In the aftermath of the suicide of Megan Meier, the 13-year-old Missouri girl who was taunted by a fake MySpace profile named "Josh Evans," there was technically no way to charge her tormentor — the mother of a schoolmate — with any wrongdoing. However, a US attorney in Los Angeles (the home of MySpace) has begun issuing subpoenas in the case in the hopes of charging Lori Drew, the creator of the fake profile, with fraud.

While this case is tragic and highly charged, this precedent could be pretty intense because I know many people have created fake MySpace accounts as harmless jokes, myself included. It makes me wonder if this is the right way to punish Lori Drew.
I'm curious. . . . Have you ever created a fake MySpace or Facebook profile?

Panache
Lee
Somewhere
My husband wants me to set one up for our dog or for the stuffed animal that we cart around and take funny pictures of. But, I haven't done it yet. I can't even keep up with my *own* MySpace and Facebook!
1Haha no I haven't...I know one of my friends who did though! So she couls spy on people! And let me tell you, it works quite good
2Something similar happened to a friend of mine. Somebody stole her pictures and used them for fake myspace profile pictures. This fake person was supposively a lesbian from Italy that was using this profile to pick up women. Someone told my friend about this fake profile and she called this person out on it.... then he/she started to harrass her! The whole thing was so weird and creepy. I don't even bother with myspace anymore. Too much drama.
3I did set up one for the dog, but I never use it. I don't even remember what the password is.
4I set up one for a character I made for a game once, a long time ago... never did a single thing with it, though. I logged into it a few months ago and could only laugh at the no less than 30 messages I had from people who "loved my profile" and wanted to hook up with me.
5I do think it's poor taste to create a fake MySpace or Facebook entry, because that's not the point of the site. Facebook's purpose is to connect people, real people, to each other. To network. You can't do that with fake accounts. Additionally, fake accounts decrease the value of the time that people spend to make their profiles as accurate as possible because there is a loss of trust in that social network.
6I created a fake Myspace for the Abominable Snowman once.
7I have another one to test different profile layouts.
8Wow, what a horrible mother.
9I can see how Lori Drew made a stupid, immature mistake that got out of hand. The problem is how she's handled life since Megan's suicide. She's continuously made excuses, immature jabs at Megan and Megan's family. Hard to feel badly for her.
10actually, i never had. my good friends did, it was an awful thing where they badly photoshopped their face together..
oh this was it : http://myspace.com/margaretlives
it was for a friend of theirs, and he kind of knew it was them.
it later turned into a kind of character for us... she has a voice and everything
but that is awful. i can't belive anyone would do that. it is hard to feel badly for her foxie, especially when she as an adult shouldn't have been tormenting a 13 year old
11Yeah, and now she's handling it in such a way that she's basically subjecting HER daughter, Sarah, to the same kind of treatment she gave Megan. Karma karma.
12Oh my do I have something to say about this. Mothers need to stop living vicariously through their daughters. Ms. Drew was actually so caught up in these two adolescent girls' catty friendship that she posed as someone else to get the inside scoop? What ever happened to letting kids talk things out.
13Never have... like Jen said, it's enough work keeping my own REAL facebook and stuff updated!
14No, I'm not in high school anymore.... I think a grown woman doing this is just pathetic and sad and it really says something for her fitness both mentally and as a parent.... just ugh
15I've heard of people making fake profiles to catch boyfriends cheating, test them or just to spy on ex's.
16I don't give a damn about MySpace, but...
H.K. Marks does not exist.
17Never.
While I loathe what Lori Drew did, a slap on the wrist for fraud will mean little. I do not like the attempt to convict her under existing laws, because they do not specifically apply. I mean there has to be a distinction made between those who make profiles for the "Abominable Snowman" and those who do so to commit crimes like stalking, identity theft, or crimes which cause physical harm. All cannot fall under fraud because nothing else applies.
New laws should be authored to address cyber issues directly, and while they will not help in the Meir case, they can help any future victims in the same spirit of Megan's Law.
18I have one for my cat...and I am friends with a lot of movie characters...... but never to humiliate anyone or make fun of someone.
