copy profile mum may face charges

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has subpoenaed the MySpace records of Lori Drew, the Missouri woman who created a false account on the social networking website to communicate with her daughter's friend, sources told The Los Angeles Times.

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles were considering charging Ms Drew with cyber fraud in the absence of more a relevant offence, the unnamed sources said.

While the events unfolded five states to the east in Missouri, MySpace is based in California – potentially giving the US attorney's office of Los Angeles jurisdiction.

Grand juries are used in the US to judge whether or not an alleged "capital or infamous" crime should go to trial. Grand jurors are presented with evidence by a prosecutor before deciding whether to issue an indictment. They can also call their own witnesses and subpoena evidence.

If Ms Drew is charged with defrauding MySpace by creating a fake profile, the case could have serious implications for internet privacy.

"The right to speak freely online is hugely important. Whistle-blowers create pseudonyms," an attorney for legal advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation told the Times.

"So do many people who anonymously report on corporate or government bad practices."

Missouri teen Megan Meier hanged herself in 2006 after allegedly receiving abusive messages from a MySpace user she thought was a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans.

It was later revealed Josh Evans did not exist and the profile had been created by the mother of one of Megan's former friends – Ms Drew – who lived in the same street.

After Megan's death, Ms Drew told police she had created the fake profile with the help of an employee with the aim of "gaining Megan's confidence and finding out what Megan felt about her daughter".

It is not clear who sent the allegedly abusive messages from the fake profile.

Ms Drew has so far avoided charges because prosecutors were unable to find a law under which to prosecute her.

Ms Drew's attorney Jim Briscoe said he was unaware of a grand jury's involvement in the case and the US attorney in Los Angeles, Thomas P O'Brien, declined to comment to the Times.

An Australian representative for MySpace declined to comment when asked if the company had received a grand jury request for information relating to Ms Drew.

After the story of Megan Meier's suicide was published in The St Charles Journal last year, vigilante bloggers revealed Ms Drew's name and published her home address, phone numbers and photos online.

One blog published Ms Drew's name and address under a picture of a man holding an axe with the caption "win a date with Patrick Bateman". Patrick Bateman is the fictional serial killer and central character of the controversial book American Psycho.

The author of the blog added the following comment:

"Many news outlets declined to publish the parents' name, out of consideration for their teenage daughter. I call bullsh--, as do many other outraged news-readers. Other blogs and comments on news threads have outed these parents, as have I."

The case sparked outrage in the US and Australia and renewed debate on cyber-bullying and the lack of legislation covering online communication. In December Missouri Governor Matt Blunt set up a committee to review state laws on online harassment.