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When we learned last week about Jennifer Petkov, who became instantly notorious for mocking a dying 7-year-old, we collectively recoiled. And some people did more than that. In the age of the Internet, when does the bully become victim? More »
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Federal prosecutors have announced the end of the Lori Drew cyberbullying case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause has withdrawn the notice of appeal filed back in July, when Drew was acquitted of three misdemeanor counts for violating MySpace terms. [Wired] More »
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The first federal cyberbullying law, the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act, has made it to a House committee. But critics say the law would let prosecutors "harass the harasser," and the law raises the question: can laws really stop bullying? More »
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Federal prosecutors have filed a notice of appeal in the Lori Drew cyberbullying case, which means they may appeal a judge's ruling in July to throw out her case after a jury convicted her of three misdemeanor counts. [Wired] More »
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What's the matter with Missouri? Elizabeth Thrasher, 40, is the first person charged under the law passed after Megan Meier's death. She allegedly posted a picture/contact information her ex's girlfriend's daughter on Craiglist under "casual encounters." [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, AP] More »
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Well, this about says it all...for now. "A federal judge on Thursday overturned guilty verdicts against Lori Drew, and issued a directed acquittal on the three misdemeanor charges" [in relation to her harassment of suicide victim Megan Meier]. [Wired] More »
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Yesterday afternoon, a federal judge postponed the sentencing of MySpace predator Lori Drew to July 2nd, saying he needs more time to decide if the Missouri mom's cyberbullying conviction should be overturned. More »
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The prosecutors who successfully convicted Lori Drew under an anti-hacking law are arguing that the parents of Megan Meier should be allowed to give a victim impact statement at Drew's sentencing next week. [Wired] More »
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After being convicted of three misdemeanors for the cyberbulling of Megan Meier, horrible person Lori Drew has been recommended to receive probation and a $5,000 fine. [Wired] More »
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In a shockingly tasteless move, an independent production company, Rocklin Entertainment, has announced an upcoming film based on the Megan Meier case. It is titled E-Venge. More »
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Lori Drew returns to court today for a hearing that will determine whether or not the guilty verdict will stand. More »
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A U.S. attorney has dropped felony charges against Lori Drew more than a month after she was convicted of harassing 13-year-old Megan Meier via MySpace. [UPI] More »
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Nicole Williams is one of the first people to be accused of harassment after a new Missouri anti-cyberbullying law was created after the death of Megan Meier. But should cyberbullying be prosecuted this way? More »
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25-year old Valentina Kunasz, thejJury forewoman in the recently-wrapped Lori Drew trial, says she can't stop thinking about Megan Meier. "I still have dreams about the testimony," Kunasz admits, according to Wired. Because of her emotional reaction, Kunasz says that she and the other jurors wanted to convict Drew of felony charges rather than misdemeanors. "Trust me; I was so for this woman going away for twenty years. However, on the harsher felony charge, it was very hard to find her guilty on the specific (evidence that was) given to us." More »
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Tina Meier was on the Today show this morning to discuss last week's verdict in the case against Lori Drew for harassing her daughter on MySpace. Though Drew was only convicted of three misdemeanors, but found not guilty of felony hacking charges, Meier says she still feels going through the trial was worth it. "It is not about vengeance," says Meier, "it's about bringing justice to Megan and all of the kids who have to endure this every single day." Clip above. More »
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Lori Drew has been found not guilty of felony hacking charges, but was convicted of three misdemeanors, according to Wired. The one charge of conspiracy remains undecided, as the jury was deadlocked on that count. Wired elaborates: "Jurors found Drew guilty only of conspiring to gain unauthorized access to MySpace for the purpose of obtaining information on Megan Meier — a misdemeanor that will likely carry no jail time. The jury unanimously rejected the three computer hacking charges, and a felony conspiracy charge that alleged the unauthorized access was part of a scheme to intentionally inflict emotional distress on Megan." CNN legal analyst Jeffery Toobin says that Drew is likely to get probation and nothing more. There is still a chance that Judge George Wu may throw out the entire case and acquit Drew, as he said he would decide on a defense request after the jury's verdict. [Wired] More »
