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.

Because there were no criminal laws specifically against cyberbullying, it led Missouri legislators to amend its anti-harassment laws to include cyberbullying as a crime. While violations are normally a misdemeanor, charges can be upgraded to a felony if the victim is under 18 and the suspect is over 20. That stipulation is designed to specifically address adults that harass minors online.

Forty-year-old Elizabeth Thrasher evidently got into a heated argument with her ex-husband's current girlfriend on—you guessed it—MySpace. Somehow the girlfriend's daughter, a 17-year-old, ended up involved in the spat. "Who started what is up for debate," St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas told the Associated Press. Thrasher then created a personal ad on Craigslist, ostensibly in retaliation against the daughter, which included the girl's photo, e-mail address, and cell phone number. The girl received numerous calls, e-mails, texts, and several NSFW photos, which prompted her to call police.

Thrasher is currently out of jail on a $10,000 bond, though she has been prohibited from having a computer or Internet access. If convicted, she could face as much as four years in state prison, and a fine as high as $5,000. She's being represented by attorney Mike Kielty, who has been outspoken against Missouri's law, calling it "a knee-jerk reaction to a high-profile case that was blown out of proportion."

The US House of Representatives is considering similar legislation in the form of HR 1966, aka the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act. The law would provide for penalties of two years in prison, fines, or both if guilty of harassing someone via any electronic means—including texts, e-mails, forum posts, even tweets. Like the Missouri law, critics argue that the law as written leaves too much open to interpretation, and could potentially be used to suppress Constitutionally-protected free speech. Suddenly, griping about a politician repeatedly online, for instance, could become a felony if the language were "severe" enough.

However, Tina Meier, Megan's mother and an anti-cyberbullying campaigner, said Missouri's law should be enforced. "This is not a joke," Meier told the Associated Press. "There have been too many people who have taken their own lives, too many people and their families getting hurt by this." It's certainly a fine line that must be tread.