19I heard of that poor girl Megan as soon as the news came out. My roommate and I were shocked. I think everyone will agree that that mother(and her child to a lesser extent) is just disgusting. It's so infuriating to me that the police there can find nothing to charge that woman with. It's just sickening. A grown woman doesn't know any better and teaches that cr@p to her children. I don't understand how they can't charge her with harassment. Just sick. Put her in the slammer. It's much better than poor Megan's fate.
20Here here, charka_healer. I completely agree.
So basically I'm allowed to harass and torment people as long as I've created a fake account? That doesn't sit right with me at all. :/
21I have a myspace profile but i didn't created a fake one!! Why should I?
22No I haven't but I know of someone that did. It was scary because 'they' knew everything about me and I knew nothing about 'them.'
23I don't even have a real myspace page and don't really understand the appeal of the site. I don't think it's good to put too much personal information out on the web for anyone to access and especially parents need to be weary of their kids activities in the web. The have to tell their kids that there are people in the internet that have bad intentions.
24As far as that mother goes, she should have acted like an adult, instead she acted like a stupid teenager. Now she needs to take responsibility for her action and say sorry for what she did.
I have a myspace for both of my dogs in addition to my own.
25Luddite that I am, I have never even had a REAL MySpace or Facebook page! But if that were my thing, I'm sure I'd do it for fun—inevitably part of the internet's fun is to play around with identity. Having said that, it does open up a new world of litigation, and I think Lori Drew should get in trouble in some way for the immature and despicable thing she did. Grow up, Lori!
26I have a fake Live Journal page. It's just a place where I blog and not worry about someone I know finding it and getting mad. But I don't harass or torment anyone, or really even write anything really nasty about people. Oh, and I leave names out of it completely.
27It's one thing to create a fake account but when there is a child involved or a young adult for that matter, there should be some sort of repercussion for Lori Drew's actions.
28I made one for my dog : ) he's got more friends and gets more comments than me!
29God no. Why would I? As for the poor girl, so many people failed her. Idiots.
30I don't understand what would be the purpose of making a fake page but I suppose those people would have their reasons. Either way I think as far as this case is concerned that woman needs to be persecuted. I would say she has mental problems, what kind of person let alone parent would harass a child/teen?? What gain is there??
31You could never trust Myspace, facebook or any sort. Creepy old guys go there you know..
32yep, its under the name morty mcfly. look it up if you have a chance, it's quite funny if i do say so myself
33I've never made one myself, however a very good friend of mine had several, for back when she was dating a total jerk, and she used them to keep tabs on him.
34I made one for my cat...She has more friends than me
35i only made another account only because i wanted to test out my layouts
36I made one for Hitler :3
37I made fake profiles of people and assumed the identity of someone else. People believed I was these people, and actually had real conversations with me. I got a lot of emails from old friends, relatives, and even ex lovers. Eventually, people discovered that their photos and profiles were being used. Some of these people called the police. They traced my ip, and I got arrested. It's quite amazing how easy it is for cops to get ip addresses and isp data. Most people think that cops won't go through the trouble for something minor, but they do, and will come after you even if they are not guaranteed a conviction.
38i did...just cause it was the only way i could talk to this guy i'm in love with. I mean it's not like i'm stealing his identity just his adorable face but everything else i just used my imagination lol to create one a masterpiece. and i can talk to my love without him knowing it's me, until i get the guts to just send him a message. But till then....but now im scared of wat im doing im going against the law for my love
39I know of someone that was deeply hurt by someone with a fake profile. It was a woman pretending to be not only herself under an assumed name but she had also created Two "guy" profiles and gained many friends and the trust of women. She created fake profiles, emails, instant messenger EVERYTHING!! .. A few of us got word of it and tried to call her out and we had so much proof against all of and somehow we got deleted for harrassment!!! This woman still has These 2 "guy" fake profiles and somehow the people on their profiles believe all the lies!!!
40I created a fake myspace account as something just to do...i stole this boys pics and changed his name. on this account im verry polite to ppl and i never have or will do anything to sabotage the persons whos pics i stoles face. im just doing it out of curiousity really.It all started when someone stole my boyfriends pics and created a fake myspace i just was left wondering ...why do ppl do it??? lol now i know
41call me immature I don't care. I did it yes. to catch my girlfriend cheating on me.Always closing the window when I walked into the room? I had to find out.She added me, we flirted and I set up a date. and when she saw her own boyfriend instead of the guy she thought I was, wow that look was priceless.
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