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Yesterday, at just before 5 p.m. Pacific time, the jury deciding Lori Drew's fate emerged to announce that it had reached a decision on 3 of the 4 counts against the Missouri mom, but were split on the fourth. According to the LA Times, Drew "is charged with three counts of violating federal computer statutes and one count of conspiracy," for creating the fake MySpace account she allegedly used to help torment her daughter's friend, 13-year-old Megan Meier. Wired notes that earlier in the day, the jury asked the judge "to clarify an earlier instruction related to the issue of a 'tortious' act — an act that causes malicious or negligent harm to, in this case, Megan Meier, which is a requirement for finding Drew guilty on the computer fraud charges." More »
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Yesterday marked the final day of testimony in the trial of Lori Drew, which may set precedent in cases of cyberfraud and social networking. Today at 9 a.m. a jury of six men and six women will convene to decide the fate of Ms. Drew, whose online bullying of Megan Meier allegedly violated the MySpace terms of use and drove the 13-year-old to suicide. Judge George Wu says he will not decide whether or not to dismiss the case until after the jury has deliberated. In the final day of testimony, Lori's 16-year-old daughter, Sarah, took the stand to complete her testimony, more details came out about Megan's role in the initial rift with the Drew family, and both sides provided their closing arguments. More »
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Day 3 of the trial against Lori Drew, accused perpetrator of cyberfraud, continued on Friday with testimony from Drew's daughter and Megan Meier's former friend, Sarah. Sarah, now 16, testified that Megan said to her, "I don't know if I could live anymore." (Sarah burst into tears when Federal attorney Thomas O'Brien asked her why she didn't tell anyone about Megan's confession of suicidal thoughts.) Much of what Sarah said under oath directly contradicted the testimony of her mom's assistant, Ashley Grills, on whom Lori Drew is placing most of the blame. More on Sarah, as well as the possibility that the case may be dismissed today, after the jump. More »
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• ...Just like Lance Armstrong, Hitler, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the other dudes with a single testicle.
• But as far as we know, those dudes have bellybuttons, unlike Karolina Kurkova, the no-navel icon.
• She may have a navel, but Lori Drew has no soul.
• Michelle Obama has a soul and, according to an obsessed Salon scribe, a big butt.

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Yesterday was Day 2 of Lori Drew's federal trial for cyberfraud in the tormenting of 13-year-old suicide victim Megan Meier. Day 1 focused on the emotional testimony of Megan's mom, Tina, who described her daughter's depression and last words. Day 2 involved Tina's cross examination by defense lawyer H. Dean Steward and the initial testimony of Drew's accomplice in Megan's tormenting, Ashley Grills, who testified with government immunity. Lori Drew's hairdresser also took the stand, and her testimony about Drew's glee while mocking Megan was perhaps the most damning of all. More »
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Good Morning America did an overview of the Megan Meier story this morning. It covers some of the same ground as our earlier posts on the subject, but also includes a deeply chilling recording of the 911 call that Megan's mom, Tina, made on the day of her death. Click on Tina for the audio. Warning: It's not for the faint of heart. More »
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It's been a year since we first wrote about Megan Meier, the 13-year-old driven to suicide after being tormented on MySpace by a grown woman posing as a made-up boy named Josh Evans. The trial of that woman, 49-year-old Lori Drew, began yesterday. Drew is being prosecuted in federal court for cyberfraud under a 2005 telecommunications law. The details of the first, highly emotional, day in court are after the jump, including heartbreaking testimony from Megan's mom, Megan's last words, and the prosecution's assertion that Lori "fully intended to hurt" Megan. More »
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U.S. District Judge George Wu has ruled that evidence from Megan Meier's suicide can be used by prosecutors to aid them in building their case against Lori Drew, the 49 year old woman accused of harassing Meier via a fake MySpace profile. Knowing that potential jurors would most likely be aware of the suicide, due to worldwide media attention and "ripped-from-the-headlines" dramatizations on shows such as Law & Order, Wu has agreed to let the suicide be introduced to court, though "he would instruct jurors, possibly at the outset of the trial, that the case was not about the suicide and that Drew is not charged with causing the suicide." Jury selection in the trial begins on Tuesday; Drew has not been charged in connection with Meier's suicide, but is facing counts of conspiracy and accessing computers without authorization.[AP] More »
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The latest news on the Lori Drew trial is frustrating and confusing: Apparently the judge will prohibit prosecutors from presenting evidence of Megan Meier's suicide as part of their case. "I don't necessarily think the suicide is relevant to the crime charged," Judge George H. Wu says. He thinks details of Meier's death would "unfairly prejudice the jury." More »
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Horrible person Lori Drew, may indeed face trial. Drew was charged with conspiracy and accessing protected computers after she created a fake MySpace account to befriend her daughter's ex-friend which eventually led to the girl's suicide. Yesterday evening, a U.S. District Judge sitting in Los Angeles did not rule on a defense motion to dismiss the charges against Drew and Drew's lawyers were told to prepare for trial. [UPI] More »
