The indictment alleged that Drew, along with others, registered as a member of MySpace under the name Josh Evans. Drew and her co-conspirators then used the Josh Evans account to contact Megan and began what the girl believed was an online romance with a 16-year-old boy.

After approximately four weeks of flirtations between Evans and Megan, Drew and her co-conspirators broke off the relationship. Within an hour, Megan hanged herself in her room. She died the next day.

U.S. District Judge George Wu acquitted Drew of misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization. The ruling is tentative until the judge puts it in writing and pointed to another case where a judge changed his mind after his initial ruling, signaling that the case is not final. Prosecutors are seeking a three-year prison sentence and a $300,000 fine.

Ruled Unconstitutional

The indictment alleged Drew and her co-conspirators violated MySpace's terms of service that prohibit users from using fraudulent registration information , using accounts to obtain personal information about juvenile members, and using the MySpace communication services to harass, abuse or harm other members.

In the government's theory, if someone signs up for an online service and then does not follow the rules of that service, the use of the service is unauthorized and thus (according to this indictment) a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1030. That law is used to prosecute people who break into a computer system.

However, Wu said to convict Drew would mean anyone who has ever violated MySpace's terms of service would also be guilty of a misdemeanor. Ultimately, he decided such a ruling would be unconstitutional. "You could prosecute pretty much anyone who violated terms of service," he said.

The Drew case will go down in history as the first cyberbullying trial. Cyberbullying is a huge and growing problem, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. About 32 percent of all teenagers who use the Internet say they have been targets of a range of annoying and potentially menacing online activities such as threatening messages, having their private e-mails or text messages forwarded without consent, having an embarrassing picture posted without permission, or having rumors about them spread online.

Stopping Cyberbullying

A recent study from MediaCurves discovered 93 percent of respondents said video-sharing sites like YouTube should have policies in place that prevent the posting of cyberbullying videos. While YouTube is open to the public and content can be shared on almost any topic, the majority say this freedom should be limited and monitored specifically to prevent online cyberbullying.

Stopping the content is one approach. Educating kids is another.

AT&T, Symantec, iKeepSafe and D.A.R.E. announced results of a recent study that demonstrates the effectiveness of an educational program launched last year to provide children with the knowledge and tools to respond to a cyberbullying situation. The study found the number of students describing multiple effective responses to cyberbullying scenarios increased by more than 43 percent.

In the wake of more than one teen suicide connected to cyberbullying, experts are calling for any and every measure to stop the practice.