LOS ANGELES — A high-profile Internet legal case that just concluded here will have a chilling effect on users of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook if the verdict holds up on appeal, legal experts say. Full Story »
Posted by Dan Kennedy
A well-done analysis of how the threat posed to free speech by the guilty verdict in the MySpace suicide case — though flawed by an expert's reference to felonies when, in fact, the suspect was convicted of misdemeanors.
“The CFAA [Computer Fraud and Abuse Act] was intended to be used for computer fraud, hackers, etc., it was never intended to be used to criminally prosecute someone who violated the terms of a website’s Terms of Use [TOU], which is the core of their case,” says Kelly Strader, professor of law at Southwestern. “If merely violating a provision of the TOU makes you a felon, then virtually everyone that has ever used the Internet is a felon. That is the problem going forward if this conviction holds up.”
It is poor journalistic practice to allow a source to advance misinformation without noting the error. In fact, the suspect was convicted of three misdemeanors. (See link to New York Times story.)