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Federal Judge George H. Wu wants more time to consider a defense motion to throw out the case against Lori Drew. As you'll recall, Drew participated in a MySpace hoax which allegedly led a 13-year-old girl to hang herself. Today, the AP reports that Judge Wu will most likely reject the motion, but wants to look at arguments more closely. Question: Why is he even considering dismissing the case? The trial is scheduled to begin November 18. [LA Times] More »
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The infamous Lori Drew may have a nation full of detractors for her behavior in the Megan Meier case, but today she also has a couple of defenders other than her own lawyers. The Electronic Freedom Foundation has filed an amicus brief in her case agreeing with her lawyers' assertions that the daily violation of websites Terms of Service agreements either makes us all a national of criminally liable liars, or no one (including Lori Drew) is. I mean, the difference is that when I violate a TOS agreement, I'm not doing it to torment a teenage girl to the brink of suicide. Unfortunately, their logic is pretty convincing, so we're guessing she'll get away with it after all (minus a few lawyers' bills). Lucky us. [Reason] More »
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Lori Drew, the woman who created a fake MySpace profile to harass her daughter's friend, Megan Meier, is arguing, again, that she did nothing wrong. She's been indicted on computer fraud charges for violating MySpace's terms of service by creating a profile for the fake Josh Evans. Her lawyers are now arguing that if she can be prosecuted criminally under the laws which were originally designed to prosecute hackers, then anyone violating a website's Terms of Service agreement is a criminal. That seems bad for those of us with fake online identities, but everyone hates Lori Drew. Decisions, decisions. [Washington Post] More »
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Lori Drew, the worst person on the internet and the evildoer behind the MySpace hoax that arguably drove 13-year-old Megan Meier to suicide, has plead not guilty to charges of "internet fraud and conspiracy to inflict emotional distress," reports the L.A. Times. (For those of you who missed our exhaustive Meier coverage, Drew and an 18-year-old accomplice created a fake MySpace profile for a "Josh Evans" to torment Megan because of some slight towards Drew's daughter. After being rejected by Josh, Megan, who had a history of emotional problems, hung herself.) According to the Wall Street Journal, "The theory of the case seems to be that when Drew registered on MySpace she agreed to certain terms of service that required her to, among other things, provide 'truthful and accurate registration information' and 'refrain from promoting information that' she knew was More »
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• Whitney was the first "plus sized" contestant to win America's Next Top Model!

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Lori Drew has been indicted! (We totally want to marry the California courts today.) The Los Angeles feds have indicted the Missouri mom who masterminded the MySpace hoax that led 13-year-old Megan Meier to hang herself on charges of fraud and conspiracy in a case that probably has some... interesting First Amendment implications! But whatever, we are generally satisfied. Lori Drew, who created a fake MySpace profile for a 16-year-old named "Josh Evans" and used it to fuck with Megan in retaliation for ending her friendship with her daughter, has yet to speak up for herself, but every time we think, "Just leave her alone already," someone else speaks out with another testimonial to her shittiness. Today we learn a little more about "Josh"'s flirting technique. More »
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Remember back when MySpace tormenting mommy Lori Drew was the worst person in the world? Well, she still is, and here thanks to this morning's Good Morning America we have her 19-year-old co-conspirator Ashley Grills finally confirming it. If you never followed the story: it roughly goes: a thirteen-year-old hung herself after a distressing series of MySpace encounters with a boy she had been "friends" with; the suicide-inspiring boy turned out to be the fictional creation of Lori Drew, the mother of a former friend down the street, the insane saga eventually made its way into the New Yorker and eventually it seemed that maybe Ashley, not Lori, was the mastermind for the hoax. Here Ashley admits she writes the message that drove Megan to hang herself, but says she did it because she knew the joke had gone too far and wanted to erase the account. And why did she think it had gone too far? Because Lori Drew was trying to get her to set up a meeting with "Josh Evans" so that they could show up and laugh at her! [ABC News] More »
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• "I heard Obama speak. He hit me with that he-just-got-done- watching-'Malcolm X,' and I swear to God, I'm like, 'Yo, Obama!' 'I'm Obama to the end now, baby!," says 50 Cent, who originally supported Hillary Clinton. He has since "lost interest." [MTV]

