The Los Angeles Times reported that a man from Colorado who posted anonymous comments on the “Rants and Raves” forum of Craiglist is now charged with libel raps. If the court will find him guilty, he may spend up to 1 and half-a-year in prison.

On the forum posts, 40-year-old J. P. Weichel accused his ex-girlfriend of child abuse and welfare fraud, along with offensive remarks about her sex life. According to a police report, in some of the posts, the man even provided her girlfriend’s full name. More than that, he made crude references to her body, stating that she offered sexual services to a lawyer from Fort Collins whom she worked for. The authorities also discovered that the postings were made from one of Weichel’s computers.

The case aroused a public scandal, as, most of the time, libel cases are judged in a civil court. As an example, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, Mark Silverstein, stated that "being a jerk isn't necessarily grounds for felony prosecution." On the other hand, Larimer County District Attorney, Larry Abrahamson, stated that Colorado’s statute is appropriate for this case.

Gregory Lisby, professor at Georgia State University said that Colorado and 16 other states are the only ones that have never updated the legislation in this matter, as the crime of libel originates from 15th century English common law. His research also shows that, even though criminal libel cases lessened in the past few years, the use of the Internet as a place to rant and offend others may change this trend, considering that people don’t usually know that they are liable for defamation charges.