The groundbreaking move by federal authorities to indict a Missouri mother on charges connected to the suicide of a 13-year-old MySpace user has sent a strong message to the online world: <A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/16/internet.suicide.ap/index.html">Internet impostors may be prosecuted.</A> "The Internet is a world unto itself. People must know how far they can go before they must stop," FBI official Salvador Hernandez said Thursday as prosecutors unveiled a case that employs laws usually used against hackers to go after the alleged perpetrator of a false-identity hoax.

Lori Drew, 49, of suburban St. Louis, Missouri, was charged with conspiracy and fraudulently gaining access to someone else's computer. She allegedly helped create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist to convince young neighbor Megan Meier she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. Megan hanged herself at home in October 2006, allegedly after receiving a dozen or more cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.