Loathsome--definitely, but a Federal offense?

Internet asshole Lori Drew has been indicted by a federal grand jury for fraudulently opening a MySpace account and "for accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress."

Drew is the 49-year-old woman who who posed as a teenage boy on MySpace in order to harass 13-year-old Megan Meier. Meier committed suicide after Drew's alter ego told her the world would be a better place without her.

Lori Drew is a despicable individual; every time I hear about this case, I am newly infuriated by her behavior. But I just cannot agree with this indictment. It stinks for several reasons:

• It's an encroachment on free speech.


• The indictment was brought before a grand jury by Los Angeles US Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien; Drew lives in Missouri and the local US Attorney declined to press charges. O'Brien, clearly a self-serving glory hound a la Eliot Spitzer,"saw a Los Angeles nexus because MySpace Inc. is a local company." O'Brien just had to hold a press conference announcing the indictment as the first of its kind in the nation.


• This case, and others like it that the media has blown way out of proportion, has created a new, phony industry with its own set of charlatans, like Parry Aftab, who told Meredith Vieira this morning on "Today" that she was going to hold the first ever cyberbullying conference this fall. Personally, I can't wait.

My heart goes out to Tina and Ron Meier, Megan's parents. No parent should have to go through that and no adult should behave the way Lori Drew did. I can't imagine what it must be like to see that woman going on with her life. But this indictment isn't the answer; it just breeds more bottom feeders.

Yahoo to be sued by wife of Chinese dissident

Yu Ling wants to go after the company for providing the evidence that led to her husband's conviction.

By all accounts, Mrs. Yu faces an uphill battle.

"The question that is really up in the air is how much you can associate a private corporation with the actions of a government," says Barry Carter, a Georgetown University Law Center professor who has written casebooks on international law.

In one pending case, known as the "apartheid lawsuit," up to 100 U.S. and international companies are being sued for selling equipment to South Africa's white dictatorship and lending it money. The case, currently on appeal, says corporations such as IBM helped the racist regime stay in power.

"The companies in a way are a proxy for the government because you can't sue the government," Mr. Carter adds.

Another wrench in Mrs. Yu's plans is the change in ownership of Yahoo's China subsidiary since Mr. Wang's arrest. In October 2005, Yahoo China was spun off from Yahoo Hong Kong in an acquisition by Chinese company Alibaba.com. Yahoo now owns a minority 40 percent share in the company.

This means that Yahoo has "no involvement in the collection or retention of data from Chinese users," Mr. Cullinan points out.