|
|
| Woman arrested for craigslist ad targeting teen girl |
| By arstechnica.com |
| Published: 08/20/2009 |
|
Missouri was the first state to enact anti-cyberbullying legislation after MySpace harassment led a 13-year-old to commit suicide. Now a woman faces felony cyberbullying charges after posting a fake Craigslist ad with photos and contact information for a 17-year-old girl. Felony cyberbullying charges have been filed against a Missouri woman who posted a fake "Casual Encounters" Craigslist ad for a 17-year-old girl with whom the woman had an Internet argument. Though changes to Missouri's anti-harassment law to cover cyberbullying have already resulted in misdemeanor charges in several cases, this incident is the first to involve a victim under 18 and a "cyberbully" 21 or over, which makes the charge a felony. Missouri changed its law to criminalize cyberbullying last year after the now-infamous "MySpace Mom" case involving Missouri resident Lori Drew. Drew had been posing as a 16-year-old boy on MySpace that at first befriended 13-year-old Megan Meier, but then suddenly began sending her hateful messages and publishing Meier's private messages to "him" online. The betrayal led Meier, who had a history of depression, to commit suicide. It was later revealed that Drew had created the fake MySpace persona to retaliate against Meier, who was believed to have badmouthed her daughter Sara after the two girls had a falling out. Drew was originally arrested, but was later released when authorities discovered that Drew's actions—though distasteful—didn't violate any criminal law. That prompted US attorney Thomas O'Brien to go through some legal gymnastics to prosecute Drew under federal jurisdiction, since her creation of the fake account was technically a violation of MySpace's terms of service. O'Brien reasoned that using MySpace while violating the TOS constituted "unauthorized access" that violated federal anti-hacking laws. Despite protests that the charges went too far out of the scope of the law, Drew was found guilty of three misdemeanor violations of federal statues by a jury, though the conviction was recently overturned by a federal judge. Read More. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think