012.
- ↑ EFF: MySpace suicide charges Ars Technica (August 4, 2008). The appeal date was July 8, 2009. Archived March 2, 2012.
- My "MySpace mom" Lori Drew's conviction thrown out (English) . Ars Technica (July 2, 2009). The appeal date was July 8, 2009. Archived March 2, 2012.
Links
- Death in a social network - review on Lenta.ru