The use of MySpace terms of service to prosecute Lori Drew in the...
The use of MySpace terms of service to prosecute Lori Drew in the MySpace suicide case differs significantly in at least one respect from an argument raised in a P2P infringement case, a legal expert told us. The defense…
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in Sony BMG v. Tenenbaum in U.S. District Court in Boston said that P2P investigator MediaSentry violated Kazaa’s terms of service by collecting infringement evidence. That meant violation of federal and state wiretapping laws, rendering the evidence unusable, the defense said (WID June 25 p5). But the Drew prosecution claimed violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and harm against MySpace by virtue of Drew’s violation of MySpace terms, said Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University. “In both cases, the idea is that a service provider’s contract delimits behavior,” but Joel Tenenbaum is effectively arguing he’s the “beneficiary” of the Kazaa contract, whereas “MySpace was the direct beneficiary of its own contract,” he said. Goldman said he doubts that Tenenbaum’s “interception” argument will work, since “normally parties trading packets can each easily inspect each other’s IP addresses.” A breach of contract by MediaSentry wouldn’t necessarily be a violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, he added.