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The story of 90DayJane, like the Britney period shots, is supposed to illustrate the seedy, soulless depths of the aughts' virtual culture. For those not familiar with it, on February 5, "90dayjane," a twenty-something pretty brunette resident of Los Angeles, put up a website on which she claimed she would off herself in 90 days. "This blog is not a cry for help," said Jane. "I'm not depressed and nothing extremely horrible has lead me to this decision. But, does it really have to?" Her site, naturally, became a sensation. Hundreds of thousands read it, and their comments, like those found within any other unregulated corner of the internet, were mostly appalling. "Post nudes first," one commenter advised. Then last week, the person behind 90 Day Jane killed the site — not herself — and told the world that the website had been a hoax — a "personal art piece" and that "It was meant for me and (what I ignorantly thought would be) a small number of people." More »
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Manhattan broadsheet the New York Observer scored quite the coup this week, signing up author Susan Faludi to take on the controversial new anthology about Hillary Clinton Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary: Reflections By Women Writers. Derided by other critics as narcissistic (among other things), the book is not one of Faludi's favorites either: the feminist pundit describes it as "a good deal of convenient psychologizing, self-absorbed meanderings and unearned snipes" and all but calls it sexist, asking readers to imagine its conceit applied to male writers and a male presidential candidate: "Inside, we would find ruminations on the male candidate's doggy looks and flabby pectorals; musings on such 'revealing' traits as the candidate's lack of interest in backyard grilling, industrial arts and pets... We would hear a great deal about how the candidate made them feel about themselves as men and whether they could see their manhood reflected in the politician's testosterone displays. ... And we would hear virtually nothing about the candidate's stand on political issues." More »
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How about a MySpace suicide story seven times more depressing than Megan Meier? Because there's been a spate of hangings in Brigend Wales. It starts with Dale Crole, a 20-year-old straight from juvi who hanged himself in a warehouse and was found a year ago. A friend of Dale's named David hung himself next, and a friend of David's went next, and four more boys followed before last Thursday, when 17-year-old Natsha Randall hung herself in her family basement. Now cops seem to be wondering whether Randall spearheaded some sort of vapid suicide cult. It's hard to say. All the members of the suicide ring had heavy internet habits. A story about Natasha "sxiwildchild"'s page on the social networking site bebo in the Daily Mail portrays her as one of those teenagers whose inability to distinguish right from wrong seems palpably traceable to an inability to distinguish real life from the internet. (The story notes that "Will you have sex with me?" is the fourth question she asks prospective friends on the site. More »
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As anyone can tell you, there are few things as dangerous — or terrifying — as a roving pack of 13 year old girls. The Guardian reports that teachers in the UK are being instructed to crack down on vicious and manipulative behavior. According to Vicky Tuck, head of Cheltenham Ladies' College, girls of 12 and 13 years old "move in and out of friendships quite a lot." She notes, "They can be a bit mean, isolate somebody one day and not the next." Jade Prest, now 17 years old, survived a "sustained campaign of girl-on-girl bullying" when she was 15. She received a barrage of threatening text messages, had rumors about her spread on the internet, and started cutting herself before she eventually attempted suicide. "One girl started it all," she says. "Because of one person, no one talked to me. I became depressed and put myself into isolation." More »
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Two married strippers, Julio Rojas, 31, and Sophie Soto, 22, were charged yesterday with 56 counts of sex abuse for luring a pair of under 15-year-old girls to their Queens apartment through MySpace. Soto acted as the bait, convincing one girl that she was 18 and had only been with girls before, according to the New York Post. She told the teen that she was scared to have sex with a man. Through a feat of persuasion not outlined in the article, Soto convinced the teen and her friend to send 20 close ups of their vaginas. When Soto finally got the girls to her apartment, she had sex with both of them, after which husband Julio had sex with all three women. After they were done, Soto and Rojas took the girls to a strip club, where the underagers stripped on stage and gave bjs to customers. The most fucked up part? For all of these disturbing, horrific transgressions, the couple faces 15 years in jail, tops. They need some Hard Candy style vigilante justice on their asses, dontcha think? More »
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The New Yorker becomes the latest media outlet to reexamine the Megan Meier suicide this week, and despite this topic not exactly being underexposed, it's a thoughtful, texture-rich story about a girl who sounds so insanely normal you sorta wonder how the fuck you would go about raising yourself as a teenager. (Ooooh, answer: stealing your kids' mood-altering meds, duh.) Not innately insecure/nerdy/un-self-confident, Megan was a daddy's-little-tomboy (she fished, threw frogs, etc.) who had a sassy attitude tempered by a very kind streak — "for years she had served as the self-appointed guardian of a blind boy at her school, leading him through the hallways between classes." But her angst over her chunky legs began in kindergarten, and by middle school she was taking Celexa, Concerta and Geodon (a bipolar disorder drug.) More »
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