US v. Drew

The defendant, Lori Drew, was charged with violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) by using a fictitious name and age on a MySpace account and using that account to make hurtful comments to a teenage girl. Tragically, the girl later took her own life. Federal prosecutors claim that Drew broke federal law by violating MySpace’s terms of service and that the MySpace communications were responsible for the girl's death. EFF argued in an amicus brief that criminal charges for a terms of service violation is a dramatic misapplication of the CFAA with far-ranging consequences for American computer users.