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know that he didn't know if he wanted to be friends with her anymore. The next day he
posted [93, 94]:
You are a bad person and everybody hates you.
Have a shitty rest of your life.
The world would be a better place without you.
When Megan angrily responded to this post, others ganged up on her: “Megan
Meier is a slut”; “Megan Meier is fat” [93]. Later that afternoon, Megan hanged herself
in her bedroom.
Eventually the community learned that “Josh Evans” did not exist. The MySpace
account had been created just a couple of houses away from the Meier home by 18-year-
old Ashley Grills, 13-year-old Sarah Drew, and Lori Drew, Sarah's mother. Sarah had a
falling out with Megan, and Ashley suggested creating the MySpace account to find out
what Megan might be saying about Sarah. Lori Drew had approved the plan. Most of
the messages from “Josh” had been written by Sarah or Ashley, but Lori Drew had been
aware of what they were doing [95].
The county's district attorney declined to prosecute Lori Drew because there was no
Missouri law against cyberbullying [96]. The FBI investigated the case, however, and in
2008 federal prosecutors charged Drew with four felony counts under the Computer
Fraud and Abuse Act for violating the MySpace terms of service. A jury found her
not guilty of these crimes but did convict her of three misdemeanors [97]. In 2009 a
US district judge overturned these convictions, stating that criminal charges should not
have been brought against Drew for breaking a contract with an Internet service provider
[98].
In April 2009, the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act was introduced in the
US House of Representatives. The purpose of the proposed law was to “impose criminal
penalties on anyone who transmits in interstate or foreign commerce a communication
intended to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to another
person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior” [99].
Some civil libertarians objected to the proposed legislation, arguing that it would take
away free speech rights guaranteed under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
The law did not win approval by the House of Representatives.
Some people spend a great deal of time online, but psychologists disagree whether it is
possible to become addicted to the Internet.
Using an Internet-enabled computer can be a lot of fun—the number of different things
you can do online is staggering. You probably know someone who spends a lot of time—
maybe too much time—playing online computer games. Is there such a thing as an
addiction to the Internet or online games? The late psychologist Maressa Orzack thought
