U.S. District Judge George H. Wu decided yesterday to dismiss the case against Lori Drew who had been convicted of computer fraud stemming from an Internet hoax that prompted a teenage girl to commit suicide. Drew, of Dardenne Prairie, Mo., was convicted in November of three misdemeanor counts of illegally accessing a protected computer.
The decision by Judge Wu will not become final until his written ruling is filed. Wu said he was concerned that anyone who violated the terms of service could be convicted of a crime. In a previous hearing Judge Wu had grilled government attorneys about whether they had prosecuted Drew under the appropriate laws when they asserted that violating MySpace's terms of service amounted to a crime.
This should put an end to the colossal waste of taxpayer money by the U.S. Attorney’s office is pursuing criminal charges in what is clearly a civil matter. Whom ever authorized this prosecution at the Department of Justice should be fired. It is ludicrous to think that someone who is not truthful when they provide personal information to use a free service is guilty of a crime.
